While Chris Dixon and a16z may have skewed the sales numbers of his recent book, Read Write Own, what hasn’t been given as much time in the spotlight is the book’s NFT offering.
Paired with the newly minted web3-worshipping tome is a bookmark that contains a code allowing readers to redeem an NFT on OpenSea (one of the largest NFT marketplaces). The problem is no one seems to care.
Of the 5,000 NFTs that are up for redemption only 5% — or 264 — have been redeemed by readers. It’s difficult to match this with the fact that Read Write Own landed at number nine on the New York Times Best Seller list. To achieve such a prestigious status there’s no doubt that Dixon and a16z moved thousands and thousands of copies, physically, through ebook readers, and via audiobook applications.
So, why isn’t anyone interested in the NFT?
It’s hard to say since exact numbers on who purchased the books are unattainable, but there are at least two likely reasons. Firstly, bulk sales were likely almost entirely to a16z itself, which will slowly be gifting the books to partners and companies it invested in. Alternatively, many sales were organic, and simply no one cares about NFTs. Either way, it’s negative for Dixon and his thesis presented in Read Write Own.
Opinion: How a16z gamed the NYT Best Seller list
Read more: Chris Dixon says a16z doesn’t sell its crypto tokens — portfolio disagrees
Major crypto companies partnered to work on NFT
The Read Write Own NFT project was a collaboration between a16z, IYK, Manifold, Dynamic, and Optimism — large and important companies in cryptocurrency. In that sense, one might expect that the NFT would be interesting and perhaps have some degree of usefulness. That expectation would be wrong.
Instead, the NFT is a copy of the cover of the book and when it’s redeemed it changes colors and the pixelated sun moves around. That’s it, no more, no less.
Regardless, while the future of blockchains, tokenization, and NFTs remains to be seen, it’s clear that Dixon’s attempt to predict it and get credited for it has fallen on deaf ears.
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