NFT Stonk Exchange & (Possibly) Fake Basquiats

The NYSE's plans to enter the metaverse, and a Basquiat authentication scandal

Cultured is a newsletter by Otis that gets readers up to speed on the most interesting things going on at the intersection of finance, art, collectibles, NFTs, and more.

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🗞 STORIES OF THE DAY

The NYSE is looking to cash in on NFT trades

• The New York Stock Exchange is aiming to take a slice of the NFT pie. A new trademark filing reveals that the NYSE is planning a marketplace where users can trade NFTs and other crypto products.

• The stock exchange wrote in its filing that it “has a bona fide intention” to explore the blockchain. The filing includes references to an API for a marketplace that can be used to sell cryptocurrency and digital collectibles.

• Trademark filings are preliminary and it’s unclear if and how the NYSE will invest in the metaverse. Whatever its shape, an NFT marketplace run by the world’s largest stock market would give competitors like OpenSea a run for their money. 

Our Take: The NYSE’s trademark filing is the latest shot in the metaverse IP wars.

Nearly every major company (including the NYSE) has tried its hand at an NFT project. Some companies, like McDonalds and Disney, are making plans to dominate their markets in the metaverse. Like the NYSE, most of these plans are still preliminary and revolve around trademark filings. This doesn’t mean any of the plans are moving forward — it’s primarily a defensive measure to ensure that competitors can’t beat these big multinationals in the race to the metaverse.

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Two dozen previously undiscovered Basquiat paintings go on display — but are they real?

• The Orlando Museum of Art has put 25 works on display that it attributes to Basquiat. The pieces belonged to a TV writer who bought them off Basquiat early in his career for $5,000. They’ve been stuck in storage for the past three decades.

• Basquiat was known for his strange selling habits and often sold his pieces off the books for quick cash. The museum says this tracks with what they heard from the previous owner, and cited a major Basquiat authenticator who said the works were genuine.

• But others have said that certain elements in the works don’t fit with Basquiat’s style. A brand expert who reviewed the cardboard paintings said the FedEx box one of the works was painted on wasn’t produced until 12 years after the work was supposedly created.

Our Take: The decline of artist authentication committees has made it nearly impossible to certify new works.

For years, artists’ estates had authentication committees that certified works and rejected fakes. Basquiat’s estate disbanded its committee in 2012 in the aftermath of a lawsuit regarding the committee’s evaluation of a work. Costly litigation has led other estates to shutter their authentication committees, as well. The result: when newly discovered works by those artists have their authenticity questioned, there’s no central party to make a ruling.

“Untitled (Self-Portrait or Crown Face II)” is allegedly from 1982, but the cardboard it was painted on is from the 1990s.

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✨ AROUND THE INTERNET

• A DAO is trying to buy the Denver Broncos — yeah, like the NFL team. Previous DAOs have raised upwards of $40 million, but BuyTheBroncosDAO would need an eye-watering $4 billion.

• One of the victims of the OpenSea phishing attack last week is taking the NFT marketplace to court.

• A rare Kobe Bryant card sold in a private sale last week for $2 million — the highest price paid for a trading card of the late basketball player.

• The first issue of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book is up for auction. All first issues are desirable for collectors but the TMNT one is particularly important — when it came out in 1984, it was meant to be a one-off project.

• Kanye is dropping DONDA 2, his most recent album, and a bunch of corresponding merch.

• A schoolteacher in Staten Island has spent 70 years collecting Black history artifacts. Now she’s putting it up for auction in a single lot that’s estimated to bring in up to $10 million.

• Why did so many actors play Young Voldemort in the HP series? Several reasons, but mostly because they couldn’t take the pressure of holding a Horcrux (kidding…maybe).

Ok, but who’s the real Voldemort?