(note: If you’re not in the NFT space and don’t think in Ethereum (big person dollars) this will likely make no sense whatsoever – come join my Vagobond Discord Server and we can get you up to speed. )
I was thinking about and looking at the data for my NFT journey this morning before I jumped in any Discords or did any buying or selling.
My buying/selling journey started back in March/April with Punks Comic. I bought two of them.
I’d already been in Doctor Who for quite a while but this was my jump into ETH NFTs.
I bought two. I declined buying BAYC at .5 ETH because my family was forced to move by our landlord surprising us with an End of Tenancy Notice so money was a bit tight.
I scraped together enough to mint one each in a couple of mints which were picking up in number. I stayed up late picking the pirates I wanted in Pirate Treasure Booty Club. I got one. The next days were spent in an amazing treasure hunt with new friends. I was hooked on NFTs and Discord Communities.
But – PTBC started to fall apart – it was a slow rug but we didn’t know it yet. The other two mints I was able to get in on were Degenz and VOID (Visitors of ImmaDegen) – I minted floor models. Both projects ended up just being pretty blah and while not rugs, not making it. At this time the fucking pickles showed up. .01 for what was promised as a rug and ultimately was. I minted one. Floor model.
I saw the takeoff of BAYC – I wanted in desperately. I found one on OpenSea for .6 which was significantly under the floor price. I pulled the trigger, got the confirmation, went to the BAYC discord – and was informed it was a fake. Then Opensea delisted it. I was DEVASTATED. That was a lot of money for me.
I told my story in the Doctor Who discord and a kind woman who had recently minted a bunch of things called Gutter Cats sent me one – it was one of the kindest things I’ve experienced from a stranger.
I had watched while all my DWWA friends minted Bulls on the Blocks and Deadheads, the two projects I had passed over to get into Degenz and VOID. They both seemed to be going really well – my friends were selling their for 10x and 20x profits. My PTBC, VOID, and Degenz were all floor. The Gutter Cat sat at .18 for a long time. I minted a Lucky Maneki – again a floor model. The project made a lot of promises but wasn’t keeping them.
My friends with BAYC were killing it. The comics were stalled at .4 eth or something like that. I figured I had thrown around $5k away. My gutter cat gave me a gutter rat. The cat shot up to 1 ETH. I sold it. I bought a World of Women and a Curio Card. A guy had recently bought all the floor punks and when I looked in his wallet, I saw the WoW and Curio Card. Meanwhile, I passed on buying Cool Cats thinking they looked silly and simple.
I had landed a free Parallel Alpha Rug Poll card. I got my first offers .26 each for my curio card and my Parallel Alpha. I accepted the offers and got a shock at having to pay gas! Then I realized they had both taken off and I’d accepted 50% – even though it was profit for me of about 50% over what I’d paid – it was a losing move. Meanwhile BAYC was mooning and gave dogs to their holders. BOTB was giving bears. My Gutter rat was ugly and floor. I didn’t have any liquidity. I wanted liquidity. Everyone else was winning and I was losing. I bought a BOTB with my curio card money and a Deadhead with my Parallel Alpha money. I minted a bunch of things that didn’t go anywhere. Gutter Cat, Parallel Alpha Card, and Curio Card had started mooning now that I sold them.
Punks Comic started their burn and mintpass mechanism. I burned one for a PVFD and kept one to stake and claim physical comic with. The mintpasses started taking off.
WoW was mooning and I sold mine for 2 ETH finally getting some liquidity – but then I had FUD about not being in it and bought another for 1.45.
I sold a mintpass for 4.2. I bought a Mutant Ape for 2.9 sold it for 6.1 bought another for 4.8. Got a drop from the WoW and sold it for 2. Bought MonkeyBets, Buzzed Bears, BYOP, and took what was left and threw it into speculation from the PVFD channel. Bad speculation and bad mints. I bought a mintpass for thenext Gutter animal. I’ve minted and bought a lot of things – but the big issue is always missing out on the things that go up and going into the things that go nowhere and selling the things I have that go up!
I have wallets filled with NFTs at this point. I feel like I’m in a good place.
I have exposure to MAYC, GCG, MetaHero, Invariant Labs, Non-Fungible Heroes, Buzzed Bears, Influence Asteroids, Doctor Who – and plenty of others. I’m in a good spot.
My realization this morning however – brought to mind my dad showing me his networth and then showing me the house he sold in 1975 which had appreciated in value to more than his networth. If I would have sat and done nothing with what I had in the beginning – I wouldn’t be far from where I am right now.
I would have 2 mintpasses, pvfd, punkscomic, gutter cat, gutter rat, TWO GCG mintpasses which would add up to almost the same value as all of my other stuff. Maybe more…not totally sure though. The issue is I would be concentrated in two ecosystems and I wouldn’t have the opportunity to win with all of this other stuff. So, six of one, half dozen of the other.
I do feel like I’m at a good point to reflect on all of this though and to start sitting on my pile and letting it either produce or not.
There have been a couple of projects that I’m really glad I minted into: Monkey Bets Dao, Buzzed Bear Hideout, Pixel Vault Stuff, Influence Asteroids, and I feel really good about Non-fungible heroes but it’s still pre-reveal. I’m also really glad I minted into Hobo Beards because I love the project and the team.
Big Takeaway #1 : I’ve minted into DOZENS of other projects and pulled nothing but floor models and depreciating crap that fills my wallet. Minting is usually a losing game unless you can go very big. I cannot go very big so I’m better off on secondary after the post minting dip.
Big Takeaway #2: Good projects continue to reward and are worth holding until the money is life changing.
Big Takeaway #3: The biggest rewards often come from the smallest investments
Big Takeaway #4: Liquidity is hard to come by if you are spending everything on gas and minting shit-pegs.
