CoinGeek Livestream Special: Here’s how #TheCork auction went down

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Bitcoin historian Kurt Wuckert Jr. presented a special episode of the CoinGeek Weekly Livestream, joined by Fabriik’s Brett Banfe, discussing the CoinGeek Conference in Zurich, NFTs and the future of the BSV enterprise blockchain.

During the livestream, Wuckert begins by starting a Dutch auction for the famous Cork, which was popped live on stream in Zurich, Switzerland at the close of the CoinGeek Conference in Zurich. Marking a historic moment in the story of Bitcoin SV, the Cork was minted into an NFT, which was put up for sale during the livestream special.

https://twitter.com/fabriik_market/status/1409904491814604802?s=20

The idea came from a chat between Banfe and Ian Grigg, the inventor of triple entry bookkeeping, while playing frisbee in the Swiss alps at the conference. A somewhat bizarre backdrop, the NFT was born, with the idea that all proceeds would be donated to charity.

Wuckert explained that the NFT was built via the new minting tool on RelayX, and demonstrates the effectiveness of BSV as the only protocol capable of powering NFTs. He touched on the problems with the current generation of NFTs being sold, often at highly inflated prices, but crucially, without adequate delineation of rights. While some people are buying NFTs they think represent shares of high valued pieces of art, they may in fact only own the Ethereum hash representing it.

Wuckert said he anticipates a slew of legal challenges coming down the line over these NFTs as these problems crystalize in future. With ‘The Cork’ NFT, all rights are perfectly delineated in the contract, ensuring these types of problems are avoided before they could possibly arise.

The duo shared an anecdote of Dr. Craig S. Wright, silencing the skeptics at a Bitcoin Meetup Switzerland event in 2017. When challenged live on stage to prove his claimed credentials, Dr. Wright refused to be drawn on validating each and every qualification, saying this was an unnecessary measure, and that his qualifications were already well documented online.

“I said I didn’t want to validate everything. I can use doctor in validating one degree, I don’t need to [use] two… there’s several bits of proof on the internet already. There’s my thesis on the internet already. There’s other ones, there’s several master’s degrees, there’s the university page that has god knows how much about me back there.”

His opponent on stage went a step further, producing two qualifications of his own while casting doubt on the pedigree of Dr. Wright’s education. Dr. Wright then slammed the skeptics in response by literally wheeling out his collection of degrees, masters degrees and doctorates—framed and stacked high in a wheelbarrow.

While cycling through his many and varied academic achievements over a lifetime of study, spanning a number of fields from information systems to law, Dr. Wright made his point sharply, backing up everything attributed to him throughout his academic career. Yet another occasion where Dr. Wright has been forced needlessly to confirm the veracity and integrity of his reputation.

Banfe said that while it is intuitive to the BSV community why Bitcoin SV will ultimately be successful, the focus on converting the industry is often a flawed one—“the people we spend the most time trying to convince are often the wrong people.” But rather than focusing on the Bitcoin community, riven as it is with division between different camps, Banfe said the focus should instead be on those with actual data problems they need to solve.

In Banfe’s view, this is the most effective way to evangelize about the benefits of the BSV enterprise blockchain, rather than getting into food fights with those already wedded to other protocols.

Wuckert’s cork was eventually sold for 69 BSV, equivalent to approximately US$8,500, and the proceeds will be given to a charity.

Watch the previous episodes of CoinGeek Weekly Livestream on YouTube.