Maps of Intangible Meaning

In search of non-fungible value and community

11 min readApr 26, 2022

Anthropologists believe humans have been collecting objects for over 12,000 years, or since our ancestors abandoned the nomadic lifestyle. Think about this for a minute — we as a species have been seeking out and collecting things since the birth of civilisation. Some animals collect things for utility or for mating rituals (I particularly love the Bowerbird’s intricate stage built out of brightly coloured objects), but to the best of my knowledge, humans are the only species that collect objects purely for pleasure.

I have been a collector for as long as I can remember — books, coins, antiques and curiosities, and, lately, NFT’s. To be honest, I’d never bothered examining why I collected things until recently. My adventures down the rabbit hole of Non Fungible Tokens made me realise I better try to understand the psychological framework influencing my decisions, before it was too late. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made some profitable investments in NFT’s, and by and large avoided rug pulls / scams, but I realise there are many factors that can help predict whether a project will succeed or not, and most of these are tied to psychology.

“..the meaning of an object is only ever personal, a thing is only important if it speaks to you, or says something about you as an individual. But objects have many meanings — they can also say a lot about your relationships with others, about communities and collectives”
Diarmuid Hester, Hoarding or Collecting (The Essay, New Generation Thinkers)

The Endowment Effect

The Endowment Effect is a behavioural bias that results in people valuing something more if they own it. When you purchase an NFT you are buying more than a piece of art, as it often symbolises membership of a community. The value which you ascribe to the NFT might increase if the collection grows in popularity, or if you start using the NFT as an avatar or profile picture. What’s more, you might avoid taking profits on a NFT originally bought as an investment, because through ownership you now value it more than the market price.

Celebrity Contagion

In traditional collecting this concept might involve someone seeking to own an object of a famous person or celebrity. The word contagion is suggestive that the object is somehow imbued with the essence of the person. Celebrities have been cashing-in on NFT’s — at the moment it’s more or less a licence to print money, with few overheads and very little risk attached. Paris Hilton, “the Queen of Pop culture” was one of the first, dropping her NFT with SuperPlastic, a vinyl toy and digital collectible company. Snoop Dog released his NFT collection “A Journey with the Dogg" in April 2021, and musician Grimes has made over $6 million selling her digital art NFT’s. If you idolise a celebrity, it’s natural that you will want to buy their NFT, especially if it acts as an exclusive membership card to a gated community. As an investment, buying a celebrity NFT is probably safer than buying one from an unknown artist, but it depends on the price and the benefits of ownership. Beware of celebrity NFT endorsements, as these can be purely transactional agreements, akin to paid TV commercials.

Scarcity & FOMO

Scarcity in social psychology is similar to scarcity in economics — we place a higher value on items that are scarce than items that are abundant. If you know you will be able to come back in a week, a month, or a year and buy something at the same price due to its relative abundance, there is little pressure to rush out and buy it now. Attributing value based on scarcity is often linked to social proof (it’s sold-out so it must be valuable). Most people know what FOMO, or the Fear Of Missing Out is, but if not, please check-out my other article Crypto Mind. With highly collectible NFT’s like Cryptopunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club, there is scarcity and other economic and social mechanisms at play. What’s more, the astronomical returns early holders of these NFT’s have achieved feeds FOMO for newer collections — everyone wants to find the next project that will 100X.

Neotribalism & NFT’s

Neotribalism is a socialogical concept that postulates humans have evolved to live in a tribal society rather than a mass society. With advances in communication and social media, it does seem to be the case that more and more people are establishing communities based on shared beliefs rather than location. In the coming years we will see DAO’s replace Facebook groups, and membership will be managed using NFT’s. Identity is a very powerful idea, and is linked to other important concepts including self-image, self-esteem and individuality.

“Identities tell us who we are and they announce to others who we are.” Peter Burke
“Perhaps it’s impossible to wear an identity without becoming what you pretend to be.” Orson Scott Card
“A girl should be two things: who and what she wants.” Coco Channel

We are at the beginning of a major social shift, where online identity will become increasingly important. The Metaverse and NFT’s are the medium through which this will occur. If, like me, you’re a fan of Marshall McLuhan and believe that “the medium is the message” it’s easy to see the value that will be given to owning a piece of cultural history during this pivotal time.

The Web3 Gold rush — Metaverse & NFT’s

NFT’s have created a whole new way for start-up companies to raise capital, so when talking about upcoming NFT mints, you’re really talking about seed capital for building out an idea. The most recent and notable example is Moonbirds — a launch that generated a lot of hype, and hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. Chasing Whitelists for the hottest upcoming mint can be a good strategy, but it’s risky and time consuming. Recently, I’ve been focusing more of my time identifying existing projects I believe are undervalued, that could do well during the next NFT bull run. I’m looking for long term value and community, rather than a quick flip.

Azuki

Ok, so Azuki is already an NFT bluechip. With a current floor price of 25.4 ETH ($72,006), it’s already out of range for most people. The reason I started with Azuki is because it’s one of my favourite projects, and you can learn a fair bit by analysing its success. On January 12th a team of four anonymous founders minted 8700 NFT’s. The characters, known as Azukis, were priced at $3400 each, and sold-out in minutes. The mint raised around $29 million, with a further $2 million coming through a private sale a few days later. Azuki is a cool project — it has a distinct style that clearly resonates with the crypto and NFT community; it’s rebellious, in your face, yet refined. It also taps into the growing popularity and mainstream adoption of anime. The four founders of Chiru Labs (the start-up behind Azuki) are anonymous, but a fifth member of the team, Arnold Tsang, is relatively well known. Before Azuki exploded Tsang worked as a conceptual artist / character designer for Overwatch. Tsang has revealed that the vision Chiru Labs has for Azuki is a brand built on impressive IP, with a potential animated series, game and merchandise as key revenue generators.

Crypto Coven

Someone recently asked me to describe Crypto Coven to them, and my immediate retort was “sexy witches with intricate lore”. I first heard about Crypto Coven from Mercedes Bent, Partner at Lightspeed Ventures. She’d mentioned in a Metaverse Guide that it was one of her favourite NFT projects, and as she’s one of the leading woman in crypto, I thought it wise to investigate further. To understand the inspiration behind this beautiful and unique collection, it’s worth reading the founder interview that Dirt did at the end of last year. So why do I think Crypto Coven will succeed, potentially becoming an NFT bluechip? The days of pfp NFT projects are far from over, and as identity becomes increasingly important in the Metaverse, I believe this stylish collection will appeal to successful woman. That’s not to say it won’t also appeal to men or members of the LGBTQI community, it does. But I think the status aspect (and price appreciation) will be driven by woman founders, creatives, and business leaders. With a current floor price of under 0.5 ETH, I see Coven as a value buy at the moment.

Master9Eyes

If you follow me on twitter, you’ll have noticed me posting about this project a lot recently. Master9Eyes is a PureArts NFT and physical collectible project designed by renowned concept artist, Daniel Hahn (aka “Daytoner”). The project will consist of 9 collections of 999 generative Master9Eyes NFT’s, with each collection having a distinct style. Unlike Azuki and Crypto Coven, Master9Eyes is not really a pfp collection. It’s a niche project that will most likely appeal to hardcore collectors. Taking a step back, it’s worth noting that the global toy market was worth around $130Bn in 2020, with projected growth to $230Bn by 2028. NFT’s are likewise exploding in popularity. PureArts, the company behind Master9Eyes, are a leading manufacturer of physical collectibles and luxury toys. They have partnered with titles such as Cyberpunk2077, Assassins Creed and Resident Evil in the past, and today announced a fresh brand partnership with Elden Ring. PureArts is already collaborating with well-known artists for the Master9Eyes project. So far the list includes Juanito “Quiccs” Maiquez (Filipino toy designer and visual artist with own line of Addidas Originals), Dragon 76, Sket One, Eric Pagsanjan & Klav9. Personally, I think Master9Eyes has the potential to become a recognisable and successful brand, especially within the Metaverse. Mint for the second collection is ongoing and the floor price on OpenSea is a very accessible 0.0375 ETH ($106).

Fluf World

Fluf has been around for a while, but I think the project is still worth mentioning, as it’s doing some interesting things. To be honest, 3D rabbits don’t get me too excited, but as a brand I can see the attraction. According to Alex Smeele, Fluf’s co-founder, they aim to build a “scalable metaverse with play-to-earn mechanics, as well as invent new ways for content creators to engage with their fans.” Their partnership with Altered State Machine, an AI / NFT integration protocol is really interesting, as is their partnership with the Seekers NFT collection (built by the Sylo Network). Fluf seems to have a lot of heart — the team has already pledged significant amounts of money to charity, and this “giving back” ethos permeates throughout the Fluf community. In a recent interview Smeele mentioned Fluf is looking to collaborate with leading and up-and-coming musicians and artists. Fluf will be launching its own token, “Mycelium”, as well as offering “breeding” which will likely expand the collection and allow entry into the community at a lower price point. I don’t own any Fluf World NFT’s at this point in time, but it’s a project I’m keeping an eye on.

Reflections, Rich Simmons

I first heard about Rich Simmons and Art Is The Cure through Boring Stone magazine (another NFT project). Rich is a contemporary Urban Pop Artist who has exhibited all over the world. His work “explores the intersections of visual culture, spanning pop art, comic books, the Renaissance, contemporary fashion, sexuality and beyond..” Rich has a celebrity following, with his paintings fetching up to £52,000 at auction. His first NFT collection, “Reflections”, sold out in under an hour. You can’t really write about Rich Simmons without explaining Art is The Cure:

“Art Is The Cure is an award winning, non profit, inspirational platform to promote creative therapy through films, stories, interviews and workshops”

Art is The Cure is a movement, with a particular emphasis on addressing mental health issues through the creative process. Judging by the positive vibes and sense of community in the project’s Discord server, I believe it’s a genuine force for good, and worthy of support. Art Is The Cure also includes the works of Chromakane (Jessie Cohen), a visual artist whose art is a contemporary fusion of Eastern and Western values.

If you would like to learn more about Rich Simmon’s story, here is a link to an eleven minute documentary.

Maps of Intangible Meaning

The title of this article is Maps of Intangible Meaning (a little pretentious, I know 😅). I wasn’t deliberately hijacking Jordan Peterson’s work, but the way I see it, identity, myths and “the architecture of belief” play an important part in the emerging Metaverse.

“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

It seems paradoxical that in the future our children might seek “the experience of being alive” in a virtual world. But contentious as that idea might be, it’s fast becoming a reality. NFT’s are passports to new worlds, gated communities, and decentralised autonomous organisations. If the Metaverse evolves as is predicted, one’s online identity will become exponentially more valuable than our physical identity. So the question becomes, who do we want to be, and what ideals do we want to embody? Avatars could well free us from emotional baggage, negative self-image, and “resonate with our innermost being”. And being part of a community (a Cybertribe?) may reinforce this new sense of belonging. The successful architects of the Metaverse will be the storytellers, those individuals and organisations enabling our “Hero with a thousand faces”. For this reason, I tend to look for projects that are aspirational, and appeal to the imagination, one’s “inner child”. It’s not a full proof strategy by any means, but as many of our decisions are rooted in early development / psychology, in my opinion it’s a valid enough start point.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. For regular bite-sized crypto and NFT news, I am active on Twitter (@SemanticRich). I am not a financial advisor, so please do your own research / consult a professional before making an investment decision.