Alain Falys

Tech entrepreneur, contemporary art lover, investor

[MoneyRadar Crypto @MRadarCrypto]

🚨 Notre gouverneur de la Banque centrale française pense que Bitcoin est émis par un organisme privé et se fait recadrer par Brian Armstrong…  

 La France rayonne, imaginez un peu ce que pensent les autres intervenants, le public et tous les spectateurs à distance de François Villeroy de Galhau.

[Wolfgang Munchau @EuroBriefing]

Here is my latest UnHerd column about modern colonialism. What goes around, comes around.
https://t.co/XNjgPp3S5y

[Alain Falys @AlainFalys]

Here is the interview of my art investment partner Asher Edelman. It covers Asher’s journey as contemporary art collector that started in NYC in the 60s, the Wall Street of the 80s, investing in emerging artists, art #fractionalization #senditpod https://t.co/5wPz7Xib2v

[Richard Muirhead @richardmuirhead]

Great to sit down and reflect on how far we’ve come, from Firestarter’s early days in 2012 to Fabric Ventures today.

Still driven by the same conviction:

People should own what they build, control their data, and share in the value they create.

🎥 Full chat below with @francescoswiss post-@EthCC

[Tad Smith @tadtweets]

WHAT GIVES ART ITS VALUE?

I have been thinking about this question quite a lot recently. Why does some art merely please us while other art becomes priceless? A useful way to answer it is to separate the qualitative appeal of art from the financial mechanisms that allow that appeal to translate into market value. Art begins as perception and ends, sometimes, as capital. Between those two poles lie six conditions.

1. It is arresting to one or more of our senses

All art begins in attention. Something must first stop us: color, rhythm, sound, texture, form. The arresting quality of an artwork is what differentiates it from the noise of ordinary perception. A painting that catches light in an unfamiliar way, or a line of poetry that disrupts our habitual language, generates a moment of heightened presence. Without this sensory spark, no further meaning or value accumulates. The first condition is therefore physiological: the artwork must engage the body before the mind.

2. It touches upon or tells a compelling story

A work that merely dazzles fades quickly. For art to persist in consciousness, it must evoke or embed a narrative that invites interpretation or remembrance. This can be overt, like a myth retold, or abstract, like the implied struggle of brush and canvas. Narrative connects perception to emotion and memory; it allows the viewer to participate imaginatively in the work. Story gives art its mnemonic and symbolic power, ensuring that aesthetic experience is not fleeting but lived again in recollection.

3. It connects us to a community or identity

Art rarely exists in isolation. It signals belonging and difference. To admire a Rembrandt at the Norton, a Beeple on X, or a Sam Spratt “Skull” is also to place oneself within a tribe of connoisseurs, technologists, or believers in a cultural order. Art is thus a social technology: it binds individuals into communities of taste and belief. What we value in art often reflects what we value in ourselves. This third condition transforms private perception into shared meaning, a prerequisite for any broader recognition or market.

4. It is scarce

Here begins the passage from qualitative to financial value. Scarcity converts desire into economic tension. An infinite supply of beauty would be spiritually rich but commercially worthless. In traditional art, scarcity arises from the fact there may be only one original canvas. In digital or AI art, scarcity must be engineered through cryptographic uniqueness or limited editions. What matters is not absolute rarity but perceived exclusivity: the conviction that this instance cannot be casually replicated or replaced.

5. It can be owned

Scarcity alone does not create a market. There must be a means to claim and transfer the scarce thing. Ownership is the social recognition of possession; it enables price discovery, trade, and inheritance. The entire edifice of art’s financial value from Renaissance patronage to NFT blockchain depends on mechanisms that make ownership legible. Even when the art’s essence is intangible, its rights must be definable such as the right to a banana taped to a wall. This condition turns art from experience into asset.

6. It is known by others

The final catalyst is visibility. Art becomes valuable when its existence and ownership are known beyond the private sphere. Public awareness functions as a multiplier: it validates taste, attracts new interest, and creates the feedback loop of fame. In markets as in culture, attention compounds. The better known a work becomes, the more it is discussed, exhibited, and sought after. This reflexivity and network elevate the few from admired objects to cultural capital.

The Alchemy of Value

Art is not valuable because markets say so. Markets say so because art first satisfies deep human criteria for meaning, identity, and attention. When those meet the mechanics of scarcity, ownership, and recognition, perception hardens into price.

[Alain Falys @AlainFalys]

Just became a member of @100collectors, a private club for my digital & contemporary art collecting journey. Art fair VIP access, early drops, artist intros, and seasoned art advisory. https://t.co/qWOgww18bf

[François Momboisse @fmomboisse]

“Qui va gérer la taxe Zucman payée en papier? C’est moi, patron de la BPI : dans 10 ans, j’aurai 20% du capital de LVMH, 20% de Kering, 20% de Free, etc, mais c’est délirant! (…) Mais d’où ça sort?”, écoutez Nicolas Dufourq étriller la taxe Zucman.:)

[Ryan Saavedra @RyanSaavedra]

This is actually a good statement from Bernie Sanders

Worth the watch

[anil hansjee @ahansjee]

Most attention has been on the lower hanging fruit opportunities in stablecoins such as remittances. B2b is a much bigger opportunity. Dont dismiss it just because it's not necessarily cross border.

[Fabric Ventures @fabric_vc]

B2B payments are one of the largest untapped markets in crypto.

Stablecoin B2B volumes have already grown to $3bn (per Artemis) and usage-based AI billing is adding new demand.

@loopcrypto_xyz is building the rails, infra, and data platform for this future. We’re proud to back their latest fundraise.

Read our perspective → https://t.co/GgVa69F6R1

[Fabric Ventures @fabric_vc]

Recurring crypto payments didn’t exist.

So @loopcrypto_xyz built them and turned a broken UX into a product moat.

Full story with cofounder @EleniThinks in our latest Portfolio Spotlight 👇

https://t.co/pro0eY71R5

[Alain Falys @AlainFalys]

Elon @elonmusk Will you support Republican primary candidates to replace the members of the House who have voted for this Trump big bill ?

[Alain Falys @AlainFalys]

@Kalshi @elonmusk .@elonmusk Will you support republican primary candidates to replace the members of the House who have voted for this bill ?

[jack @jack]

spend your bitcoin at @Square terminals.

merchant can choose to hold the bitcoin, or auto-convert it to fiat in real-time.

try it at bitcoin 2025 today. rolls out to more sellers this year.

[EleanorHudson @EleanorGraceHu1]

A big day for the team @fabric_vc was we announce our London Web3 x AI accelerator 💪

[Alain Falys @AlainFalys]

Entièrement d’accord

[Raphaël Bloch 🐳 @Raph_Bloch]

L'Europe est en train de commettre une erreur historique avec l'euro numérique.

Elle va créer une monnaie "Dailymotion" pendant que les Américains construisent une monnaie "YouTube".

Au lieu de soutenir l'innovation, l’UE mise tout sur l’euro numérique — fermé, sans rendement, sans blockchain — tout en freinant les stablecoins euro.

👉 Et pourtant, ces stablecoins sont la vraie révolution :

-Disponibles sur des blockchains publiques,
- Transparents, interopérables, programmables,
- Offrant un rendement natif, accessible à tous.

🔍 Ce que nos décideurs politiques n'ont pas compris, c'est que nous sommes passés dans une nouvelle ère monétaire : celle des monnaies augmentées.

Pendant des décennies, toutes les monnaies se ressemblaient : billets papier + transferts via Swift. Mais ce monde est en train de disparaître.

Aujourd'hui, la compétition est technologique, et les États-Unis l'ont parfaitement intégré.

🇺🇸 À la place d’un dollar numérique, Washington appuie clairement les stablecoins $ comme ceux de @circle ou @Paxos.

Pourquoi ? Parce qu'ils offrent une version améliorée du dollar : rapide, peu coûteuse, programmable et disponible partout.

🇪🇺 En face, l'Europe… choisit l'approche inverse avec l'euro numérique. Une monnaie Dailymotion à l'heure où les Américains construisent une monnaie YouTube.

🎯 Cette métaphore n'est pas exagérée : comme Dailymotion face à YouTube, l'euro numérique risque de rater son marché, de rester un produit local, rigide, sous-utilisé. Pendant que le dollar — boosté par les stablecoins — deviendra la monnaie par défaut de l'économie numérique.

Les stablecoins $ représentent déjà 99% du marché mondial (235 milliards $).

📉 À force de réguler par la peur, l'Europe pourrait perdre bien plus qu'un avantage compétitif. Elle risque de se couper durablement du futur des échanges mondiaux.

[Alain Falys @AlainFalys]

@igorsushko She did not say that .

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

Polish PM Donald Tusk, speaking before his flight to London for the European Ukraine summit:

“500 million Europeans are asking 300 million Americans to defend them against 140 million Russians. [...] Europe today lacks the belief that we are truly a global force.”

[Gabrielius Landsbergis🇱🇹 @GLandsbergis]

While we discuss this unreality show, Ukrainians are in trenches defending our continent, Russia's 190 billion euros are sitting in our banks untouched, our best weapons are in storage far from the front line and our pilots aren't closing any skies. This is not a drill, people.