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Beanie babies were the NFTs of the 90s

Recode Daily

Recode

Science, Technology, Society & Culture

4.61.3K Ratings

🗓️ 6 April 2022

⏱️ 14 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

What happens when the frenzy ends and the world doesn’t value your valuables? Vox’s Emily Stewart explains what the Beanie Baby bubble burst can tell us about the future of NFTs. This episode was first published Jan. 24, 2022. Read Emily’s story: https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22870250/nft-beanie-baby-price-guide-bubble-princess-value Today’s episode was produced by Taylor Maycan, engineered by Cristian Ayala and hosted by Adam Clark Estes. Support Recode Daily by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

It's 2022, and NFTs are everywhere you look.

0:09.7

But just how long can the hype last?

0:12.9

Probably not forever for being realistic, and what happens when it fades, and the world

0:17.0

decides that your rare, valuable digital item no longer has any value at all.

0:23.5

Emily Stewart, Senior Correspondent for Vox, to get a sense of what the future might hold

0:27.8

for NFTs, you say we need to go back to the 90s, and a toy that was all the rage.

0:33.7

Yes, baby, baby.

0:38.9

Beanie babies were a huge deal in the 90s if you think back.

0:42.9

We're what you're about to have a new car or peanut deal.

0:46.9

You know, and they're not exactly the same as NFTs, but I do think that there are some

0:51.2

comparisons.

0:52.2

If you think about the height of beanie baby, Mania, a lot of people really thought that

0:56.2

the toys would be the key to retirement, or to college tuition, people thought that

1:00.6

they were going to be beanie baby millionaires.

1:03.3

I have probably 168 beanie, I still do not have a full set.

1:08.8

It's very hard to get a brownie, and it's very hard to get a puncher with tags.

1:13.4

And you're seeing a lot of optimism in the NFT market today, where there is this sense

1:18.9

that prices are just constantly and forever going to up and up and up.

1:23.1

You know, the interest in both of them kind of has a sort of inexplicable nature to it,

1:28.0

right?

1:29.0

Why was anybody into beanie babies, which were stuffed animals, why are people into NFT?

1:33.6

It's right, these little digital items.

...

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