BrianLarson.eth

Former: COO @foundation 🌐 | Marketplace @niftygateway | 18 years @AppleMusic | I tweet about NFTs, art, tech, parenting, and music.

[BrianLarson.eth @_BrianLarson]

If you’re going to play “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by Fergie while I wait in line for my chance to order Panda Express, best believe I’ll be singing loud and clear for all to hear.

[BrianLarson.eth @_BrianLarson]

Anyone who cares about crypto, give this a re-tweet to try to get Turbo Tax to give a shit.

https://t.co/crlRAal8d5

[Now Media @nowmedia]

BREAKING: Foundation has been acquired by Blackdove

Users can opt in to continue receiving emails under Blackdove for the next 30 days

Afterwards, Foundation will transfer fully to Blackdove and only opted-in emails will carry over

The platform will continue operating as usual, with Blackdove handling moderation, support, and development

[ekaitza @ekaitza_]

Heart feels heavy today. Since the news broke, I’ve had a steady stream of DMs and in person conversations here in Palo Alto, largely because of my time at Nifty.

I want to start with the people. By a significant margin, some of the kindest and most dedicated individuals I’ve ever worked alongside, including exceptional teams from my earlier career in Silicon Valley. These were people working quietly behind the scenes, often under pressure, with a single focus: creating thoughtful, lasting experiences for artists and collectors. That effort mattered, and it still does.

Beyond launching careers and onboarding collectors, Nifty and other early marketplaces gradually became something else without much hype. Living records of a cultural moment. They documented history as it unfolded. Without them, there simply wasn’t a market. They brought in collectors who were already open minded, supported artists, and helped shape the collector base that ultimately drove the moment forward. Preservation now feels essential, and my hope is that some of these platforms find paths that resemble the models long relied on by cultural institutions, where stewardship and continuity matter as much as growth.

My hope is that this history remains protected. I hope Nifty transitions remaining assets post deadline into newly created custodial wallets on behalf of their owners, particularly for those who are not closely following the day to day of web3 or who may not be around to manage these transitions themselves. Gemini’s custodial infrastructure is among the strongest in the industry, and anyone familiar with what secure custody actually involves understands the level of care and rigor required to operate it responsibly at scale.

At the same time, the ecosystem has matured. We now have decentralized tools that enable real self sovereignty, closely aligned with the original ethos of the space. That progress matters. It does not erase what came before. It builds on it.

As we move from what feels like wave one into a more deliberate wave two of contemporary digital art, it’s worth acknowledging just how uncertain those early years were. When you take meaningful risks, outcomes vary. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you learn and adjust. Nothing was guaranteed. The odds were low, as they are with any genuinely disruptive industry at its start. With hindsight, it’s easy to critique decisions that now seem obvious. At the time, these were acts of conviction by people willing to back artists, new formats, and unfamiliar distribution models. Many of them now find themselves navigating a difficult transition.

For anyone hiring, I would strongly encourage looking closely at the talent that came through Nifty, and any other early marketplaces and curatorial platforms. These teams built under uncertainty, solved problems without clear precedents, and helped shape what comes next. That experience is rare and valuable, and it is exactly the kind of perspective needed to continue building the next phase of contemporary digital art.

On a personal note, yes, I have an unreasonable number of NFTs to move in the coming weeks. That is the transactional side, and it is manageable. What matters more is how moments like this are met. With composure, with empathy for the artists, collectors, and teams navigating uncertainty, and with care for cultural infrastructure that deserves stewardship, especially when it is under stress.

The work is not diminished because the outcome changed. If anything, it reinforces why thoughtful risk taking still matters.

Un abrazo fuerte,

Javo

[BrianLarson.eth @_BrianLarson]

Shoutout to @gracieabrams for one of the most moving performances I’ve seen in a while. Apple Music special is unreal. Red Rocks fans knew what was up.

[BrianLarson.eth @_BrianLarson]

ChatGPT ruined em dashes for me. I used to love them. Now they feel dirty.

[BrianLarson.eth @_BrianLarson]

Have you been on Reddit recently? Some days I'm not sure there are still real human beings posting there.

[Sam Altman @sama]

i never took the dead internet theory that seriously but it seems like there are really a lot of LLM-run twitter accounts now

[Raoul Pal @RaoulGMI]

There is a very very small window to buy digital art from established and newly established respected artists at reasonable prices. A very small window ... consider this a warning.

[BrianLarson.eth @_BrianLarson]

@BTCBreadMan Reminds me of this scene from Succession. https://t.co/Qy71eqre3I

[medved @mattmedved]

NFT treasury companies are coming

Whether we’re ready or not

GameSquare’s $5.15 million Punk acquisition is just the beginning

The math is simple: $8 million CryptoPunk sweep moved the floor 8 ETH overnight

Now imagine $50-100 million funds buying in

We've seen this playbook with Bitcoin treasuries like MicroStrategy, converting corporate cash to BTC to become a publicly traded crypto proxy

Now it's JPEGs getting the treasury treatment

The entire NFT market cap is still only the size of a single top 25 chain like Uniswap

The upside is clear

So are the concerns

Is the world ready?

Not really… but that's never stopped this space before

[JK @_JKNFT_]

It’s been nearly two months (56 days, to be exact) since @Spencer and @ocapgames acquired the Moonbirds from @yugalabs and they’ve been firing on all cylinders.

You might best starting to feel some fomo on the birbs.

Looking at the last two months might push you to grab your first (or another) Moonbird or Mythic.

Let's review - A MegaThread, Part 1

[Nate Geraci @NateGeraci]

.@ricedelman, who founded $300bil investment advisory firm Edelman Financial Engines…

Recommends *40%* crypto allocation for aggressive investors.

10% for conservative.

Says owning crypto is no longer a speculative position; failing to do so is.

Look at these takeaways.

[BrianLarson.eth @_BrianLarson]

@shitKROsays @proof_xyz @moonbirds @akasteveyyy @ColinHesterly @yugalabs @spencer @Ocapgames @pudgypenguins @ArtBasel @0xPolygon @blast @pumpdotfun Thank you for your service

[DCinvestor @DCinvestor]

remember this moment in 1 year

when you finally saw the moment when it became obvious that the biggest players in the financial world were about to build on Ethereum

but you were still convinced ETH was a bad investment, because people on Twitter said it was bad

[BrianLarson.eth @_BrianLarson]

Speculation comes and goes. What matters is that people are using the network.

[Token Terminal 📊 @tokenterminal]

BREAKING: The stablecoin supply on @ethereum reached an all-time high of $132.4 billion.

[BrianLarson.eth @_BrianLarson]

It’s uncomfortable, but comfortable enough.

It’s impossible, but possible for us.

[BrianLarson.eth @_BrianLarson]

Me: “Hey Siri, play some music I would like.”
Siri: “Playing ‘Like’ by Random Artist.”
Me: “Siri, call Apple. I’m ready to come out of retirement to fix this mess.”

[BrianLarson.eth @_BrianLarson]

Entropy is working against you every single day. Keep moving forward.

[BrianLarson.eth @_BrianLarson]

One downside to splitting my music listening pretty evenly between Spotify and Apple Music is that the end of year wraps they each do feel incomplete.

[Anthony Pompliano 🌪 @APompliano]

🚨 Bitcoin has officially hit a new all-time high.

Congratulations to everyone who held through the volatility.