I hate to say I told you so…
Everyone knows you can boil a frog in the pot if you just increase the temperature slowly over time. Fewer people seem to be aware that with crabs you don’t have to put the lid on the pot because they’ll pull each other back into the boiling water so nobody escapes their fate. These two analogies remind me of the irrational hate I received back in early August for pointing out there’s a movement to start getting enthusiasts away from collecting actual, real cars in favor of digital NFTs. Apparently, pointing out a possibility makes one “a (sic) idiot” as one person so ironically shared.
Check out the new Hot Wheels NFTs here.
Now the news has hit that an NFT version of a Nissan GT-R sold for a whopping $2,850,660 CAD. That’s over ten times what a real R35 would set you back. Take a moment to process that: someone paid that kind of money for a Photoshopped representation of Godzilla, and it’s not even that good of a picture!
To be fair, Nissan Canada pumped up the sale of this NFT by saying it would any amount over reserve to charity. That means some charitable organization is getting $2,500,000 CAD so you could argue it was all for the children or a good cause or whatever makes you feel better. Still, this is a clear signal that the push for NFT collecting instead of acquiring real cars is becoming, well… real.
Other vehicle NFT auctions have been held with shocking results. Back in September, Lloyds Auctions in Australia sold several representations of the 1971 Ford Falcon GTHO Phase III. A Yellow Glo example fetched the most at $50,000 AU. Keep in mind this person paid that kind of money for a car they will never be able to touch or drive.
Yeah, you might say this is some crazy conspiracy theory, but the fact of the matter is a growing number of cities have been scheming about how to get people to not own any cars. Countless tech and mainstream publications have fantasized about the end of personal car ownership. They believe roving gangs of automated robot taxis or car sharing services will provide a utopian society for us all to enjoy. Apparently, these people skipped the section in Economics 101 about why public property is poorly maintained.
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus in 2020 put these plans on pause as people were paranoid to use an Uber, public transit, etc. Now that’s subsiding, the push to eliminate private vehicle shortage is back. Remember, by 2030 you will own nothing and you will be happy.
One way to pry your cars out of your hands is to pump up the collecting of NFT vehicles like this R35 GT-R. After all, if you can still have some cool cars in some virtual garage, why do you need the real thing? That’s obviously a completely out-of-touch approach, but it’s one that’s being teed up anyway. Yes, these people don’t get what you like about your smelly, polluting cars.
Some might see these NFTs as a new form of art collecting. I can get on board with the legitimacy of that viewpoint, only a lot of the digital tokens are some pretty crap art, to be perfectly honest. But as these NFTs are marketed, it’s obvious at least some people want to promote them as the way for gearheads to stop collecting actual cars. After all, it’s to save the planet, the children, or whatever else will tug at your heartstrings.
Images credit: Nissan Canada
