This is the single most expensive set of cards I’ve ever purchased. The Bicycle Genesis Collection dropped in December of 2021, just beyond the peak of the crypto market, when NFT tech was firmly establishing itself as the future of digital collectibles. Bicycle took the route of creating a “phygital” (physical + digital) approach, akin to recent drops by adidas and Nike: collect one of these NFTs and receive a physical deck as part of the collectible.
Now, despite a bear market, brands are building the next iteration of their collections and loyalty programs on the blockchain, using the NFT protocol to introduce digital and community ownership and engagement into their offerings. Brands like Dolce&Gabbana, adidas, TIME, Starbucks, and Bicycle are changing the way they’ll be engaging with their most loyal customers.
NFTs provide one thing that prior tech has failed to capture: proof of authenticity and ownership. Art in traditional markets provide this by way of a certificate of authenticity. Failing to acquire that, there is a costly process to have the piece appraised to determine its authenticity. Prior to NFTs, this wasn’t viable for digital work, as anything could be easily replicated. In making proof of authenticity viable in the digital realm, traditional art markets are making their way into the NFT space. High brow art auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s have developed their own metaverses for digital sales and ownership & rights management.
NFTs solve this in this manner:
Your wallet address + Token ID = Proof of Ownership
For the longest time, NFT haters and detractors argued that all anyone needed to do was “right-click, save” and your NFT was rendered meaningless. However, this is missing the point entirely, and revealing a massive lack of understanding of the underlying tech. You can copy a jpeg, but you can’t copy a hash, and it’s the hash that unlocks a world of access to any combination of assets and tools, depending on what’s on offer by a brand, community, or artist. I discuss much of this when considering the value of NFTs where the tech is concerned in my piece Is Good Art Worth Minting on a Bad Blockchain?
In light of all this, I don’t know what Bicycle has in store for Genesis NFT holders, but they’re cooking something up. And being an absolute slut for beautiful and interesting decks, I’m super excited to see what they plan to launch.