\nGwyneth Paltrow and Mila Kunis joined a Zoom in January to encourage 5,000 women in the audience to break into the male-dominated world of crypto.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have watched a lot of these bros get together and earn a lot of money,\u201d said Paltrow, sporting a black turtleneck, sun-kissed glow and a disarming smile. \u201cWe deserve to be in this space just as much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kunis had recently launched a cartoon series with her husband, Ashton Kutcher, that uses NFTs, a digital deed often used to sell digital art<\/a> that exploded into a $25 billion market. \u201cWe are so conditioned as women to be risk-averse,\u201d Kunis said. \u201cI want to take risks and I want to see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two-hour event<\/a>\u00a0resembled a pandemic-era PowerPoint party, where friends share slide shows on random topics, and LuLaRoe, the multilevel-marketing company that convinced women to bulk-order brightly colored leggings by promising sisterhood and financial independence. It was hosted by BFF, a community co-founded by Brit Morin, a press-savvy\u00a0start-up founder<\/a>\u00a0and half of a Silicon Valley\u00a0power couple<\/a>, to launch collections of NFTs. [WaPo<\/strong><\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
WaPo reporter Nitasha Tiku isn’t afraid of zeroing in on the cultural dynamic:<\/p>\n
\n\nThe pitch for gender inclusivity is a much softer sell than seen in\u00a0celebrity TV ads<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0sponsored posts<\/a>. But these women-focused projects also hinge on the same logic that drives the rest of the crypto market: FOMO, or fear of missing out.<\/p>\n
Crypto skeptics say these efforts overpromise the financial upside and gloss over the risks, propping up an overhyped market rife with scams and hacks. Meanwhile, crypto enthusiasts are dismayed by the way high-profile projects have ignored the work of existing diversity efforts and allegedly taken ideas from young women of color without credit.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
\nAnd, given the lack of utility that appears to be inherent in NFTs, it continues to smell like a scam. But I remain ready to be convinced otherwise.<\/p>\n
\nIn other news, this sad little rant made me laugh. I know this isn’t about NFTs, but given that cryptocurrencies and NFTs both depend on blockchains for their technical existence, I think I can stretch a point. And billionaire Peter Thiel’s whining about a repressive gerontocracy keeping him down – a billionaire down!<\/em> – is an amazing joke. Not that I wasted my time on it – I do that with the VFYW contest – but depended on Holger and Christopher Reeves<\/a> for a summation.<\/p>\n
\nPeter Thiel says a \u201cfinance gerontocracy\u201d \u2014 Warren Buffett, Jamie Dimon and Larry Fink \u2014 is keeping #Bitcoin<\/a> from reaching $100,000. Billionaire calls Berkshire CEO a \u2018sociopathic grandpa.\u2019 https:\/\/t.co\/XlRn0jq9vn<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/JQQVXLwtSk<\/a><\/p>\n
— Holger Zschaepitz (@Schuldensuehner) April 7, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n