crypto winters also put NFTs and the ‘effective altruism’ movement at risk

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) were the buzzword at Art Basel Miami Beach (ABMB) last year. From an official fair talk, streamed live on social media, to discussions at institutions like the Pérez Art Museum Miami and the Flagler Street Art Festival, non-fungible tokens took center stage in 2021. And of course, there were plenty of opportunities to buy into the hype. At the VIP opening of ABMB, visitors were led through an entire room full of NFTs thanks to blockchain Tezos, an official partner of the fair since last year. Other initiatives mushroom around the city. At NFT BAZL’s gallery auction, one NFT sold for $300,000, boosted by CEO Estelle Ohayon’s prediction that: “NFTs are the future and this is the way forward”.

Or the way back? Just before this year’s fair, the cryptocurrency exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy, destroying the entire crypto world. Bitcoin plunged to around $17,000, after peaking at around $64,000 a year earlier. And the market for NFTs collapsed just as dramatically — sales volume was $9 million in November, compared to $93 million just six months earlier, according to Non-Fungible.com.

Oh, and by the way, all of this seems to have squashed the much talked about theory that there is an inverse correlation between NFTs and crypto.

This year, the NFT initiatives were greatly reduced in Miami. True, there were some events, such as launch parties for Moonbirds and Pudgy Penguins, and some galleries such as Pace Verso continued their initiatives. But the heat was definitely off compared to last year.

In addition to hammering the broader crypto and NFT world, the FTX disaster is a blow to Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and his plans to turn the city into a crypto hub. And don’t even mention the promise that FTX would move its Chicago headquarters to Miami.

But there is a more significant problem. Another potential victim of the meltdown is the entire Effective Altruism (EA) movement. In short, this encourages people to earn huge sums of money so that they can then donate to good causes, especially “effective” charities.

But now the whole ‘make money, do good’ ethos of EA has been jettisoned by the FTX case because its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, was the poster boy for the movement and one of the biggest contributors to the FTX Future Fund. This aimed to support initiatives ranging from AI ethics to creating better personal protective equipment. Recently, the entire team behind the fund resignedand said they had: “Fundamental questions about the legitimacy and integrity of the business operations that funded the FTX Foundation and the Future Fund.”

And many are now suggesting that EA was merely a way of “greenwashing” by deflecting closer scrutiny of some of Bankman-Fried’s more questionable business practices at FTX.

Speaking from Miami, philanthropy advisor Scott Stover commented: “Yes, the FTX meltdown has to have an impact on EA. The fundamental principles of EA pose serious problems – you have to question whether it was attractive to people who were morally corrupt.” Stover hosts the podcast Giving back is deadwhich could not have been a more appropriate title for the disaster at FTX.