then, as farce
April 22, 2020 11:56 AM   Subscribe

For centuries, even millenia, the wealthy and powerful have been able invest in one of the most treasured and lucrative financial products in human history: fine art. Conniseurs and patrons as diverse as oil barons, land barons and actual barons have reaped the rewards of taste, judgement and immense amounts of capital. But now, thanks to the power of blockchain technology (specifically, Ethereum), you too can own a (virtual) (fractional share of) some of the most impressive and valuable works of fine art in the world. posted by the man of twists and turns (17 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Fine art is just a tax fraud nowadays. Pick up a piece cheap, get it reappraised, donate to whoever, deduct like crazy.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 12:03 PM on April 22, 2020 [4 favorites]


Fine art is just a tax fraud nowadays. Pick up a piece cheap, get it reappraised, donate to whoever, deduct like crazy.

yeah but now you can do it with a blockchain
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 12:08 PM on April 22, 2020 [20 favorites]


Blockchain: Is there anything it can't ruin?
posted by majorsteel at 12:12 PM on April 22, 2020 [7 favorites]


Fractions can total more than 100 percent. "Inigo Philbrick ... sold several great masterpieces to several more buyers – and then disappeared."
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 12:21 PM on April 22, 2020 [3 favorites]


Blockchain currency fine art investing?

Yo dawg, I heard you like money laundering, so we put a launder in a launder so you can crime while you crime!
posted by leotrotsky at 12:29 PM on April 22, 2020 [18 favorites]


Blockchain: Is there anything it can't ruin?

Tetris.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 12:40 PM on April 22, 2020 [3 favorites]


Or just buy art from a living artist, please.
posted by lazymuse at 12:42 PM on April 22, 2020 [13 favorites]


Looking forward to the point at which "barons" of any sort, and any use of blockchain technology, are relegated to the dustbin of history.

Art is good, though. Art should stay.
posted by talking leaf at 12:53 PM on April 22, 2020 [1 favorite]




So Rally Road sets up an LLC with one asset - a car - and you're really buying shares of the LLC, not shares of the car. How an LLC whose only asset is an exotic car parked in a garage can make profits or pay dividends isn't really explained. And so when this all collapses the holders of these shares will own the same nothing they own now. Amazing.

I own a classic car. It's not an investment, it's something I take out and drive and enjoy. Without that, what's the point?
posted by 1adam12 at 1:50 PM on April 22, 2020 [3 favorites]


I own a classic car.

If it's a Frazer Nash, it essentially came factory-equipped with a blockchain.
posted by maxwelton at 2:04 PM on April 22, 2020 [1 favorite]


So if I was a wealthy art investor/collector, I could quietly start buying up lesser works from a known, collectible artist - let's say Monet, for the sake of this example - and then start buying more expensive works before casually letting it be known how big my Monet collection is getting. This would almost definitely drive up the prices for the remaining Monets up for auction, and by extension, my entire collection.

With this blockchain business, you can do the same thing but only spend 51% of your money. ...assuming you trust whomever set-up and is running the exchange(s).

Probably better to just start your own blockchain scam. Less risk. It doesn't even necessarily need to be illegal...
posted by Anoplura at 2:07 PM on April 22, 2020 [1 favorite]


Wasn't there a recent MeFi thread about some French guy arrested for a scam involving exactly this scheme?
posted by star gentle uterus at 2:50 PM on April 22, 2020


This, I believe: A very French scandal
posted by sjswitzer at 3:07 PM on April 22, 2020 [2 favorites]


there's a great little movie/mockumentary about this by Welles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIVgUjj6RxU
called "F For Fake" from 1973, also, not sure how to embed or post a link in a comment, I'm new and the link button populated nothing in the post. thanks in advance
posted by 4notherOnlineUserName at 3:38 PM on April 22, 2020 [2 favorites]


>Fractions can total more than 100 percent.
Well now you've shown me to be a chump for going in on theatre and musicals via produx.rs. With the global swing toward fascism, I was looking to become rich from Springtime for Hitler.
posted by k3ninho at 1:25 PM on April 23, 2020


The Stockbrokers Of Magic: The Gathering Play for Keeps - "The market for the popular strategy game’s cards has started to resemble Wall Street, complete with speculation, arbitrage, and yes, insider trading."
posted by the man of twists and turns at 2:34 PM on April 23, 2020


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