Skip to main content

Imprisoned Silk Road founder causes a stir with NFT drop

Those who support him hope he raises enough money to fulfill his personal and charitable needs, while others don’t think he should be selling NFTs at all.

Ross Ulbricht, founder of defunct dark web marketplace Silk Road, has created a stir by announcing he will auction off his series of nonfungible tokens (NFT) starting Dec. 2.

The imprisoned early Bitcoin adopter announced via his supporter operated Twitter account on Dec. 1 his plans to auction the Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection on Superare NFT marketplace from Dec. 2-8. The collection consists of 11 works of art Ulbricht handmade, then his supporters minted into NFT form.

The art was made in different stages of Ulbricht’s life from childhood up to his time in prison. The early works depict comic book characters and animals, while the later works depicts scenes from his court trial and inner feelings he has had since being imprisoned.

Proceeds from the auction will help fund a trust to support Ulbricht’s efforts to be freed from prison. Funds will also help launch the donor-advised charitable fund Art4Giving, which is “dedicated to relieving the suffering of the incarcerated and their families.”

Ulbricht has been a controversial character in the crypto space since he was sentenced to two life terms in federal prison in Oct. 2015 for operating the Silk Road marketplace. Silk Road opened on the dark web in Feb. 2011 and allowed users to purchase nearly anything with Bitcoin (BTC), including illicit substances.

Ross Ulbricht's Perspective from The Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection of NFTs.

The announcement sparked a blizzard of conflicting commentary from people on social media, some against Ulbricht’s decision, but most in support of his cause.

Related: Crypto's impact on sanctions: Are regulators' concerns justified?

One skeptical commenter, founder of bullbitcoin.com @francispouliot said that although he supports Ulbricht, “the fact that the insane and immoral NFT ponzi has now become fully normalized is deeply troubling.” Other Bitcoin maximalists also took exception to the entire concept of NFTs with @vladenhawk writing "I can tolerate the creation of international drug and weapons markets. But NFTS is where I draw the line."

Crypto Cobain, high-profile host of UpOnly TV, pointed out in support that although a few Bitcoin maximalists may be against Ulbricht minting NFTs, he was instrumental in generating early Bitcoin adoption.



from https://ift.tt/3pdcVQJ
https://ift.tt/3xIvFM4
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Any questions, Please.

Popular posts from this blog

Five Bitcoin Price Charts Analyzing The Dramatic Q1 2022 Conclusion

There are only hours remaining until the Q1 2022 close in Bitcoin price action. With the important quarterly candle set to close tonight, let’s look at what technicals might say about the direction of the next quarter. Q1 2022 Comes To A Close For Bitcoin The first quarter of a year, often sets the tone for the year to come. In investments, a poor Q1 performance is indicative of a bad year ahead. Considering the fact that Bitcoin price is now above $45,000 after touching $32,000 this quarter, it is tough to say the performance has been “poor” by anything other than crypto standards. Related Reading | Bitcoin Weekly Momentum Flips Bullish For First Time In 2022 The cryptocurrency has recovered nearly 40% from the low, leaving a long wick behind. Such a long wick suggests that before the quarter came to a close, buyers stepped up in a major way. Buyers were able to step up in a larger capacity in Q1 2022 than bears were able to in the final quarter of last year. The bearish wick to cl...
Post a Comment
Read more

FTX hacker reportedly transfers a portion of stolen funds to OKX after using Bitcoin mixer

On-chain activity suggests that the hacker has sent at least 225 BTC (4.5 million) to OKX so far. Hackers who drained FTX and FTX USA of over $450 million worth of assets just moments after the doomed crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, continue to move assets around in an attempt to launder the money.  A crypto analyst who goes by ZachXBT on Twitter alleged that the FTX hackers have transferred a portion of the stolen funds to the OKX exchange, after using the Bitcoin mixer ChipMixer. The analyst reported that at least 225 BTC — worth $4.1 million USD — has been sent to OKX so far.  1/ Myself and @bax1337 spent this past weekend looking into the FTX attacker’s deposits to ChipMixer. It appears they’ve likely been transferring a portion of the stolen FTX funds to OKX after withdrawing from CM So far we’ve accounted for at least $4.1m (255 BTC) sent to OKX pic.twitter.com/C46JZWtktn — ZachXBT (@zachxbt) November 29, 2022 According to ZachXBT, the FTX h...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 metrics signal the $1T crypto market cap support likely won’t hold

Despite the 8.5% weekly rally in cryptocurrencies, the lack of stablecoin premiums in Asia and futures markets activity shows buyers’ lack of confidence. Cryptocurrencies broke the $1 trillion market capitalization resistance on Oct. 26, which had been holding strong for the previous 41 days. Despite Bitcoin’s ( BTC ) modest 5.5% weekly gains, the aggregate value of 20,000 listed tokens increased by 8.5% between Oct. 24 and 31. Total crypto market cap, USD (in billions). Source: TradingView The cryptocurrency market was positively impacted by a 6.3% weekly rally in the Russell 2000 mid-capitalization stock market index. Some encouraging news accompanied the positive tailwinds from traditional markets. For instance,  55,000 BTC was withdrawn from Binance on Oct. 26, a record high. Typically, analysts consider the reduced number of coins deposited on exchanges a bullish indicator, as the immediate selling pressure eases. Moreover, exchange and wallet provider Blockchain.com ...
Post a Comment
Read more