Paper 58: My $50k to $1M journey
My rise and fall: the future opportunity
GM - this is the BCheque Papers, edition #58.
Welcome to the 97 new subscribers this week - we are at 1,602 subscribers now!
I write about NFTs/crypto, and trying to make it independently in web3.
This is what we’ve got this week:
This Week In NFT World - $9.15M of Bored Apes sold in one transaction
Risk On - My $50k to $1M journey
Creator Corner - Chimpers Partnership
On The Horizon - Paris
For sponsorship enquires, please DM me on Twitter.
Have a great day,
B
This Week in NFT World - $9.15M of Bored Apes sold in one transaction
$9.15M of Bored Apes sold in one transaction
Mando and OSF, the founders of Degenz and Rekt Guy, sold 71 Bored Apes instantly on Blur for 5,545 ETH ($9.15M). It had no impact on the floor price of the collection. Why? Because people are leaving so many bids out there to farm the next airdrop.
This was a pretty epic tweet from Mando on why they made the trade to take advantage of the extra liquidity in the market right now.
Blur gun for OpenSea in marketplace battle
In the continued NFT marketplace battle, Blur revealed its plan to distribute 300 million $BLUR to its users. Blur literally provided users a button to click to eliminate all of their OpenSea listings. This is war between the two marketplace titans. OpenSea’s grip is loosening…
Proof Conference cancelled
PROOF announced their decision to cancel PROOF of Conference after low demand from customers and sponsors.
I wrote this article, Why I Sold My Moonbird, almost 30 weeks ago after many missteps by PROOF. General reaction has not been forgiving for this latest misreading of the market.
Pudgy Penguins go physical
Pudgy Penguins revealed their partnership with Retail Monster who will help distribute the upcoming Pudgy Toyline globally. Pudgy Penguins seem to have some real IRL impetus. They seem to be one of the only projects that understand in order to make money they have to actually run a profit making business, instead of relying on people to trade their assets all day.
XCOPY’s Clutches sold for 250 ETH ($422,697).
XCOPY, the most prominent artist in the space, has finished minting on their original SuperRare contract. I predict a huge sale if their next mint is the “first” on a new contract…
YouTube to embrace NFTs?
It has been reported that the newly appointed CEO of YouTube believes that blockchain and NFT technology can provide more opportunities to reward content creators. Can you imagine if YouTube gets on board? They already have a fantastic model to reward creators. Adding NFTs would offer an additional layer on which creators could win.
Risk On - My $50k to $1M journey
BCheque is an NFT trader and collector. He manages approximately half a million dollars of digital assets, publishes a weekly newsletter on the digital asset market (focused on NFTs), and advises artists and companies on the dynamics of crypto-capital. His weekly newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines in the world of digital assets every Friday.
I entered the digital assets space because of my love of art.
When I worked as a commercial lawyer in London, I would often go to galleries in my free time. I always thought that going to galleries was a peaceful way to enjoy a day in a busy city.
At the start of 2021, I heard that digital artists were earning real money from their digital creations because of new blockchain technology. Artists whose income was once restricted to contracting out to companies to produce images, animations, and videos for corporate use were now able to create digital assets which could be permissionlessly bought and sold on the blockchain. I suddenly understood digital ownership.
What happened next was a once in a lifetime experience: it was the tech-stock bubble; it was the stock market bubble; it was dutch tulip mania. It was NFT Summer. In this boom period where the markets went crazy and NFTs received intense attention and speculation, I turned $50,000 invested into a $1,000,000 portfolio under management.
What did I do to celebrate? I didn’t even know for some time.
Such was the rampant speculation on digital assets - which coincided with the rapid increase in value of cryptocurrencies themselves - that it was impossible to keep track of portfolio values which would swing tens of thousands of dollars in days.
I injected the NFT markets into my veins and seized the opportunity. I woke up to check NFT Twitter and Discord notifications. The markets were in the background all day while I worked. I stayed up until 3am to mint works I thought would be prized. My biggest win was a $250,000 sale of an NFT; my biggest loss was $20,000 into a coin which went to 0.
In the midst of this madness, I left my job to “go all in on web3”. But I did realise something wasn’t quite right. This was not sustainable.
Prices had become absurd: newly created tokenized IP was trading at much higher prices than collectibles of already existing globally successful IP like Batman and Spiderman.
I remember thinking: even if we are not in a bubble and this speculation is sustainable, it is not a life I want. I was wrecking myself. Up all hours. Markets running 24/7. What would the US do when they wake up? Was China going to get involved? Is this price going up or down? Up or down. Up…or…down?
It was very late one night when I created a spreadsheet, wrote a conservative estimate for each of my NFTs and got my calculator out. As I went past $800,000 I was happy. As I went past $900,000 I actually became uneasy. When I broke through $1,000,000 I was in shock.
I never told any friends or family members about this number - and I am glad I did not. I did write one email to some professional people referencing the full $1M+ portfolio under management.
It was the top. (One theory I have now is that when you start getting your calculator out, you are approaching the top!)
I did two things: first I started selling (not enough in hindsight - around half of these gains were eroded by the viscous crash in 2022). Second I asked myself: how can I contribute positively to this space in a way which leans into my skills and makes me less reliant on these widely volatile assets?
I am a qualified commercial lawyer and teacher. I think well. I write well. So I decided to start this newsletter.
I started in December 2021 (before the markets crashed) with 0 subscribers and no social media pedigree. My growth was slow.
One year later and 58 weeks of writing in a row I have 1,600+ subscribers, attracted 5 sponsors taking in more than $5k, and signed with my first major partner who is almost unanimously considered one of the best, most enjoyable, and well-intentioned projects in this space: Chimpers (more on this later!)
The transition from aggressive trader to collector, thinker, and writer is not one where I crossed the bridge and burned it. I have too much knowledge and experience in this market now to ignore certain trading opportunities (and it is honestly quite fun to participate a certain amount).
But what excites me most for the future is the opportunity to fulfil a dream: to become self-sovereign; more specifically, to become self-sovereign on the internet doing something which I love.
When I walk around all of those galleries in London, so often I notice my favourite artists spent time in Paris in the 1920s. I would wonder: where is the Paris of the 20s now? Where do creative, ambitious people go now?
The answer is here: on the internet; on the blockchain.
Creator Corner - Chimpers Partnership
I am delighted to announce the BCheque Papers first major partner: Chimpers.
Chimpers is almost unanimously considered one of the best, most enjoyable, and well-intentioned projects in this space. The team are continuously surprising and delighting their holders. They have a unique, playful spirit - something detached from the usual ‘floor-price-focused-antics’ of many collections. These are the reasons why I reached out to them.
I had more conviction because our connection runs deep.
I’ve known Insight for a long time, before the 5,555 Chimpers even existed. We used to discuss writing and support each other’s newsletters.
As we got to know each other more and Chimpers went from strength to strength, they reached out for some legal help (I’m a former commercial litigator). I hooked them up with some contacts in the city, sat in on some calls, and made sure they were happy with their legal representation. They were off to the races.
We always stayed in touch.
Much later I wrote this thread on what I considered to be the biggest news in the space (it is still epic): the Chimpers partnership with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Paramount.
The community loved it!
So many communities are starving for quality content on their favourite projects.
And that gave me an idea.
After 58 weeks in a row of writing this newsletter I have gone from 0 to 1,600+ subscribers. Why not reach out to projects I like and people I believe in to see if they’d like some exposure to my writing, reach and growth?
I’ve also started producing on YouTube with some of the biggest names in the space which I am really excited about.
I spoke to Insight and the rest is history.
Whilst we are in the process of figuring out exactly what this new content looks like, I am more than happy to hear your ideas.
My goal is to produce some routine quality content so that all the Chimps can get their fix of new Chimpers media, and new potential holders can keep learning about the delights of the Chimpverse.
Finally, I am grateful to Insight, Ser Joey, and Timpers for giving me this opportunity to be an ambassador for their brand, a creative outflow for the community, and an even-more-full time web3 writer/solopreneur.
I can’t think of another project I would rather work with and rep than Chimpers.
On The Horizon - Paris
I’m in Paris until Sunday. If you would like to chat, I would love to meet any of my subscribers so send me a message.
Have a great day,
B
Disclaimer: The content covered in this newsletter is not to be considered as investment advice. It is for informational and educational purposes only.
I hold some of the NFTs mentioned in these newsletters.