During my month hiatus from all things crypto one phrase kept coming back to me:
“Collect what you love”
It is something I’ve been holding in my mind like a mantra ever since.
What does that mean?
It means exactly what it sounds like, that we should collect what we love first and foremost, especially as it relates to NFTs and Ordinals. If crypto becomes nothing more than a hustle to find the latest hyped thing to flip for profit then disappointment, lost money and stress are often the result, or we end up buying crap that is not even aesthetically pleasing to us and being stuck with it. We end up buying things just to try to sell them, and not because we have any intrinsic love of the asset.
I have seen this work for some people, but you need a lot of capital to do it right, and a certain ruthless unemotional side to make it work. I knew a guy who made over a million dollars in the first half of this year doing the hustle/flip thing, but as I said, he was easily spending an average person's yearly salary on various things and ruthlessly flipping them a day or a week later, and hardly sleeping. And part of his success was because he both had the vast amount of capital to make it work and the luck to be at the right place, at the right time.
That is not feasible for the average person.
The story of Dan Polko
So enter the story of Dan Polko, the man who was buying CryptoPunks long before they became one of the most iconic, expensive, and instantly recognizable NFT collections in the annals of crypto. In the Decrypt article, he mentions his reason for buying them:
“The pop art aesthetics, the funky colors, the pixel art, reminded me of the video games of my childhood, such as Donkey Kong, Tetris, and Pac-Man,”
In short, it was just him following his curiosity and collecting what he loved. Eventually, it turned into something that made him fat stacks of cash, but it started as a desire to collect something that he thought looked cool, and that catered to his sense of nostalgia for his youth.
He later goes on to say that from there he started collecting other iconic NFTs by artists like XCOPY and Pascal Boyart, probably out of a love of the aesthetic as much or even more than for any perceived future monetary gain he could get out of them.
What excites your aesthetic tastes in this space?
The only way to learn about what moves your sense of taste in crypto is to explore different communities and styles and find what resonates with you.
There is something for everybody.
I say this with conviction as an old-school crypto bro who has been in every corner of the space for almost 10 years.
If you have any slight interest in crypto you can find something to get excited about and to collect or invest in. Once you figure out the basics it’s a lot more fun and easier than it can seem to outsiders.
I can’t figure out what jives with you but I can and will share what I like.
Rare Pepes
What I care about are Rare Pepes for their irreverent and playful style, as well as for their historical value in the annals of NFT history. They capture the early days of crypto before the suit-and-tie crowd got involved, when it was mostly about memes and adolescent jokes and having fun, all punctuated with the old anti-establishment cypherpunk ethos that started cryptocurrency in the first place.
Stamps
For that same reason, I like BTC and Dogecoin Stamps. They capture that Rare Pepe old-school ethos, but with a restricted palette of of pixels. Artists like Viva La Vandal are stamping BTC history at this moment in time in an easily understandable memetic way that everybody can understand.
screenshot of some Viva La Vandal stamps.
Stamps also capture that 80s/90s 8-bit video game vibe that scratches that nostalgic itch for me.
Another thing I like about Stamps is that it’s still so niche that you can reach out to and connect with many of the artists. I have traded with, made friendships with, and received free Stamps from some artists. Some in my collection now have a cool backstory and a personal touch that makes them priceless.
Screenshot of early Dogecoin stamps gifted me by the artist Robenira
Many are not worth much — yet. Even if they never become museum pieces I know that they are etched on BTC forever, and I like them.
Pride Punks
Pride Punks is another project I really like. They are the first CryptoPunks derivative and date from 2018( as far as the contract goes), plus they are the first NFTs honoring diversity in Web3. When it comes to people's sexual proclivities I really couldn’t care less. I’m a live-and-let-live kind of guy. These NFTs tick a lot of boxes from a collector's point of view just based on the dual narrative of being the first CryptoPunks derivative and the first NFTs in the space celebrating diversity.
Besides, they just look cool with the rainbow. The pixel aesthetic just nails it for my tastes, so I collect them. Will they ever be worth what Dan Polko got for his CryptoPunks? Probably not. Or maybe they will. Either way, I like them, and that is enough.
Screenshot of some of the Pride Punks in my collection
Litecoin Ordinals
Litecoin Ordinals. I love LTC and have made no apologies for that over the years. The fact that LTC has Ordinals is enough for me, and I am the proud holder of Lite Coin Punks, which is a collection of only 100 Punks that are all under the first 1000 inscriptions on LiteCoin. I also have a bunch of Litecoin Moonbirds, which are another early collection.
It doesn’t matter to me that they are largely unsellable due to no decent marketplaces, and vastly unknown even in crypto circles. I like them, they tick a box for me as a collector. That’s all there is to it.
Litecoin Punk in my collection
LTC Moonbirds in my collection
DogeParty
DogeParty. That’s another one I really like a lot. It is the Dogecoin version of Counterparty, and sort of the $DOGE version of Rare Pepes. It is a super small community of artists and just like with Stamps, you can interact with many of them. I have made plenty of connections here too, and have been gifted many DogeParty cards.
Some DogeParty assets in my collection
The reality
Most of us in crypto who collect digital artifacts like NFTS, Ordinals, and Stamps will not be lucky enough to be the next Dan Polkoand strike it rich by buying something that looks cool to us, or that scratches our aesthetic itch, but if we are going to be collectors then why not buy things that we actually like?
### In the end, buying anything but Bitcoin is the equivalent of going to a liquor store and getting a scratch-off lottery ticket, only in crypto those lottery tickets might cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars. If you know the risk and are ok with losing then go for it. Occasionally you win big, and you might be the next Dan Polko.
If not then enjoy the ride. Crypto is FUN even in a bear market if you follow your curiosity.