Former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a> is selling pieces of the suit he wore during the legendary June debate between himself and former Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
The Republican <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/2024-election">presidential nominee</a> announced a new trading card collection on Tuesday in a video posted on Truth Social. The new “America First Collection” includes 50 new images of Trump in various poses. Trump explained during a promo that any supporter who buys 15 or more digital cards will receive a physical card. At the bottom of each card, under the image, is a piece of the suit he wore during the presidential debate with Biden on CNN. He mentioned that some cards would also be hand-signed.
“It’s really something, these cards show me dancing and even holding some Bitcoins,” Trump said of the new set of cards.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1724361346607000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1ZhyOQfEkxcMH_D1Ago3CQ">Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you.</a>
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Trump says he is selling portions of the suit he wore during the debate with Biden.
<a href="https://t.co/yMur7SU2bt">pic.twitter.com/yMur7SU2bt</a>
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) <a href="https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1828570202591895572?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 27, 2024</a></blockquote>
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It’s widely believed that President Biden’s abysmal debate performance directly contributed to his dropping out of the race, leaving room for the new candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, to become the Democratic nominee.
“People are calling it the knockout suit,” Trump added in the clip. “I don’t know about that, but that’s what they’re calling it.”
The former president also mentioned in the video that anyone who purchases 75 digital trading cards, which cost $99 each, would be invited to dinner with him at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
<a href="http://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1724211156439000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2xQ8bdTcpfdrPBAzczIuck">WATCH THE TRAILER FOR ‘AM I RACIST?’ — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI</a>
Trump trading cards have been popular since their introduction in December 2022. The first batch of non-fungible tokens (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/nft">NFTs</a>) sold out in hours. Since then, Trump has introduced new digital trading cards, including the “MugShot Edition,” which features images of him being booked at the Fulton County Jail. 
The physical cards from the MugShot collection also included pieces of the suit Trump was wearing that day and an invitation to dinner at Mar-a-Lago for anyone who purchased 47 cards in one transaction.
Per <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2023/12/12/donald-trump-releases-mugshot-edition-digital-trading-cards-offers-pieces-of-suit-from-fulton-county-arrest/">Forbes</a>, the first two releases of the digital trading cards generated a combined $9 million in sales.
&nbsp;

Donald Trump

Trump Is Selling Pieces Of ‘Knockout Suit’ He Wore While Debating Biden

Trump Is Selling Pieces Of Biden Debate Suit With New Trading Card Release

2024 Election

Elections

Politics

Presidential Debate

Former President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> revealed Thursday that the &#8220;MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT&#8221; that he teased earlier in the week — which some of his supporters thought could be anything ranging from his announcing a bid for House Speaker to announcing who he would want to be his VP pick should he win the GOP primary — was a series of digital trading cards.
&#8220;I&#8217;m doing my first official Donald J. Trump NFT collection right here and right now; they&#8217;re called Trump Digital Trading Cards,&#8221; Trump said in a promotional video. &#8220;Here&#8217;s one of the best parts: Each card comes with an automatic chance to win amazing prizes like dinner with me. I don&#8217;t know if that&#8217;s an amazing prize, but it&#8217;s what we have.&#8221;
Trump said that if you buy one of his digital trading cards, you will &#8220;join a very exclusive community.&#8221;
The problem with NFTs (non-fungible tokens), which are pieces of digital art that are supposed to be unique, is that NFTs have collapsed in value in recent months in large part due to cryptocurrencies taking a massive hit over the last year, a trend that has been accelerated by the collapse of FTX.
Compounding those problems were the designs of Trump&#8217;s digital cards, which many of his own supporters criticized. His supporters, and others, also criticized the overall decision to launch the initiative.
The following are some notable responses from conservatives:
<ul>
<li>Jesse Kelly, radio host: &#8220;Trump teasing a &#8216;major announcement&#8217; and then labeling his NFT &#8216;major announcement&#8217; only to have his hardcore fans act like that wasn’t the real announcement is the perfect example what this thing has become. Demand improvement. Put the pom poms down. We need a better Trump.&#8221;</li>
<li>John Cardillo, political commentator: &#8220;I supported Trump for years but this is ridiculous. Pushing a worthless NFT for $99 a week before Christmas on the heels of the #FTX collapse is beyond wrong. Calling it a &#8216;MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT&#8217; is just weird. Who advised him to do this?&#8221;</li>
<li>Luke Rudkowski, political commentator: &#8220;Hey guys, are you dealing with real life problems like the crashing of the economy the fear of nuclear war the destruction of our mental &amp; physical health that has been deteriorating b/c of direct government intervention. DON&#8217;T WORRY just buy a Trump NFT!&#8221;</li>
<li>Daniel Bostic, political commentator: &#8220;If this is the #MAJORANNOUNCEMENT it is embarrassing and a slap in the face to Trump’s base. People are struggling and losing their country. They’re begging for real action &#8211; not childish stunts like this.&#8221;</li>
<li>Steve Deace, podcast host: &#8220;DeSantis out here launching grand juries, while Trump be out here selling trading cards. Come on, man.&#8221;</li>
<li>Bryson Gray, political commentator: &#8220;Trump’s major announcement was about digital trading cards. Can we be honest about that being a let down?&#8221;</li>
<li>John Nolte, Breitbart columnist: &#8220;Anyone dumb enough to buy &#8220;&#8221;&#8221;&#8221;digital&#8221;&#8221;&#8221; trading cards should probably wear a helmet and never procreate.&#8221;</li>
<li>Hodgetwins, political commentators: &#8220;Man…when all Patriots are looking for is hope for the future of our country and Trump hypes everybody up with a &#8216;BIG ANNOUNCEMENT&#8217;. Then drops a low quality NFT collection video as the &#8216;announcement&#8217;, it just pushes people away…Damn.&#8221;</li>
<li>Caleb Hull, digital strategist: &#8220;Whoever thought this was a good idea needs to be fired.&#8221;</li>
<li>Kingsley Cortes, former Trump campaign: &#8220;I regret to inform you that we are so not back.&#8221;</li>
</ul>

Former U.S. President Donald Trump  Makes An Announcement At His Florida Home

Conservatives Respond To Trump’s ‘Major Announcement’: ‘I Supported Trump For Years But This Is Ridiculous’

Conservatives Respond To Trump's 'Major Announcement': 'I Supported Trump For Years But This Is Ridiculous'

General

Money

I don&#8217;t mean to be rude, but President Donald Trump&#8217;s &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/twitter-has-a-field-day-when-trumps-huge-announcement-turns-out-to-be-trading-cards" target="_blank" rel="noopener">major announcement</a>&#8221; — that wound up being about semi-exclusive &#8220;non-fungible tokens&#8221; made in his likeness costing $99 a pop — was pretty much the worst announcement of all time.
Here&#8217;s his promotional video for those who haven&#8217;t seen it:
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Donald Trump announced his new NFT collection with a commercial.
Here it is: <a href="https://t.co/yBLpn1Zb0f">pic.twitter.com/yBLpn1Zb0f</a>
&mdash; unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) <a href="https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1603442427473571841?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2022</a></blockquote>
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What&#8217;s next? A line of pet rocks?
That&#8217;s essentially what NFTs are, actually.
NFTs <a href="https://re4industry.eu/nft/#:~:text=Non%2Dfungible%20tokens%20(NFTs),traded%20or%20exchanged%20at%20equivalency." target="_blank" rel="noopener">are</a> &#8220;cryptographic assets on a blockchain with unique identification codes and metadata that distinguish them from each other.&#8221; So, basically, they&#8217;re crypto artworks paid for by crypto tokens, which, if you&#8217;re to believe JP Morgan&#8217;s Jamie Dimon, aren&#8217;t worth much at all.
&#8220;I think crypto is a complete sideshow,&#8221; Dimon <a href="https://seekingalpha.com/news/3914305-jpmorgans-jamie-dimon-crypto-is-a-complete-sideshow" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> recently. &#8220;Crypto tokens are like pet rocks.&#8221;
Now, you can own a Trump NFT, but it doesn&#8217;t seem like it will help his 2024 campaign.
According to the website they&#8217;re being sold on, this is &#8220;not political.&#8221;
&#8220;Is any of the money from this collection going to the Donald J. Trump campaign for President?”
&#8220;NO,&#8221; the <a href="https://collecttrumpcards.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">answer reads</a> in all caps. &#8220;These Digital Trading Cards are not political and have nothing to do with any political campaign.&#8221;
So, you can&#8217;t even chalk this up to a cheesy campaign bit where the candidate sells or auctions off cheesy items to make an extra buck.
Even if the money did go to his campaign — Trump 2016 never had to do that.
He actually used to have &#8220;major announcements&#8221; worth doing.
Trump&#8217;s 2016 campaign was a masterful performance that rejected the status quo and whacked an out-of-touch GOP upside the head.
People, especially Washington Republicans, seem to have forgotten that Trump&#8217;s popularity in the 2016 primary was thanks in large part to his willingness to attack Republicans who disdained the party base. He was the only candidate who understood that his battle was against Hilary Clinton, legacy media, as well as the GOP establishment.
He did so in remarkable fashion.
Who could forget when he ditched a GOP debate in 2016 and chose instead to host a fundraiser for veterans? He raised more than four million to help a group ignored by Washington — despite their sacrifices.
He is also the guy who brought former President Bill Clinton&#8217;s accusers to a press conference right before a debate against Hilary in the general election.
Both moves were brilliant, tremendous surprises that rejuvenated the base and connected.
How do $99 digital trinkets do that?
Perhaps Trump&#8217;s rapid response team on his campaign understood that they flubbed the announcement because soon after revealing the promotion, his team released an excellent commitment to free speech in America.
Among the promises from Trump are: banning the federal government from policing lawful domestic speech, firing any federal bureaucrat who has directly or indirectly engaged in censorship, and barring federal funds for universities that censor speech.
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Strong free speech platform for 2024 just announced by Trump:
-Banning the Federal Government from policing lawful domestic speech. -Firing any Federal Bureaucrat who has directly or indirectly engaged in censorship. -Barring federal funds for universities that censor speech. <a href="https://t.co/yoaCtZpYNw">pic.twitter.com/yoaCtZpYNw</a>
&mdash; Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) <a href="https://twitter.com/Surabees/status/1603437839533965312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2022</a></blockquote>
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All of that is compelling, but why didn&#8217;t he announce that before his NFT scheme?
Instead of focusing on his base, it seemed as if Trump was merely trying to line his own pockets.
That needs to change — and fast — if he has any desire of bringing the same voter enthusiasm to his latest bid for office.
He needs to remember that his most appealing message in 2016 was his bounding optimism and confidence in the American people.
His accurate assessment of the country&#8217;s problems — illegal immigration run amok, a deluge of blue-collar jobs leaving the country, a dishonest legacy media, and a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/boehner-cries-for-pelosi-while-conservatives-weep-for-america" target="_blank" rel="noopener">political swamp of Republicans and Democrats</a> ripping off the taxpayer and crafting laws out of touch with the average American — was matched with clear policies that were going to put America back on track.
The greatness of Trump&#8217;s 2016 campaign was not just his ability to name America&#8217;s problems, but to offer answers that would solve those problems.
His policies were reflective of his faith that America could be made great again if the American people were given the chance by having a president who forced the D.C. establishment to get out of their way.
All of that is still relevant — and that&#8217;s not necessarily a sign of the president&#8217;s failure in office. Four years is a short amount of time to expect any concrete change to take root in The Swamp.
As it stands now, polls show that the 2024 <a href="https://morningconsult.com/2024-gop-primary-election-tracker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GOP nomination</a> is still his to lose. In a crowded field, Trump is leading every potential Republican challenger.
Still, it is evident that somebody on his team needs to remind him of what worked in 2016 — and it wasn&#8217;t Trump collectible items.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Trump, pet rocks

Trump Needs To Rekindle 2016 Spirit To Win It All

Former President Donald Trump teased a &#8220;huge announcement&#8221; this week, but when it turned out to be a limited run of digital trading cards featuring Trump&#8217;s face on the bodies of superheroes, hilarity ensued on Twitter.
The former president teased the news in a video, showing himself with lasers coming from his eyes, claiming that America &#8220;needs a superhero.&#8221;
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Donald Trump shares bizarre video teasing ‘major announcement’" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o1Eg1wPsTco?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
He then made the official announcement via his platform Truth Social, declaring the release of a limited series of Trump digital trading cards that were &#8220;very much like a baseball card but hopefully much more exciting.&#8221;
&#8220;Only $99 each,&#8221; Trump continued, adding, &#8220;Would make a great Christmas gift! Don&#8217;t Wait. They will be gone, I believe, very quickly.&#8221;
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Trump made his big announcement on Truth… 
A “Trump Digital Trading Card” collection: <a href="https://t.co/dD6Fer1vga">pic.twitter.com/dD6Fer1vga</a>
&mdash; Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) <a href="https://twitter.com/meridithmcgraw/status/1603419655925911554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2022</a></blockquote>
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While no one really knew what to expect from the former president — who announced his third presidential bid just days after the midterm election — the explosion of thoughts expressed on Twitter made it clear that a collection of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) was not what anyone had predicted.
Nationally syndicated radio host Dana Loesch came right out and said just that, <a href="https://twitter.com/DLoesch/status/1603424377466404865" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeting</a>, &#8220;Didn’t have trading cards on the bingo sheet.&#8221;
Siraj Hashmi mocked the price tag, adding, &#8220;Food $200; Data $150; Rent $800; Trump NFTs $69,420; Utility $150; someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying.&#8221;
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Food $200 Data $150 Rent $800 Trump NFTs $69,420 Utility $150 someone who is good at the economy please help me budget this. my family is dying
&mdash; Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) <a href="https://twitter.com/SirajAHashmi/status/1603439288091295746?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2022</a></blockquote>
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He later <a href="https://twitter.com/SirajAHashmi/status/1603442013541744644" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commented</a>, &#8220;The best gift you can give your loved one this holiday season is an NFT of a meme of a Trump NFT.&#8221;
Red State&#8217;s Brandon Morse suggested that Trump should have taken the project a bit further, creating a trading card game instead of just the digital cards.
&#8220;Can&#8217;t help but think Trump missed out on the opportunity to make Pokemon/Magic the Gathering-style cards but with modern political entities and events instead of monsters and land. Hold tournaments at rallies. Make high-value collectibles, etc,&#8221; he said.
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Can&#39;t help but think Trump missed out on the opportunity to make Pokemon/Magic the Gathering-style cards but with modern political entities and events instead of monsters and land. Hold tournaments at rallies. Make high-value collectibles, etc.
&mdash; Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheBrandonMorse/status/1603440290274197506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2022</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;We have a nation going down the toilet, and Donald Trump is selling Pokémon cards. No thanks. And those of you with your secret decoder ring trying to figure out why need to STFU,&#8221; The Blaze&#8217;s Chad Prather <a href="https://twitter.com/WatchChad/status/1603439644695306241" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a>.
FiveThirtyEight Editor-in-Chief Nate Silver raised a different question altogether, asking whether Trump was really running for president in 2024 and arguing that he wasn&#8217;t actually doing any of the things that a serious candidate would be doing in the wake of such an announcement.
&#8220;Is Trump actually running for president? I mean I know he&#8217;s officially &#8216;running for president&#8217; but he&#8217;s not actually doing almost any of the things that you&#8217;d expect a candidate to do when they&#8217;re running for president,&#8221; he said.
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He also has plausible reasons to *officially* have declared even if he hasn&#39;t yet decided whether to run an effortful campaign: 1) may deter prosecution; 2) gets him more media coverage; 3) keeping his foot in the door may deter GOP from coalescing on an alternative.
&mdash; Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) <a href="https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1603445853208731648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 15, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Silver went on t0 suggest that Trump could have simply declared his run for the White House in an effort to keep the GOP from coming together around anyone else and to keep his name in the media. Not only that, but he said it could ostensibly be used as a shield against any possible prosecution.

TOPSHOT-US-POLITICS-TRUMP

Twitter Has A Field Day When Trump’s ‘Huge Announcement’ Turns Out To Be … Trading Cards

Twitter Has A Field Day When Trump's 'Huge Announcement' Turns Out To Be ... Trading Cards

Celebrities

U.S.

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/justin-bieber" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Justin Bieber</a> spent a small fortune on a Bored Ape <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/nft" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NFT</a> in January, but less than one year later the value has plummeted due in part to the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX, according to a report from Business Insider.
The 28-year-old pop star purchased the non-fungible token for 500 of the cryptocurrency ethereum, which is equivalent to $1.3 million. However, the value of the NFT has dropped to only 58 ethereum, or $70,000, Business Insider <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/justin-bieber-bored-ape-nft-value-dropped-after-ftx-collapsed-2022-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
It’s all related to the collapse of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/cryptocurrency" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crypto</a> exchange company FTX, which was headed by big-time Democrat donor Bankman-Fried. The company&#8217;s implosion affected crypto prices across the board, which in turn decreased the value of Bored Ape&#8217;s NFTs.
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), known informally as Bored Ape, is an NFT art collection with a value of more than $1 billion. The NFTs are recognizable as they feature profile pictures of cartoon apes that are generated by an algorithm.
Besides Bieber, other celebrities who have purchased Bored Ape NFTs include Jimmy Fallon, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna, Neymar, Paris Hilton, Timbaland, and DJ Steve Aoki. 
Crypto messaging company XMTP founder and CEO Matt Galligan explained the Bored Ape phenomenon, telling <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/why-bored-ape-avatars-are-taking-over-twitter" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New Yorker</a>, “It became a status symbol of sorts, kind of like wearing a fancy watch or rare sneakers.”
The founder said he and his business partner chose apes because putting significant capital into new crypto currency or NFTS is called “aping in,” and they also “just like apes.”
But even the popularity of Bored Ape NFTS wasn&#8217;t enough to withstand the spectacular downfall of FTX. The Bahamas-headquartered company was launched in 2019 and grew to more than one million users by 2022. 
When it was revealed that both FTX and Alameda research had overlap on their balance sheets, users demanded $6 billion in withdrawals and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/billionaire-ftx-founder-who-lost-entire-fortune-gave-massive-sum-to-democrats-before-empire-collapsed">tanked</a> the value of the company. Bankman-Fried went from having a $15.6 billion net worth down to being broke in the span of two days.

Super Bowl LVI – Los Angeles Rams v Cincinnati Bengals

Justin Bieber Spent $1.3 Million On A Bored Ape NFT In January, Now It’s Worth $70K

Justin Bieber Spent $1.3 Million On A Bored Ape NFT In January, Now It's Worth About $70K

Cryptocurrency

Entertainment

Justin Bieber

CNN attempted to sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of its streaming service’s first moments — but relatively few have been bought.
CNN recently released a subscription-based streaming platform called CNN+ — which Andrew Morse, the new platform’s chief digital officer, called a “historic moment for CNN.” He added that the “first live moments” of CNN+ would be made available as an NFT — the “the perfect way to celebrate our launch with digital collectors.”
As <a href="https://freebeacon.com/media/nobody-wants-a-piece-of-cnn-history/">The Washington Free Beacon</a> reported, “the trendy pieces of digital property have taken off in recent years, with demand for even mundane offerings… anticipated releases of NFTs typically sell out extremely quickly and for large sums of money.” However, fewer than 90 of the 250 NFTs featuring Kate Bolduan welcoming viewers to the &#8220;first live broadcast&#8221; on CNN+ have been <a href="https://vault.cnn.com/marketplace/7116">sold</a> as of Thursday evening.
CNN+ <a href="https://plus.cnn.com/plus/subscribe">allows</a> subscribers to “stay informed with live news, stream exclusive films and original series and participate in unique interactive interviews.” Packages are presently available for $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year.
CNN appears to have invested substantially in the new offering — even <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/who-the-hell-is-going-to-pay-for-cnn-howard-stern-mocks-chris-wallaces-career-change">poaching</a> longtime Fox News anchor Chris Wallace to host a show on the platform. However, reports indicate that CNN+ is already collapsing.
According to Fox Business correspondent Charles Gasparino, CNN+ employees are “bracing for layoffs possibly as soon as May amid projections of lackluster sales” for the new streaming channel. Employees <a href="https://twitter.com/CGasparino/status/1509217698491904006">say</a> that the new streaming channel “could be merged” into Discovery+ unless subscriptions accelerate.
When asked about Gasparino’s assertions by <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10670675/CNN-refuses-deny-report-job-cuts-CNN-low-subscriptions.html">The Daily Mail</a>, CNN officials did not deny that layoffs are possible. “We are very happy with the launch of CNN+ and look forward to its long success ahead,” a CNN spokesperson told the outlet.
Beyond its tanking viewership, CNN has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-cnns-jeff-zucker-resigns-due-to-undisclosed-consensual-relationship-with-colleague">plagued</a> by multiple scandals. In February, CNN president Jeff Zucker resigned from his post after an internal investigation into disgraced former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo revealed that Zucker was having an ongoing consensual relationship with one of his colleagues.
Indeed, recently unearthed emails <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chris-cuomo-helped-gov-andrew-cuomo-spin-nursing-home-deaths">reveal</a> that Cuomo assisted his older brother, former Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), with public relations efforts to deny charges that the state deliberately covered up the number of senior citizens who died in nursing homes with COVID-19. The legacy media lionized Andrew Cuomo at the outset of COVID-19, often carrying his daily live briefings and lauding him as a stable, competent, successful alternative to President Donald Trump.
CNN has also earned a reputation for failing to report objective news. Podcast host Joe Rogan recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fing-change-your-model-joe-rogan-calls-on-cnn-to-report-objective-news">argued</a> that CNN needs to change its model.
“My thoughts for CNN, my advice to them — I don’t hate CNN. I used to go to them every day for the news before they started f***ing hating on me,” Rogan said. “If you want to do better, just f****ing change your model. Change the way you do it.”
Rogan specifically condemned CNN hosts Brian Stelter and Don Lemon. “Stop this editorial perspective with guys like Brian Stelter and Don Lemon that nobody listens to. Nobody is chiming in saying ‘oh yeah, finally we get the voice of reason.’ Nobody thinks that,” Rogan said.

Brian Stelter

CNN Tries To Sell NFTs Of Its Streaming Service’s First Moments – Few Are Buying

Yves Klein, a French artist known for his experimental 20th-century paintings, premiered a unique piece of art in an exhibition called “The Void” in Paris in 1958, charging people to come look at his masterpiece. When people arrived to view Klein’s work, they were treated to nothing at all. He had showcased an invisible painting, yet it still gained fame and popularity.
More than 60 years later, a receipt for one of Klein’s paintings of nothing is estimated to sell for 500,000 euros or $551,000, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/style/article/yves-klein-invisible-art-sothebys-auction/index.html">CNN</a>.
The receipt is for Klein’s piece &#8220;Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility,&#8221; and only a few are believed to be in existence. It contains Klein’s signature and is dated “December 7, 1959,” only a year after Klein first showed the world his unique “art.”
CNN wrote, &#8220;Measuring less than 8 inches wide, the receipt grants ownership of one of Klein&#8217;s imaginary spaces, which he dubbed a ‘Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility.’ Designed to resemble a banker&#8217;s check, it is signed by the artist and dated to December 7, 1959.”
Some have drawn the strangely accurate comparison of Klein’s receipts to NFTs, the highly-confusing digital good. “An NFT is a digital asset that represents real-world objects like art, music, in-game items and videos,” Forbes <a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/nft-non-fungible-token/">explained</a>. “They are bought and sold online, frequently with <a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/what-is-cryptocurrency/">cryptocurrency</a>, and they are generally encoded with the same underlying software as many cryptos.”
Much like an NFT, the receipt gives the purchaser the seal of ownership over the work even if the owner doesn’t physically possess the invisible art.
For someone to buy one of Klein’s invisible works, a gold receipt given to the purchaser “had to be burned in front of witnesses chosen by the artist, while the latter threw the same gold into the Seine [River],” <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2022/collection-loic-malle-only-time-will-tell-2/zone-de-sensibilite-picturale-immaterielle-serie">explained</a> Sotheby’s. Three of these “transfer ceremonies” took place before the buyer was officially the owner of an invisible painting. Klein “kept a register of the successive owners” of his works.
Sotheby’s, capitalizing on the similarity of Klein’s work to NFT’s, announced they will accept cryptocurrency for the auctioning of the receipt. The person who ends up purchasing the receipt will also become an owner of “Zones of Immaterial Pictorial Sensibility,” wrote Sotheby’s.
Not all of Klein’s artwork were just blank sheets. His most famous work was of an artist jumping from a wall called “Leap into the Void.” CNN reported, “Klein, who died in 1962, was a key figure in the nouveau réalisme (new realism) movement, which used art to subvert viewers&#8217; perceptions of reality. In 1957, he opened an exhibition in Milan consisting of 11 blue canvases, identical in shape, shade and size. His best-known work, however, is the 1960 photograph ‘Leap into the Void,’ which appeared to show the artist jumping from a high wall, though it was in fact a composite of two separate images.”

FRANCE-ART-EXHIBITION-KLEIN-POMPIDOU

Receipt Of Invisible Painting Expected To Fetch Half A Million At Auction: ‘An Ancestor Of The NFT’

Roc-A-Fella Records — the record label founded by Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, Damon “Dame” Dash, and Kareem “Biggs” Burke in 2013 — has sued Dash, alleging that the co-founder was attempting to sell a non-fungible token (NFT) of Jay-Z&#8217;s 1996 album, “Reasonable Doubt.”
“The clock is ticking. Dash had planned to sell at a SuperFarm Foundation online auction on June 23, 2021, the copyright to Jay-Z’s debut album Reasonable Doubt, recognized as one of the greatest recordings in history,” the <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.562168/gov.uscourts.nysd.562168.1.0.pdf">lawsuit</a> states. “That auction was canceled, and Dash is currently frantically scouting for another venue to make the sale. It’s not a matter of if, only when. But Dash does not even own Reasonable Doubt or its copyright and, therefore, has no right to sell the album or any rights to it. Instead, RAF, Inc. owns all rights to Reasonable Doubt. The sale of this irreplaceable asset must be stopped before it is too late, and Dash must be held accountable for his theft.”
“During the past year, the market for non-fungible tokens, also called ‘NFTs,’ has exploded,” the lawsuit explained. “A non-fungible token is a unit of data that is ‘minted’ and stored on a digital ledger, called a blockchain, that certifies a digital asset to be unique and therefore not interchangeable. Simply put, it is a digit asset recorded on the blockchain that shows proof of ownership. NFTs can be created to transfer ownership of virtually any asset — from visual art to sporting event tickets, to copyrights. NFTs can be freely bought and sold like any other asset, and some NFTs have traded for tens of millions of dollars. SuperFarm owns an online platform that mints and sells NFTs to the public.”
The lawsuit then alleges that “Dash saw an opportunity in this emerging NFT market.”
“The rights to Reasonable Doubt are highly valuable and unique. They can be used to create derivative works and generate significant financial and non-financial benefits. There is only one Reasonable Doubt — the rights to it are irreplaceable,” the lawsuit stated. “Dash knew this and sought to cash in by auctioning the copyright to Reasonable Doubt as an NFT. Though the original auction was canceled, it is believed that Dash has already minted an NFT, which he intends to sell through another auction or some other means as soon as possible”
“But, again, Dash does not own Reasonable Doubt or the rights he is unlawfully seeking to sell. And Dash’s status [as a] minority shareholder in RAF, Inc., gives him no right to sell a company asset,” the lawsuit concluded. “The bottom line is simple: Dash can’t sell what he doesn’t own. By attempting such a sale, Dash has converted a corporate asset and has breached his fiduciary duties. His planned auction of Reasonable Doubt would result in irreparable harm. The Court should stop Dash from attempting to sell the copyright to Reasonable Doubt, require Dash to return the NFT of Reasonable Doubt to RAF, Inc., and hold him accountable for this brazen theft of RAF, Inc.’s most prized asset.”
<a href="https://www.tmz.com/2021/06/20/damon-dash-jay-z-roc-a-fella-records-reasonable-doubt/">TMZ</a> reported that Dash described the lawsuit as inaccurate and that he is trying to sell his minority share in RAF, and not the album itself.
“Under the terms of the deal with a potential buyer, the buyer would buy my share of Roc-a-Fella Records and Jay-Z will have exclusive administration rights” to the album, Dash told TMZ.

Jay-Z Beyonce

Major Lawsuit Claims Record Label Co-Founder Tried To Auction Jay-Z’s First Album ‘Reasonable Doubt’ As NFT

Jay-Z

Rap Music

The latest item to be auctioned as a nonfungible token is the original source code for the World Wide Web, written by the British computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee.
“The auction for the World Wide Web NFT — titled ‘This Changed Everything’ — will be run by Sotheby’s in London from June 23-30, with bidding starting at $1,000,” reported <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/15/web-nft-source-code-is-being-auctioned-by-inventor-tim-berners-lee.html">CNBC</a>. “The proceeds of the auction will benefit initiatives that Berners-Lee and his wife support, Sotheby’s said.”
CNBC also noted that the auction of the internet’s initial source code “will be the first time Berners-Lee has been able to capitalize financially on what is widely viewed as one of the greatest inventions of our time.”
“Three decades ago, I created something which, with the subsequent help of a huge number of collaborators across the world, has been a powerful tool for humanity,” said Berners-Lee in a statement. “For me, the best bit about the web has been the spirit of collaboration. While I do not make predictions about the future, I sincerely hope its use, knowledge, and potential will remain open and available to us all to continue to innovate, create and initiate the next technological transformation, that we cannot yet imagine.”
“NFTs, be they artworks or a digital artefact like this, are the latest playful creations in this realm, and the most appropriate means of ownership that exists. They are the ideal way to package the origins behind the web,” Sir Berners-Lee added.
According to <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/this-changed-everything-source-code-for-www-x-tim-berners-lee-an-nft/source-code-for-the-www?locale=en">Sotheby’s</a>, the work includes 
<ol>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Original archive of dated and time-stamped files containing the source code, written between 3 October 1990 and 24 August 1991. These files contain code with approximately 9,555 lines, the contents of which include implementations of the three languages and protocols invented by Sir Tim; HTML (Hypertext Markup Language); HTTP (Hyper Transfer Protocol); and URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers), as well as the original HTML documents that instructed early web users on how to use the application</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">Animated visualization of the code being written (Video, black &amp; white, silent), lasting 30 minutes 25 seconds</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">An Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) representation of the full code (A0 841mm wide by 1189 mm high), created by Sir Tim from the original files using Python, with a graphic representation of his physical signature at lower right</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1">A letter written in the README.md file (in “markdown” format) by Sir Tim in June of 2021, reflecting upon the code and his process of creating it</li>
</ol>
“Invented by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 1989, the ‘WorldWideWeb’ application was the first hypermedia browser/editor, allowing users to create and navigate links between files across a network of computers. It was written in the Objective C programming language, using the Interface Builder on a NeXT computer, a highly influential and innovative computer designed by Steve Jobs in between the time he was forced out of Apple in 1985 and when he rejoined in 1997,” explained Sotheby’s. 
At the end of the letter written by Sir Berners-Lee, the computer scientist says, “It has been fun to go back and look over the code. It is amazing to see the things that those relatively few lines of code, with a help of an amazing growing gang of collaborators across the planet, stayed enough on track to become what the web is now. I have never once felt I could relax and sit back — as the web was and is constantly changing. It is not yet the best it can be: there is always work to be done!”

Tim Berners-Lee

Inventor Of Internet To Auction The Web’s Source Code As An NFT

Internet

The largest shareholder of DraftKings dropped nearly $12 million on a non-fungible token (NFT), a piece of digital artwork called a “CryptoPunk” on Thursday, according to auction house Sotheby’s.
Shalom Meckenzie, an Israeli entrepreneur and the largest shareholder of digital sports betting company DraftKings won the bidding war for “CryptoPunk #7523” and purchased the crypto artwork for the hefty sum of $11,754,000, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-fintech-nft-sothebys-outcome/cryptopunk-nft-sells-for-11-8-million-sothebys-idUSKCN2DM20N">reported</a>.
“CryptoPunks” are 10,000 pixel-art characters that were created by Larva Labs in 2017. The artwork was sold as a non-fungible token (NFT), which is a unique digital file stored on a blockchain, meaning it is nearly impossible to forge a fake because changes in ownership are recorded permanently in the file.
NFTs have become extremely sought-after assets over the last four months, but they technically still have no real-world value. Purchasing an NFT has been compared to purchasing a piece of artwork that must remain in a museum, which may or may not lose or damage it. Visitors to the metaphorical museum are allowed to obtain a copy of the artwork that is for most intents and purposes not at all different from the original, Harvard professor Jonathan Zittrain <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/nfts-show-value-owning-unownable/618525/">writes</a> for The Atlantic.
This particular “CryptoPunk” was minted on June 23, 2017, and is one of nine &#8220;alien punks,&#8221; and it is the only one wearing a medical face mask. &#8220;CryptoPunk #7523&#8221; is a light blue character with a brown knitted hat and an earring.
&#8220;Little did the West think of the mask before 2020 and yet it now carries the heavy symbolism of unfortunate icon of the early 21st century,&#8221; artist Robert Alice <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auction/2021/natively-digital-cryptopunk-7523/cryptopunk-7523">said</a> in the catalogue note for the NFT on Sotheby&#8217;s website. &#8220;This Alien, the only Alien with a mask, stands as the ultimate symbol of NFTs journey to the mainstream.&#8221;
The &#8220;punk&#8221; NFTs &#8220;embody an aesthetic mirroring the nostalgic punk spirit, reflecting the Crypto Anarchist philosophy that brought together many of the weird and wonderful misfits that came to build the early crypto infrastructure,&#8221; Alice added.
Sotheby&#8217;s sold the NFT during a sale dubbed “Natively Digital: A Curated NFT Sale,” which made $17.1 million selling artwork by 27 digital artists. In March, an NFT digital artwork piece <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-06-07/nfts-shift-power-to-artists-as-the-music-business-evolves">sold</a> for $69.3 million.
NFTs have not always cost millions, however.
In July, legendary actor William Shatner, Star Trek&#8217;s Captain Kirk of the USS Enterprise, became an early adopter when he created a series of NFT trading cards with images from his personal life and career. Shatner&#8217;s digital trading cards featured images such as his acting headshots, early characters he played, a photo of him hugging actor Leonard Nimoy, his Star Trek co-star playing Mr. Spock, a telegram from a producer, and, oddly, an X-Ray of Shatner’s teeth.
“I’m astonished at how quickly it all happened,” Shatner <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/william-shatners-nft-collectibles-sell-out-at-warp-speed">told</a> Cointelegraph after his NFT collectibles sold out in minutes.
“The cards themselves represent a beautiful past,” he said. “The verification of being on the blockchains represents a great future. So we have the past and the future mixing together.”

DraftKings

DraftKings Largest Shareholder Drops $12 Million On Crypto Artwork

Five years after the controversial death of Harambe the gorilla, who was shot dead in 2016 after a three-year-old boy fell into his enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo, an image of the iconic primate is being auctioned as a non-fungible token (NFT).
The photo being sold at auction as an NFT is the one of the first taken by Harambe’s official photographer, Jeff McCurry, who “took thousands of photos of Harambe over the course of 14 months,” according to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-57279486?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Bbbc.news.twitter%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D&amp;at_custom3=%40BBCWorld&amp;at_campaign=64&amp;at_custom4=E8B65F0A-BF9A-11EB-90EB-9FC94744363C&amp;at_custom1=%5Bpost+type%5D&amp;at_medium=custom7&amp;at_custom2=twitter">BBC</a>.
The image, taken on the day McCurry and Harambe met, has been shared more than 5 billion times online, according to the organizers of the auction.
&#8220;I considered Harambe a true friend,&#8221; McCurry said of the late gorilla. &#8220;My many hours spent with him were always special and intimate. While I will never stop taking photos as long as I live, I know I&#8217;ll never find a better subject that means as much to me as Harambe.&#8221;
On May 28, 2016, a three-year-old boy was able to climb into Cincinnati Zoo’s gorilla enclosure and was grabbed by Harambe, the 17-year-old western lowland gorilla. The decision to shoot Harambe was deeply controversial, sparking fierce debate online which continues to this day. 
Shortly after the incident, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/31/us/gorilla-shot-harambe/index.html">CNN</a> reported, “The family of a boy who entered a Cincinnati Zoo gorilla’s enclosure last weekend — spurring zoo officials to shoot and kill the animal — will be the focus of an investigation into the incident, Cincinnati police said Tuesday.”
“The 3-year-old boy was dragged across a moat by the 450-pound gorilla on Saturday. After a 10-minute encounter, Cincinnati Zoo officials shot and killed the beloved and endangered gorilla, named Harambe. The boy was not seriously injured,” CNN continued.
According to Cincinnati police, their review was “only regarding the actions of the parents/family that led up to the incident and not related to the operation or safety of the Cincinnati Zoo.” CNN added that authorities had confirmed that “the boy’s mother was with the child at the time he slipped past a fence and tumbled into the moat.”
Harambe’s death also sparked a generation of social media memes, which reappear every year to mark the anniversary of his demise.
One example was shared by World Star Hip Hop. The caption read, “RIP to the legends,” listing the notable deaths of 2016. The images included musicians Prince and David Bowie, boxing legend Muhammad Ali, mixed martial artist Kimbo Slice, the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball franchise, and Harambe the gorilla.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
RIP to the legends <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/2016deaths?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#2016deaths</a> <a href="https://t.co/jdPoRTPp2G">pic.twitter.com/jdPoRTPp2G</a>
&mdash; WORLDSTARHIPHOP (@WORLDSTAR) <a href="https://twitter.com/WORLDSTAR/status/740046957595369474?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Non-fungible tokens have become hugely popular in recent months. The viral “Charlie Bit My Finger” video was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/charlie-bit-my-finger-video-to-be-taken-off-youtube-after-selling-as-nft%5C">sold as an NFT</a> this week for a reported $760,999, while model and actress Emily Ratajkowski <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/emily-ratajkowski-to-sell-controversial-art-as-nft-at-christies-auction">auctioned</a> an image titled, “Buying Myself Back: A Model for Redistribution,” earlier in May.
A non-fungible token is a digital item stored on blockchain technology which is used to certify the digital asset’s uniqueness.

Harambe

‘RIP Harambe’: Five Years After Death, Photo Of Gorilla To Be Sold As An NFT

The famous and beloved Youtube video of a young infant chewing on his brother’s finger will officially be taken off of the video streaming site after it sold as a non-fungible token for $760,999. 
As <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-57227290?xtor=AL-72-%5Bpartner%5D-%5Bbbc.news.twitter%5D-%5Bheadline%5D-%5Bnews%5D-%5Bbizdev%5D-%5Bisapi%5D&amp;at_medium=custom7&amp;at_campaign=64&amp;at_custom3=@BBCNews&amp;at_custom2=twitter&amp;at_custom4=868CDBA8-BC78-11EB-9271-F9EE4744363C&amp;at_custom1=%5Bpost+type%5D">reported</a> by the BBC, the Davies-Carr family put the clip up for auction as a non-fungible token (NFT) and over the course of the weekend, received bids for the clip. The price reportedly went up considerably in the later hours of its auction on Sunday. 
Two anonymous accounts were going head-to-head for the NFT. The account “3fmusic” won out in the end, offering a higher bid than the “mememaster” account for the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM">clip</a> which has been watched over 880 million times since it was uploaded to Youtube in 2007. 
According to the BBC, the auction page for the NFT noted that the winner will be able to &#8220;recreate a hilarious modern-day rendition of the classic clip&#8221; that will include &#8220;the original stars, Harry and Charlie.” The auction site reportedly added that it is time for the boys —currently aged 17 and 15 — to &#8220;embrace the next iteration of the internet.”
“The clip had been due to be removed from the video sharing platform on 23 May, following the auction &#8211; but at the moment <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM">it&#8217;s still there</a>,&#8221; the BBC reported. 
NFTs function as certifications that confirm someone owns something that is in a digital format. It allows for someone who owns an original version of a viral video, tweet, or meme to sell it like art. For viral videos, the process can be quite profitable.
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According to the BBC&#8217;s analysis, &#8220;An NFT is a bit like a collectible certificate of authenticity, but its owner does not actually buy the copyright itself &#8211; meaning the artwork the NFT represents can still be shown wherever the original artist or creator chooses. This means it&#8217;s an unusual move for the creators of Charlie Bit My Finger to choose to remove their video from YouTube.&#8221;
<a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/nft-non-fungible-token/">Forbes</a> explained the craze around NFts, as well, reporting:
<blockquote>So why are people willing to spend millions on something they could easily screenshot or download?
Because an NFT allows the buyer to own the original item. Not only that, it contains built-in authentication, which serves as proof of ownership. Collectors value those “digital bragging rights” almost more than the item itself.</blockquote>
</div>
</div>
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/24/arts/charlie-bit-my-finger-nft-auction.html">reported</a> that in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR9P21TgrjI">an interview with the two brothers in 2017 on The Morning, a British talk show</a>, their father, Howard Davies-Carr, said he was recording the boys growing up “just doing normal things” and that Charlie bit his brother’s finger while watching T.V. after spending the day in the garden. 
“The video was funny, so I wanted to share it with the boys’ godfather,” Howard Davies-Carr said, noting that their godfather lived in the United States.
The video was private at first, but several people, including his parents, had asked to see it since it was hard to distribute, so he made it open for public viewing. 
A few months later, the video had garnered at least 10,000 views, but Howard Davies-Carr said he almost deleted it. “Profits from the video and other opportunities allowed the family to send Charlie, Harry, and their two other brothers to private school, said Shelley Davies-Carr, the boys’ mother. The viral video with humble beginnings, which Charlie and Harry decided to sell, helped Shelley Davies-Carr stop working full-time when her fourth child was born,” the outlet reported. 
“I was just watching TV and just decided to bite him,” Charlie Davies-Carr said in the interview. “He put his finger in my mouth, so I just bit.” Harry Davies-Carr couldn’t recall the pain from his brother&#8217;s bite.
In an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/how-non-fungible-tokens-and-blockchain-are-changing-the-art-and-music-worlds">analysis</a> written for The Daily Wire, Harry Khachatrian explained the attraction to the NFT world and the authenticity behind it. 
He wrote:
<blockquote>
Blockchain, the same technology that has allowed cryptocurrencies to take the financial world by storm, has now made its way into a new market: art. In the form of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), blockchain allows artists to sign their digital works with unique identifiers, safeguarding their originality.  
On the issue of security, while even the most skillful authenticators in the fine arts auction house of Sotheby’s have been mistaken — once <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/seller-must-repay-sothebys-fake-old-master-1391008">auctioning</a> off a forged Frans Hals — digital art tied to an NFT does not need credentialed authenticators at all, because it cannot be replicated. An NFT is a digital certificate of authenticity that says this image is the original. Though the image itself can be replicated, the token cannot. The token is what identifies the original which, like any piece of fine art, can be collected and held as an investment. 
</blockquote>

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