Christie's

Invest in the picks and shovels — the tastemakers, not the art

Geoffrey Woo argues the durable bet in NFTs isn't picking which artist wins but owning the infrastructure that crowns winners — the Christie's, Sotheby's, galleries, and curators. He notes a multi-billion-dollar industry already exists to decide why a $40,000 wine is worth $40,000.

“I think we have some alpha is there is going to be a similar infrastructure around the Christie's, the Sotheby's, the gallery owners, the tastemakers, the curators. There is a multi-billion dollar industry that chooses winners, right? Like, who, who, who says that a Rothschild $40,000 wine is worth $40,000, right? There's a, an ecosystem that chooses that wine. Or that chooses that artist to be the next winner.”

Steal thisWhen a speculative category is too hit-driven to pick winners, invest in the picks-and-shovels infrastructure that crowns them.

The $69M Beeple buyer already owned 2% of Beeple

Geoffrey Woo notes that the buyer of the $69M Beeple NFT sold at Christie's already held a 2% stake in Beeple — meaning insiders were pumping the artist's value. Because NFTs aren't securities, this self-dealing isn't insider trading and isn't illegal.

“the Beeple art piece that sold for $69 million at Christie's, the buyer— Beeple had 2% of that, uh, stake, right? Like, they were pumping up Beeple's art value, right? Like, that is like well known within like the hardcore NFT art collection. Like, it was a self- deal, don't trade. Like, he is pumping his own art pieces, right? It's almost like a— like, because they're not securities, it's probably not insider trading, not illegal, right?”

Beeple posted art daily for 8 years, then cashed it in for millions

The artist Beeple made a new digital piece every single day for 8-9 years and posted it to Instagram, then converted that accumulated fan love into a record-setting NFT drop and a Christie's auction.

“For 8 years, he made a different digital art every day and he posted on Instagram and they're all like amazing. And he would do one a day every single day for like 8 or 9 years. And then he like cashed in all that, like fan love through an NFT drop.”