Geoffrey Woo

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?”

Creator-platform economics are an unstable equilibrium

Jake Paul argues YouTube creators capture a tiny, lopsided share of the value they generate, which is why top creators are fleeing to OnlyFans, BitClout, and their own subscription platforms. Woo frames it via Netflix: YouTube gets billions in content for free and kicks back an ad-rev split.

“It's very one-sided. And I think that's why you see, you know, YouTube and creators not as, you know, in sync as before, because they're finding ways to go off platform and make money like OnlyFans, Bitcloud, their own subscription platforms. So it's not the same ecosystem that it was before, but even before it was still very, very lopsided.”