Cryptocurrencies have entered the mainstream, and venture capital related to cryptocurrencies is not planning to miss out on the many opportunities it offers. VanityBlocks is one of the many projects that has emerged with the intention to invest heavily in the blockchain.
The company has begun to buy whole Ethereum transaction blocks to turn them into non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This action prevents anybody from using them and having “space” in the block.
Ethereum blocks can hold between a few to several thousand sources of information of transactions that have happened on the blockchain. The more transactions you have, the more you have to pay, designed to prevent people from spamming code. The code in a specific block can be extended until it hits a certain “weight,” after which no other transaction can occur in that block.
So far, VanityBlocks has minted two NFTs. Genesis NFT was created on the 16th of January, and this transaction alone took an entire block, costing 5.31 ETH or around $16,600. The second NFT was minted on the 31st of January and has cost 3.42 ETH or $10,700.
Many crypto enthusiasts have taken to social media to speculate the intentions of VanityBlocks due to the eerie nature of the NFTs they are creating. The NFTs show a pair of eyes on a black background. The block number with which it was minted is contained in the NFT metadata. This may mean that the NFT represents the block on which it was minted and reflects the entire Ethereum blockchain.
Others are less excited about the actions of VanityBlocks and instead point to the fact that their operations are taking entire blocks on the Ethereum blockchain, which leaves even less space for crypto users. Not only that, but the revenue flowing through those transactions may mean higher short-term costs for people taking transaction fees at the same time. Finally, the policy around transaction fees has changed, so their actions may have resulted in raised prices for anybody wishing to make use of the following blocks.
Some have called this venture “wasteful” and “useless,” going as far as to compare it to a project that has bought a Banksy painting only to burn it after minting it into an NFT. Others have pointed to the recent craze around the purchase of a rare original copy of Dune to destroy it after turning it into an NFT.
