NFT

Torrent Site Called The NFT Bay Confronts Controversy over Non-Fungible Tokens

Torrent Website Called The NFT Bay Reignites Controversy Over Non-Fungible Tokens

There’s a new website the crypto community has been discussing called The NFT Bay, a web portal that operates in a similar fashion to The Pirate Bay (TPB), because the platform hosts a huge selection of NFTs stemming from various blockchain platforms for free. The creator of the portal revealed Thursday a file called “The billion dollar torrent”, which claims to contain all NFTs from Ethereum, Solana and other blockchain platforms.

‘The Massive NFT Heist:’ Pirate Bay Clone The NFT Bay Sparks Heated Discussions

Over the past year, non-fungible token collectibles (NFTs) have gained huge popularity. Billions of dollars have been spent buying these digital items. Many people in crypto believe NFTs are useless and that anyone can click on the NFT image to own the artwork for free. Since the introduction of NFTs, it has been a hot topic. The debate became even more controversial in March when an NFT immutability debate ensued and crypto supporters highlighted how NFTs were being deleted and images were being replaced.

Months later as NFTs continue to rise in both popularity and value, an individual tweeted about an interesting web portal called The NFT Bay. “OMG who right clicked all of the #NFTs?” the individual tweeted on Thursday. The individual named Geoff also left a torrent link hosted on The NFT Bay (thenftbay.org) called “The Billion Dollar Torrent,” which hosts all the non-fungible token assets stemming from Solana and Ethereum. After the tweet got thousands of likes and retweets, Geoff said he was headed to bed but left some press statements behind.

The NFT Bay functions in a similar way to The Pirate Bay (TPB) because it hosts a large selection of NFTs derived from blockchain platforms. The link leads to the torrent, where users can use a torrenting site to download the seeded file. The NFT Bay looks very similar to TPB. It uses the same colors as TPB’s website and even has TPB’s logo. You can find a variety of NFTs on the main page, as well as filters to NFTs from different collections such as Cryptopunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and Axie Infinity.

This is art. https://t.co/eKrqtrkMga

— Sos Sosowski (@Sosowski) November 18, 2021

The file Geoff tweeted was called “The Billion Dollar Torrent”. It contains a file that can be used to create NFTs using Ethereum-based or Solana-based technology. It also states that the file is available for both Solana-based and Ethereum-based NFTs. Support is due to fraud-prone artists

Party is over ! https://t.co/FGgAblfI38

— Sp3cPT (@PtSp3c) November 18, 2021

In Geoff’s press statements it asks why and the answer is “Art”. Geoff also discusses his background to explain the core reason behind thenftbay.org. Github’s press statements note:

Fundamentally, I hope through thenftbay.org people learn to understand what people are buying when purchasing NFT art right now is nothing more [than] directions on how to access or download [an] image. The image is not stored on the blockchain and the majority of images I’ve seen are hosted on web2.0 storage which is likely to end up as 404 meaning the NFT has even less value.

‘Underlying Technology Is Amazing, Greed and Scamming Is Sickening’

Geoff shared his thoughts on NFTs and the reasons for the creation of the web portal. Geoff believes that social media platforms will be the best place to find NFTs’ utility and value.

Ok, the one thing I will begrudgingly enjoy about NFTs is a massive NFT heist https://t.co/99CHemfngB

— Yell in a War (@jelenawoehr) November 18, 2021

This story contains tags

axie infinity, BitTorrent, Blockchain, Bored Ape Yacht Club, cryptopunks, Ethereum NFTs, Geoff, JPEGs, nft, NFT Heist, NFTs, Non-fungible Token, Press Statements, Right Click, Social Media, Solana NFTs, The NFT Bay, The Pirate Bay, thenftbay.org, torrenting, torrents, TPB

“A lot of digital representations are > physical representation and (if/when Twitter/TikTok (discord back away from it), roll out the ability for users to show flair on their social media profiles that will be a turning-point,” the press releases explain. Geoff also stated that the excitement surrounding Twitter’s blue verified mark is an excellent example of why verifiable proof could be crucial. Geoff stressed that “all of this” could be achieved without blockchain. “Could be achieved without blockchain.”

” What people can build with “web3″ is amazing,” the creator of NFT Bay concluded. The underlying technology is not as good and there is a lot of greed and scamming. The dreams for a different future remind me of the internet in the 1990s. What’s fascinating here is the communities are very strong and can self-fund the discovery phase. Where it goes pear shape is when ‘we gotta get new blood in to [a] pump/dump.'”

The question is what value people will place on this so-called NFT heist. People may ignore the torrented files and assume they are not ‘the true’ or verifiable NFTs. Since long, the controversy over verified ownership and right-clicking on a JPG/PNG file has been raging. It seems that it is still not resolved. It may actually take years or even decades to determine the validity of NFTs and their value in the future.

What do you think about The NFT Bay and Geoff’s press statements about the project? Please comment below to let us know your thoughts on this topic.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, The NFT Bay website,

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. This article is not intended to be a solicitation or offer to buy or sell any products or services. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. The author and the company are not responsible for any loss or damage resulting from or related to the use or reliance of any content, goods, or services mentioned.

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NFTs Enrich Gaming Communities, Drive Stronger Engagement, Says Gaming Veteran

According to Luke Paglia, the COO at AGMI Studios, while traditional non-fungible token (NFT) art has lacked real utility, which explains its declining popularity, NFTs still have an important role to play in the gaming industry. To back this assertion, Paglia cites game developers’ use of NFTs “to innovate and bring new forms of value [……
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Futurama’s new season struggles to make NFTs and AI funny

It only takes a few minutes before Futurama’s new season starts explaining non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, a concept most people probably haven’t thought about for more than a year.

Despite being set in the far future, Futurama has always been comfortable commenting on modern life. There have been episodes about smartphones and 3D printers that use sci-fi nonsense to complicate the concepts in a way that makes them funny. That has largely continued to be true over many years (and cancellations). But in its Hulu revival last year, the show really started to mess up the balance, and its topical jokes began to overshadow the sci-fi gags. The upcoming 12th season struggles even more to find a Futurama-style twist on absurd ripped-from-the-headlines storylines about NFTs and AI. It makes for an uneven season that often feels like it’s missing what originally made the show so special.

The NFTs are the most egregious example, and they also happen to be featured heavily in the debut episode, which makes for a terrible first impression. The convoluted plot involves Bender selling a CryptoPunks-style collection to make a quick buck, which somehow leads him on a quest to discover his origins in Mexico. Meanwhile, the rest of the Planet Express crew attempts a heist to liberate Bender’s NFT collection from an art museum, only to be thwarted by the complexities of the blockchain and digital ledgers.

The problem is that these aren’t some sort of quirky Futurama take on NFTs — they’re just regular NFTs as we know them now, terrible art connected to a digital receipt. The episode spends an annoyingly large part of its runtime explaining the concept — which, to be fair, is hard to do succinctly — without offering much by the way of jokes or commentary. It just assumes NFTs in and of themselves are enough to make people laugh.

More than a decade ago, when we all thought Futurama was really over for good, executive producer and head writer David X. Cohen explained to me how the show was able to successfully translate modern problems into its retrofuturistic world. “We always like it when the real world gives us ideas for episodes,” he said. “Setting the show 1,000 years in the future does not mean you’re not going to comment on society today, it just makes it one step removed.” As the NFT episode proves, it’s that “one step removed” part that’s so important. Without it, the episode is a bunch of dull jokes that are also painfully dated.

I’ve seen the first six episodes of the season (there will be 10 in total), and things fare slightly better later on. There’s a Squid Game spoof that explores Fry’s childhood through some kind of bizarre time travel and a fast-fashion episode that turns Cara Delevingne into Frankenstein’s monster and the professor into a style icon. I wouldn’t say these are examples of Futurama at its best — the jokes are hit or miss, and most are lacking the heart that keeps the show grounded. But they at least understand Futurama’s original premise: using this weirdo future as a lens to exaggerate modern issues.

This is less true in the most unoriginal episode of the bunch, when the show turns an AI chatbot into Leela’s jealous friend. It’s just about every AI movie trope rolled into 20 minutes of animation. It’s also pretty weird to tackle AI as a new thing at all given Futurama is swarming with sentient robots.

Maybe there’s more heart and wit in the later episodes, as Hulu does promise the season will explore “the next chapter in Fry and Leela’s fateful, time-twisted romance.” But from what I’ve seen, the balance is too far askew. There’s too much focus on being topical and not enough on the oddball humor, long-running characters, and warmth that has made it all work so well before. Like the rest of the world, Futurama should’ve left NFTs in the past.

Futurama season 12 starts streaming on Hulu on July 29th.

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Trump Reaffirms Support for Crypto, Plans to Launch 4th NFT Collection

Former U.S. President and presidential candidate Donald Trump has reaffirmed his support for cryptocurrency, emphasizing: “If we don’t do it, China is going to pick it up” and dominate the industry. He revealed that he will launch another non-fungible token (NFT) collection. He stressed that almost all of his previous NFTs were paid in crypto…
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