bitGRANTs
Introducing bitGRANts, something I have been thinking about for a while and am now finally able to execute due to the first bitGAN Collab bitFUND. What are bitGRANTs? Here is a long winded explaination.
So there is this thing called The Pareto Frontier that postulates that all efficient decisions come down to choosing between a cost and benefit. If you use it to compare fun and money, you realize you often sacrifice one of the other. For example, I taught high school art for a year. It was an 8/10 on the Fun Scale but it paid a 3/10 on the Money Scale. When I was a cyber security professional the scale was reversed. It was a 8/10 in Money but 3/10 on Fun. So it is always a give and take between fun and money. In this example, the Pareto Frontier is the tradeoff that we are willing to accept between fun and money, meaning at least one of them has to be worthwhile, and the more worthwhile it is, the less worthwhile the other has to be. Think about your favorite recreational activity and you do it because it is a 10/10 on the Fun Scale, even though it is often a 0/10 on the Money Scale, sometimes even negative.
And that is how it has always been but…
‘cause…
And this is what I saw happen with the recent bitGAN Collabs. And I want to expand it to be an example of all the good things that a cryptoArt project can be.
When we started, everyone was making bitGAN Collabs purely for the fun of it. Then the drop happened and multiple people (I think at least 5) came away from it with more than 1 ETH for doing what they would otherwise have done for enjoyment. Ricky and Higgsbelly spent a whole bunch of hours putting together tutorials that everyone used to make art and more than 40 people made art with it. Then in the end 15.1 ETH total was payed out to the collaborators! This is cryptoArt. The empowerment of all of us to be fairly compensated for our creative efforts.
Now that the bitFUND has liquidity, I envision bitGRANTs to support creative efforts done with bitGANs. This is not a guarantee of riches, but a fund that will encourage the spirit of cryptoArt and acknowledge the work everyone has already put into the project.
I have been talking to many of you in all the collab meetings and so many good ideas emerged on how this could be executed. This round only the artistic collaborators were fairly rewarded with 1/3rd of sales, but I think it should go beyond that in future as there are multiple layers of talent in the group.
bitPOSTING
One great suggestion from Ezra is that we could mobilize a social media campaign to have the bitGAN twitter account posting constantly. This would bring more attention to the project. A bunch of people volunteered for this, but the professional tools to do it efficiently cost money. Beyond covering this cost, I also think it would be great if involvement was incentivized by some sort of bitGRANT. Maybe there is an award for getting the top post on an “influencers” thread. Or maybe the award should be an airdrop for the team when the account reaches 10,000 followers. I don’t know what the proper numbers are and definitely don’t want it ever becoming awkward or feeling like a job, but I like the idea of gamifying it. To do so, I think that there needs to be actual rewards to incentivize creative posts and involvement. Calling this idea bitPOSTERs because maybe it should be nothing but shitposts. This idea is very early and possibly a bad one as it may make things awkward, but I am open to anything - hit me with your thoughts.
bGU - bitGAN University
Another group that definitely needs acknowledgement are all the people organizing and sharing educational resources. Multiple people wrote and freely shared code with everyone else. I hope that people continue to do so for the fun of it, but would also like to sponsor some of it with bitGRANTs.
I have already tested interest in this by asking people to consider creating online lesson showcasing their techniques. I want to do this on both the artistic and technical side of things. An example of an amazing technical contribution came from Higgsbelly, who independently learned how to deploy a custom DAPP and shared it with us for an amazingly successful completely sovereign drop.
How successful was the drop? We all experienced it, and a handful of A-List cryptoArtists also took notice. People are asking about it. The possibility of giving artists the freedom to be sovereign and independent of marketplaces is what this project is all about. So based on input and excitement in the discord, I have already asked Higgsbelly to lead the deployment on a number of additional DAPPs for community projects. This includes making sure they happen as well as educating people on how people can do it all by themselves. Thanks Higgs for agreeing to do this, and sharing your talents. It will be up to the bitGANg to decide how and what we deploy and I am looking forward to what we come up with.
Beyond this I think it would be fun to sponsor all sorts of educational projects. Am open to everyone’s suggestions. Hoping this will be a fun educational program that helps us all be better cryptoArtists and WEB3 technologists.
If this feels like a payment, I would instead suggest people consider it an honorarium. Well below what anyone would get professionally, but something in honor of the contributions and in the spirit of cryptoArt.
bitGRANT Goals
So you have heard two big initiatives here, but we are open to more. If you have an idea, get it out on discord and give everyone a reason to be excited about it so we can make it possible. However, as guidance for what kind of project I personally think are worthwhile versus projects that I would caution against, I have listed my views on cryptoArt Ideals and WEB3 Vices below. These are just opinions, however, so I am open to having my opinion changed if you want to argue an alternate point of view. Also I admit to being guilty of some WEB3 Vices in the past, but luckily they were minor infractions and I realized it before I got too deep into them.
cryptoArt Ideals
Decentralization - Encourage any idea that supports creative sovereignty from traditional gatekeeping systems.
Empowerment - We want to support people doing their own independent projects beyond bitGANs.
Self Reliance - WEB3 denizens are capable of doing everything they do without relying on larger organizations.
Free Exchange of Ideas - This includes anything where we realize that sharing is better than hiding.
Fair Compensation - Creatives often get exploited for “exposure” - not here. This is central to why I insisted on a primary sale split with the bitGAN Collabs.
Community Rewards - While weary of the typical utility offered on most projects, I find utility that strengthens and incentivizes community to be one of the best applications of crypto culture.
Meme Culture - What’s cryptoArt without Memes?
WEB3 Vices
Financial Incentives - The creative product should not be paired with a financial incentive. (Although I am degen myself and admit I sometimes buy art for the wrong reason:p)
Future Utility - Vague promises of things in the future or access to surprises that will be announced later are pure hype and unsustainable. Utility is not fundamentally bad, but should always be clear so people know exactly what it is.
FOMO - A touch of FOMO is fine, but it can be used to exploit human weakness and get people to do things they wouldn’t otherwise do. Good to minimize it.
Lotteries - A big abuse of WEB3 culture is lotteries, where someone is asked to do something for a chance of something. Not only is it exploitative, it is illegal most places.
IP Theft - My unpopular opinion is that cryptoArt needs to pay more respect to the intent of IP Holders. If intent is unknown, don’t test it. Just because you could, doesn’t mean you should.
Cult of Firsts - It is common for cryptoArt projects to emphasize being a first. Instead the focus should be on being the best.
I have many more opinions on ideals and vices, but will leave this up here for discussion. And it isn’t black and white. For example the blind drops we love so much have a touch of FOMO to them. People simply don’t buy art without FOMO. So like I said, things are gray, but the more an idea follow ideals, the less it falls for vices, the more worthy it is of a bitGRANT.
Looking forward to see how these bitGRANTs work out in the coming months.
And as with all things, this is flexible. Perhaps it is a horrible idea that takes the fun out of everything. But I don’t think it will.
Please comment freely below with your thoughts!
Thanks,
Pindar