Mental Health in the NFT Space
Mental Health 101 In the NFT Space
The only certain things in life are death, taxes, and that markets go up and down. NFTs, Crypto, Stocks, Real estate, commodities the list goes on. Volatility in NFTs & crypto is what breeds such opportunity & also what makes it such an exciting space. Though with markets going up and down, so can our emotions. Think about it. Your favorite project drops in floor or value. You’re pissed off, down bad. A project you just purchased hits a moonshot, and you are euphoric, you’re a genius and you have already planned your work resignation.
We are all human and everyone loves a good moon pump. But it’s important to manage your emotions when investing. It allows us to keep our heads in the game, Make better decisions & ensure we keep in good mental health. Let’s dive into some top tips around mental health in the NFT space.
Accept the market moves
“You merely adopted the Bear, I was born in it, molded by it”
Batman fan boying there. But the masked villain ‘Bane’ makes a lot of sense, when he says “being molded in the dark”. He became tough, and resilient. My crypto journey started right before a severe 90% drop in Bitcoin just 1 month after being involved. I spent years learning throughout a 3-year bear cycle, which allowed me to build a high conviction thesis on crypto and continue to invest throughout a hellish crypto winter. They were good days…
The point is.. Let’s say your project dropped in Floor price. Breathe.. Learn to accept market moves. I promise it gets easier over time. Every market moves up & down, some more than others. NFTs are a nascent industry, with volatility bringing opportunity & excitement. Learn to accept market swings & thrive in times of volatility & market fear.
Cliche one: Don’t play with more than you can afford to lose
Sounds simple and you have heard it all before, but this is key. ‘APEing’ in culture has made it very easy for FOMO to get the better of us and to over-allocate your hard-earned $$$ or $ETH into a project. If you can afford it, the market is your oyster. If you can’t afford to pay your bills after APEing in, maybe think twice. By investing in what is comfortable, if the market tanks it’s not going to mean you are eating tinned food for the rest of the month & ultimately make it easier to control your emotions towards the market.
Make High Conviction plays
Ok… So you have decided to APE in any way. At least make it a high conviction purchase. What do we mean by this? Well.. ensure you have researched the project thoroughly. And not just skimmed through like you would the Apple terms and conditions agreement” Things you can look for are:
How long has it been around?
Is the project thinking long term & can the team execute?
Can the team deliver/do they strong advisory board?
Do they have a strong advisory team?
Is it an innovative idea?
Are people of credible influence discussing the project?
By having long-term high conviction in a project, if the market turns sour you can sit in confidence you have backed a project that will continue to build and recover in value.
Diversify Your Investment Portfolio
NFTs are fun, exhilarating, a game-changing technology… It’s why we write Scoop, it’s why you read scoop. But have you ever heard the phrase don’t put all your eggs in one basket? NFTs should be part of a balanced investment portfolio. My personal investment journey started in low-cost Index funds that even my grandma couldn’t get excited about. By having a balanced portfolio, Stocks, Commodities, Property, Crypto & NFTs you're going to experience less volatility personally which in turn plays less havoc with your emotions & keeps a clearer head when assessing more volatile assets such as NFTs & Crypto. Also believe us when we say it, learning about other asset classes will make you a more informed well rounded investor & improve your ability to assess web3 projects.
Resist FOMO
This would be the opposite of having a long-term outlook & high conviction in an NFT project. Raise your hand if you have been guilty of Fomoing into a project that is raising in Floor price. Yup 🖐. FOMO ‘Fear of missing out’ causing you to send all strategy, focus & clarity out the window. It’s a blind gamble. You may win some… and yes this easier in ‘UP ONLY’ Season. But better sill learning to control the feeling of FOMO will inevitably make you a better NFT collecter in the long term and save your pocket. “Time in the market beats timing in the market” is more of a quote from traditional investing. The point with NFTs is, if you can stay in the game long enough, eventually you will win.
Allocate time to the market & take breaks
Ok, this sounds obvious, but how many of us really do it… Your not getting any more time. It’s precious. Allocate set time to focus on the NFT space and get the most out of it. I know the market moves at pace, but it’s important to shut off from it to avoid burnout.
We know the feeling.. you are at work, a tweet notification comes through about the next Moon project & boom you are down are rabbit hole, then either frantically loading up Metamask to APE in or you’re sulking as you don’t have the funds available.
Don’t let the Floor price of a project be the first thing you see when you enter a new day. You’re better than that. Touch grass & shut off the notifications from time to time.
Point 7 - Well everyone is calling out this one.
Eat well, Cold showers, No alcohol, Exercise, sleep 8 hours, Meditaa.... blah blah. We are all Human. From our perspective, if you need a late-night Netflix binge of ‘The Sandman’, a burger & a cold Beer once in a while to take your mind off the market, then quite frankly so be it.
Scoops of the Week 🍦
🍦Uniswap exploring lending facility
🍦More than $100m worth of NFTs stolen since 2021
🍦Bored Ape Chocolates hit the shelves
🍦Immutable taking Web3 to Hollywood
Uniswap exploring lending facility
Crypto exchange Uniswap has engaged in talks with multiple NFT lending protocols as revealed by Uniswap's head of NFT product Scott Lewis.
It was highlighted that Uniswap has a definite interest in tackling both liquidity issues and the “information asymmetry” surrounding NFTs.
One thing to highlight is the current issues we have witnessed in regard to lending facilities, especially the case of BendDAO and Celsius.
There is potentially a gap in the market created by the downfall of the above however it is certainly a market that brings a lot of risks, but as they say with risk comes reward.
More than $100m worth of NFTs stolen since 2021
Elliptic who is a cryptocurrency risk management firm has released a report that highlights the unfortunate downside of our space.
The report highlighted that over $100 million worth of NFTs had been stolen over the past year. In addition to this, over $8 million has been laundered using NFTs since 2017.
The report also highlighted some worrying statistics from recent times with $24 million worth of NFTs being stolen in May of this year and Last month (July) marked the highest month of theft with a record 4600 NFTs stolen.
What we feel is probably the most important aspect of the report is how scams are carried out. 23% of all NFTs stolen in 2022 were caused by hacks on popular social media platforms used by the crypto community, such as Discord. The hacks were also a result of phishing messages sent to the members of different Discord groups.
We would like to remind our community to always be careful when opening links, especially in Discord. We have all seen groups compromised, messages that appear legit being scams.
Whilst on the topic of safety, we want to remind you about having a backup cold wallet. As this space continually evolves and we are seeing more crypto being exchanged there will be an increase in the number of hacks and certainly an increase in the sophistication in the process.
Bored Ape Chocolates hit the shelves
No strangers to our news section but, Bored Ape Yacht Club feature again.
KINGSHIP which is the first supergroup of Bored Apes signed to a major label, has collaborated with Mars candy to stamp M&Ms with their logo and apes' faces.
10K packages will be made available to purchase with KINGSHIP NFT holders receiving priority.
As we told you last week, Bored Apes, holders have full commercial rights to create projects and products based on their NFT.
This is probably the most adventurous creation to date, we just wonder whether this will kick start a Bored Ape food frenzy!
We attach a link to the shop should you wish to purchase some Bored Ape confectionary - Link
Immutable taking Web3 to Hollywood
Immutable have today announced that their strategic partners Decentralised Investment Group and XYZZY have joined forces with media & entertainment juggernaut Bron Studios to bring “the best-animated series & AAA MMORPG on Immutable X hyperscaling L2 platform” called Gossamer
Not much is known as of specific detail other than what has been stated in the announcement:
“Players will have a seamless game experience - so smooth they don’t realize they’re on the blockchain ++ our scaling solution will enable all in-game assets to be gas-free, carbon-neutral & tradeable at unbeatable scale and speed”
You’ll remember Immutable announced a $500m Fund where the focus of the company will be to increase web3 and blockchain games adoption with the fund being divided into two parts – ventures and grants.
It is clear Immutable are using their armor to load up and assert market dominance.
Scoop’s Weekly Winner 🏆
As we are all aware, plenty of global brands have already entered our space with more expressing their desire of joining.
Well Dune Analytics has released the current leaderboard of how each company’s NFT has performed.
The list contains, Nike, D&G, Tiffany, Gucci, Adidas and more
Well, following in the footsteps of many
of their athletes, Nike has come out on top with sales of $185 million and $1.3 billion in transaction volumes.
Clearly, the acquisition of RTFKT has paid off!
Disclaimer
The NFT Scoop newsletter or podcast is not financial advice, it is provided for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only.
NFT’s can be highly illiquid markets, causing sharp drops in prices due to changes in narratives and trends.
We would love to get to know you and maybe grab a sundae one day 🍨🍨