CryptoArtNet Awarded William M. Peaster $WHALE Grant

[Image Courtesy DeFi Arts Intelligencer]

I am excited to announce that CryptoArtNet is the recipient of a generous William M. Peaster $WHALE Grant. Given that CryptoArtNet currently has no payroll, these funds will cover our operating expenses for some time as well as helping us move beyond “good enough” to higher quality services for the NFT art community. In addition, I’d like to sketch out the bigger picture for CryptoArtNet as context for our first funding event.

The $WHALE Grant

When William contacted me to let me know he was giving us a $WHALE Grant, I was delighted. It’s a very generous gesture that provides real support for CryptoArtNet and for myself. In the most basic sense, it means that CryptoArtNet is no longer funded out-of-pocket and decision making can be less restrained financially.

This grant is part of a larger program of $WHALE grants initiated by WhaleShark.Pro that began in August. The program has continued to grow and has been a way for members of the $Whale Community to support and engage a broader circle in the world of NFTs.

The $WHALE grant program is an excellent example of how community building can go beyond one’s individual walls and help grow the larger pie.

Roughly speaking, this grant is likely to fund:

A year of CryptoArtNet’s web expenses from hosting to WordPress plugins, such as the Directories Pro plugin powering our Directory of CryptoArtists, to additional third party services.

The cost of incorporating in early 2021. Currently CryptoArtNet is a sole proprietorship. Unless we find it likely that we will be taking on investors in 2021, an LLC seems the most practical path forward.

A low-cost press release to reach out to conventional media. We’ve gotten close to zero interest from crypto media outlets. I think that will change over time but a lot of these operations only see numbers and we don’t have big numbers yet. It’s time to expand our presence on the web beyond this limited neighborhood.

A modest chunk of $WHALE to use for liquidity when $CRAC officially launches beyond CryptoArtNet. $CRAC, aka CryptoArtCoin, is the social currency of CryptoArtNet with emerging aspirations to become a key token for the larger NFT art world. Plans are to list on a DEX in 2021. Being able to launch with support for $WHALE/$CRAC pairs would be a very cool thing.

The Bigger Picture

The above may sound like a lot for a single grant to accomplish but CryptoArtNet is a very lean organization. At this point, the primary constraint is my time since I do everything at CryptoArtNet. That will change as we move into 2021, The Year of $CRAC, and community members will have many opportunities to participate and help create our future.

For now, members are updating their profiles, spreading the word and posting new art releases on our extremely beta New NFT Art stream. $CRAC is dispersed for Proof of Participation and there will be many more such opportunities for community members to help grow the site and make The Year of $CRAC a big success!

I haven’t spoken much publicly about CryptoArtCoin, saving most such news for artists holding $CRAC, but my hope is that it can ultimately provide funding for CryptoArtNet as well as financial rewards for members.

My motivation, in addition to rewarding our work, is to have a form of funding directly related to CryptoArtNet membership that can set the stage for community ownership. I don’t know exactly what that looks like but I’m closely following developments from DAOs to governance tokens to coops to “exiting to community” as a theme.

If you’re in cryptoart and interested in such things, let’s talk. There’s room for investors but my experiences in that realm to date feel like Web 2.0 all over again and I’ve already been down that road.

New horizons beckon!

I believe CryptoArtNet can do a lot more for artists. The William M. Peaster $WHALE Grant is a big vote of confidence for that future and a very real and practical show of support.

So Who Is William M. Peaster?

If you’re very deep into NFTs and cryptoart you should be familiar with William. He is the leading business writer in the NFT and cryptoart space both in terms of quality and knowledge.

Peaster’s a very busy writer. His DeFi Arts Intelligencer newsletter is a key read. He’s also currently the writer behind TokenSmart’s weekly newsletter which comes from the nft42 fam. They’re a nice pair if you’re trying to keep up with the rapid pace of change in NFT arts land.

Peaster can also be found on Twitter as well as Cent.

And if you’re looking for high quality work, here is his writing portfolio.

Thanks So Much!

I want to not only thank William but also the cryptoart community as a whole. To be honest, I was on my way out of web publishing when cryptoart drew me in as both an artist and web publisher.

The generosity and friendliness of so many folks in the scene has made 2020 quite rewarding despite the pandemic. It’s crazy to have found something so perfect for this time at just the right time.

Cryptoartists and NFT art are not just resilient. This early stage of development has shown us to be antifragile with bigger and better things ahead.

I look forward to making the journey with all of you!