SOB: Stoner Cats Chaos and The Mainstreaming of NFTs
CoinDesk Podcast Network
CoinDesk
4.8 • 689 Ratings
🗓️ 7 August 2021
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
NFTs are emerging as the path from insular crypto community to a breakthrough in mainstream culture. Blockchain technology and pop culture collide to produce new possibilities for the future of art and beyond.
The question is, will NFTs prove to be valuable enough to endure beyond the hype?
“Stoner Cats,” a new animated series featuring top Hollywood talent (and Ethereum inventor Vitalik Buterin) successfully used a non-fungible token (NFT) sale to leapfrog the financial gatekeepers in Hollywood. With a cast list including Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Chris Rock and Seth MacFarlane, it is no wonder the campaign raised over $9 million in just a few hours.
Join hosts Adam B. Levine, Stephanie Murphy and Jonathan Mohan as they pick apart the ”Stoner Cat” ambitious and novel approach to the production of an independent animated series. This project is one example of many in NFTs proving their worth beyond just the art: They are now status symbols, pop culture phenomena and a viable financial tool.
The “Stoner Cats” NFT launch, though eventually fruitful, began with a set of stumbles. As prospective buyers lined up to the launch, Ethereum gas fees quickly skyrocketed and some paid more than five times the price in fees. While the implementation of this kick-starter style of on-chain fundraiser could be improved, “Stoner Cats” proved it was possible.
This episode features Adam B. Levine, Stephanie Murphy and Jonathan Mohan. This episode was edited by Jonas, features music by Jared Rubens and Gurty Beats with additional production support from Eleanor Pahl.
Image credit: StonerCats.com, modified by Speaking of Bitcoin
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | And suddenly 7,000 transactions slam the Ethereum blockchain. |
| 0:04.8 | And it has the capacity to deal with a fraction of those in any given block. |
| 0:08.9 | And again, this is a competitive process, right, where people really, really, really want to get one of these things. |
| 0:16.6 | With NFTs increasingly in the news, today we'll be discussing the perspective from inside a popular token launch, a new project from Milakunis and Ashton Kutcher called StonerCats. |
| 0:26.1 | Hey folks, I'm Anna B. Levine, and this is speaking of Bitcoin. On today's show, we're talking blockchain collectibles and how the blockchain part is somehow both critical and also a freaking disaster. |
| 0:36.7 | To do that, as always, I'm joined by the other host of this |
| 0:39.1 | show, Stephanie Murphy. Hi there. And Jonathan Mohan. Hey, hey. Andreas is traveling this week. |
| 0:45.4 | So I'm not exactly sure how to set up this topic. Like, I have not participated in a lot of |
| 0:49.7 | NFT launches, but I saw this project coming out, a cartoon that involves Milakunis, Ashton Coutcher, |
| 0:55.5 | Chris Rock, Seth McFarlane, Jane Fonda, and Vitalik as animated cats. Well, Jane Fonda is not |
| 1:01.8 | an animated cat. She plays a cat lady who are made self-aware by being exposed to marijuana |
| 1:07.8 | or something along those lines. I don't know. I watched the first four-minute thing after I got one of these stoner cat collectibles, |
| 1:14.2 | finally, which took a really long time. |
| 1:16.4 | But again, the project is still very early in its development cycle. |
| 1:19.4 | There's going to be a season coming out. |
| 1:20.6 | But it's a really kind of cool way to look at how sort of pop culture is dealing with this |
| 1:25.2 | on one side as a way to build a community before a show is |
| 1:28.4 | even out. And then also using it as a fundraising mechanism. So they were selling like an |
| 1:33.2 | NFT of the characters or something? Yeah. So if you think of a project like CryptoKitties or |
| 1:38.9 | like Cryptopunk, something like that, these are what are called generative NFTs or generative art. And the idea here |
| 1:45.7 | is that you have like 10 different kinds of eyes, 10 different kinds of, you know, faces, 10 |
| 1:51.5 | different kinds of mouths, you know, like all of these different variable pieces that fit within a |
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