An open lecture by a Chinese whale of A9 status (net worth >$15 million USD // 100 million RMB) on the topics of 3 and 4-digits Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domain name NFTs. The open lecture is suspected to be addressing a group of Chinese crypto whales.
Author: ****.eth
Original source in Chinese: Here on IPFS
Translator: abhi555#8518
Editor: zerohash | Tet#7609
Good afternoon, everyone. I'm ****.eth, ****.eth is me. In the world of web3, I am my number, and my number is me. In fact, my back hurts very much now, because my lumbar disc problem has relapsed again, and in order to deeply study the 4-digit ENS domain name and the 10kclub, I haven't slept much for two days. The more I understand it, the more excited I am. To be honest, I really haven't encountered such a good opportunity in two years. In fact, I'm quite nervous now, because this is my first lecture, and I don't understand many of the operations. Moreover, I'm actually a little afraid. My personality is INTJ, introverted. What I want to do most everyday is to not communicate with others, but to think deeply. However, when an INTJ encounters something he desperately wants to prove, he can become a powerful ENTJ. Therefore, I don't know what the effect of my lecture is. It may also be very boring or involve some boring terms. I hope you can take on it.
Why did you name the topic of this discussion “A 28 Year Old's A9 Lecture”? It is mainly because I want to find a gimmick that can attract everyone’s attention to me. After all, everyone may be very busy during the holiday. Because although the group is above the A7, most people may be a little far away from a small goal. The A9 has become a secular threshold, and the real world of A9 may not be very common, or everyone may want to know what are the A9 thinking everyday, what their cognitions are, and what they possess. Troubled, what does the world in their perspective look like? In addition, I am indeed 28 years old, and I am quite ordinary.
The following are the key topics today: Why the 4-digit ENS domain name NFT could potentially become a Bored Ape in the domain NFT game? I hope you don't miss the fundamentals of the topic and pay more attention to the following content. THE FOLLOWING CONTENT MAY BE SUITABLE FOR FRIENDS WHO KNOW ABOUT NFT, THE METAVERSE, WEB3 AND ENS DOMAIN NAMES. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, WE CAN DISCUSS IT LATER AMONGST OURSELVES.
What I'm talking about is roughly divided into the following aspects. My self-introduction, the recent history of 4-digit ENS domain name hype and the rise of the 10kclub, and why the 4-digit ENS domain name NFT will definitely become the Bored Ape of the NFT domain space.
I first worked as a fund researcher in the traditional finance (TradFi) field. I studied all kinds of funds and fund managers to see how they made money. Because of the platform, I basically knew most of the well-known fund managers in the past few years, and may even chat and listened to their lectures, but they probably don't know or remember me - haha.
In early-2019, I career changed myself to a cryptocurrency exchange as a trader. The trader here is actually similar to the role of fund manager + researcher + orderer, and it is not just an automated orderer. Since then, I have mainly seized two big opportunities in the cryptocurrency circle. In 2019, Bitcoin jumped from about $3,000 to $14,000, then I held USDT in a short position, made some arbitrage by waiting for opportunities, and then waited until 2020 where Bitcoin plummeted due to Bitcoin 312. In addition, some of the tokens I held have increased higher than Bitcoin’s growth rate, and at the same time, they have been leveraged by two or three times at most. With a rough estimate, my returns were up by 200 times. Long story short, I resigned and have been holed up at home ever since.
In fact, I'm very confused at home, because I'm only 28 years old, but I can’t find many things that interest me. I don't know what else I have to do in the future, whether I will study as hard as before, and whether I will read and fall asleep directly every night; I don't know what else is worth it in the future. I look forward to sleeping, eating, playing games, and I suck in gaming like a noob. Occasionally, I will pay attention to the web3 and NFT projects I am interested in. Some people in the group may know that I have often promoted NFT and the Bored Ape collection, and some people even say that I am an early investor in Yuga Labs, the company behind Bored Apes. Here I would like to state that this is merely baseless rumours. On the seed investor list of Yuga Labs, my name is definitely not one of them. Haha, just a joke, bro.
In fact, since Bitcoin hit bottoms after the plummet due to Bitcoin 312 in 2020, I basically didn't have a particularly big buying operation. Later, I insisted on holding it until the fundamentals changed, and then sold at high prices. The early price of Bored Apes was very cheap. Even if there were dozens or hundreds I am buying, they did not account for a large proportion of my portfolio. So I have basically been in chaos for the past two years muddling myself through this space, occasionally doing research and looking at various projects. It was not until I recently found a 4-digit ENS domain name and the 10kclub that I felt very excited - I thought this was an opportunity worth waiting for two years.
Moving on to why with an income level of A9, I still want to participate in this project. On the one hand, the income of A9 is really not high in Beijing. A house costs 30 million RMB, and a courtyard house is hundreds of millions of Yuan. And I feel that I am lacking substantially not only in terms of income, but also in many aspects. Upstarts like me are very different from old money. I am also looking for an opportunity to truly realize the social class transition. In addition, in the past two years of research on NFT and web3, there have been a lot of inspiration and a lot of ideas. I want to deeply understand and participate in a web3 and NFT project as an ordinary leek, so as to accumulate some experience and supplement the contacts I lack for future entrepreneurship. You are welcome to work together with me in the future.
Let's talk about the history of the 4-digit ENS domain name NFT hype and the rise of 10kclub. It should have been about three days ago. It is said that there was a Bored Ape boss who bought the 4-digit ENS domain name corresponding to their Bored Ape he held, and this inspired many people. Everyone was like, damn, the original 4-digit ENS domain name NFT can still be played like this, so some people went to register the 3-digit or 4-digit ENS domain name that no one registered before, and then some well-known NFT holders organized a Discord group, called the 10kclub - the name means a club of 10,000 4-digit ENS domain name holders, including channels that only verified 4-digits ENS domain name holders can join; of course, people who hold 3-digits domain names are in 10kclub also has corresponding private channels. Strictly speaking, it should be called 11k Club. The hype of the digital domain name NFT also includes the 3-digit ENS domain name NFT. For simplification purpose, the following lecture will refer to it as 4-digit domain name NFT. Later, there were some events that I thought were iconic, such as the admission of well-known NFT holders, the 555.eth domain name NFT was bought for 55.5ETH, and the Bored Apes 9214 holder bulk selling their Bored Ape with the ENS domain name 9214.eth for nearly 200 ETH. There is also the story of the YouTuber VC, with a 15 million subscriber count who is also a Bored Ape holder. He announced that he was sweeping the floor of 4-digit domain names and bought dozens. Bored Ape 3136 also bought the corresponding 3136.eth domain name and so on. In fact, there are still many Bored Ape owners holding 4-digit domain names. I'm investigating and sorting out the information and sending it to you for reference.
In terms of time, 10kclub was established three days ago. When I joined, there were about 1,000+ people only. The group said that there were people earlier than everyone else. At that time, there were only dozens of people, but we have seen the huge energy of this club. If you go to Twitter, you will find that many people have changed their Twitter name to .eth, as well as on Discord, and even some WeChat users have changed their names. There is also a number follow number activity on Twitter that is trending, which means that members follow each other. I have a Twitter account, which does not post much. There were dozens of fans in the past, but since I changed my Twitter name to ****.eth, my followers went up to 100+ in two days. Looking at my new followers, many of them are Bored Ape owners.
So why will the 4-digit ENS domain name NFT potentially become the Bored Apes of domain NFTs?
First of all, some people in the group used to be traditional domain flippers in web2, they made money and lost money. But I must remind everyone to never look at this market the same as traditional domain market. This project is completely different from ordinary domain name speculation. Any domain flipper must deeply understand and discover the value of this project before making an opportune judgement.
So to answer the question raised above, why will 4-digit NFT domain name become the Bored Apes of NFT domains?
This can actually be divided into three questions. Why must it be ENS domain name NFT? Why must it be the 4-digit hype? And what opportunity lies in the present?
Because ENS is one of the leading projects in the field of decentralized domain names. From the perspective of track records, if the domain name NFT hype of the leading project does not improve, there will be no other opportunities in the whole domain name NFT field. Moreover, the previous ENS project carried out a token airdrop on the domain name NFT registrants and holders, and many people made a lot of money. Therefore, ENS has a good reputation, and the domain name NFT of ENS also has a very broad and incredible user base.
First of all, the current Arabic numeral system is universal. Chinese speak Mandarin, British use English, French use the French language. I can't understand the Arabic script, but they have a common feature, that is, everyone basically use Arabic numerals. The Arabic numerals are universally recognizable. It is necessary to keep in mind the difference in Chinese and foreign cultures. Don't look at numbers domain name with the domestic (ie. Chinese) outlook. For example, if you think 4 is unlucky, but the reality is that 4-digit ENS domain name NFT is traded around the world, and different cultural cognitions are vastly dissimilar and diverse.
Secondly, there are 10,000 4-digit ENS domain names NFTs, and the number 10,000 has a very incomprehensible magic in the field of NFT trading. 10,000 collections has its own unspoken recognition. Most of the successful NFTs have been issued are 10,000 collections. For example, Bored Ape, CryptoPunks, Azuki, Doodle, and the recent rise of Moonbirds and Okay Bears, which have soared 100 times in the Solana chain in these two days, their circulations are 10,000 in supply quantity. It's hard to say the specific reason. It may be a little metaphysics, but let's explain it scientifically. Let’s give it a try.
First of all, 10,000 NFTs are scarce. Because they are limited editions, they are scarce, which is also the principle behind the "hunger marketing" often used by many companies. Secondly, NFT trading requires liquidity. If the number of issues is too small and there are more firm holders, the market will have no trading volume, there will be no price hype effect, and no one will pay attention to its price. For example, how many people in the group knew what the last transaction price of Van Gogh's paintings was? If the supply of NFTs are too large, it is not scarce enough, and there may be a serious problem of homogenization, which is not worth trading at a high price for others.
Finally, comparing the 4-digits with other successful NFTs. They have the same scarcity hierarchy, and at least NFT prices and valuations are hierarchical. For example, the 4-digit domain name NFT, the irregular four-digit number accounts for the majority. They constitute the floor price part of any NFT collection, followed by numbers similar to 1122 and 6677. They constitute the middle layer of the NFT price, and finally the top numbers, such as 1234, 8888, 555, etc., they constitute the ceiling of the NFT price. The concept of NFT itself is a compelling symbol, but NFT is not 10,000 copies of the same membership cards, and it also needs a moderate hierarchy in order to function. For example, if "Billionaire" is an NFT series, Musk's price will not be the same as that of a crypto mine owner. “Billionaire” is equivalent to the name of NFT. Well, if you hold the Billionaire NFT, we all know that you are very rich, but what is the most valuable NFT in this series? It's Musk. Maybe there are many crypto mine owners, but Musk there is only one. It has common characteristics and a sense of distance, which is just right.
First of all, there must be an organic coincidence, such as the purchase by Bored Ape owners, or such as other NFT domain name projects giving airdrops to ENS domain name NFT holders, such as the airdrop of Nation3, which have recently earned market attention. We can only conclude that it is a coincidence, and we can't think about it by assuming that there is a team behind it. Of course, it may be better if there is really a team carrying out marketing at this level.
The second is the hype of the market. The hype of early NFT mainly focuses on pfp NFT, and relevant data can be seen in Opensea. Except for the pfp NFT sector, most of the transaction volume of other sectors is relatively small. However, with the higher and higher price of pfp NFTs for Bored Apes and other pfp projects, the holding and trading experience of pfp NFTs is getting worse and worse. The latest statistics show that more than 60% of the recent pfp NFT secondary market traders have lost money. Moreover, many of the latest pfp NFTs are factory production. The team behind it has done one project after another. As long as it receives mint funds, teams will no longer take care of the project at all. They will open the mint for the next project immediately. Many projects have not been seriously polished and are facing the suffering of overcommitment by users and underdevelopment by the project teams.
The problem of criticism. Generally speaking, the NFT projects in the space is just a big piece of pie for everyone’s taking, but no shit have been done thus far. Moreover, everyone buys pfp NFT to improve their outlook, but holding those unknown pfp NFTs and using them as pfp is no longer seen as an upgrade, but their pfp have become an advertising icon for spam projects. So influencers, how much does it cost for you to shill projects by using it as your pfp on social media? Haha.
However, everyone is not willing to give up on the NFT space. For example, Greenland Group and Beiyi recently bought Bored Ape NFT as their pfp. Li Ning also carried out a Bored Ape activity, and Zhu Xiaohu of Jinshajiang Venture Capital also purchase the Bored Ape 9279. Because from the perspective of the real world, the value volume of non-standardized assets in the real world is 100 times the value of standardized assets. Therefore, it is conceivable that the NFT market will be a market 100 times larger than the cryptocurrency market in the future. Everyone is unwilling to give up NFT, so everyone's attention turns to other sectors of NFT. For example, I have paid more attention to land, music and domain name NFT recently. I hold the virtual plot of Decentraland. As for music NFT, let's keep this topic for the future. It wasn't the point before. When everyone turned to the domain name NFT, it suddenly found that there was a lead project with a good reputation, ENS, and it had been in development for years by now. The technology is relatively mature and practical. Therefore, the hype of ENS domain name NFT is logical.
So why was the domain name NFT not popular before this? Strictly speaking, it is not that domain name NFT is popular, but the 4-digit ENS domain name NFT is popular now. This should be distinguished. For example, now, the price of the 3-digit ENS domain name NFT is still very low. Judging from the transaction record, most of the transactions of the ENS domain name NFT are concentrated on the four-digit domain name NFT, which also verifies the previous view from the sidelines. Now everyone is actually speculating on 4-digit domain name NFTs, not NFT domain name in general. Thanks to the contribution of the 10kclub, they extracted the features that best match the pfp NFT from the variety of domain name character features, abstractly summarized into 4-digits, and greatly promoted via overseas communication and the use of by VCs. Their work was excellent, and most of the holders were very reasonable and rational, it does not adopt some CX methods that are very price-off, which is very compelling.
Many people takes multiple perspectives into consideration.
First, we want a unified pfp NFT project applicable to any metaverse. There are actually many kinds of pfp NFTs projects. In fact, they are quite different from one another. Everyone is looking for a pfp NFT project that is useable across the metaverse ecosystem.
The same characteristics, but there are different opinions and there is no consensus. However, everyone agrees that the position of pfp NFT in the metaverse is very important. The problem is that the metaverse is not a dominant company. Many NFT projects also want to establish their own metaverse. But what’s the point of playing in the metaverse by yourself with your NFT community? It’s just to cut leeks by farming their money. Are you a professional in understanding the concept of Decentraland and its intrincacies? Obviously not, you probably don’t know shit.
Therefore, it is necessary to make a unified metaverse. All pfp-like NFTs will have the opportunity to participate and cannot dominate, otherwise the decentralized characteristics of the metaverse will be lost. So how to unify these very different pfp NFTs into the metaverse?
In fact, as we said earlier, each avatar NFT has a corresponding code, that is, the token ID, which is determined by the ERC-721 protocol itself, not by the type of pfp NFT project you own.
Well, when the pfp NFT holder realizes the value of the unified metaverse, you will find that there are many successful avatar NFTs, but there is only one corresponding 4-digit ENS domain name. Bored Ape has No. 7777 and Cryptopunk has No. 7777, but there is only one domain name 7777.eth.
Now there is a joke overseas, which roughly means that although you hold a Bored Ape, if you don't have a 4-digit ENS domain name with the corresponding code I will still look down on you. What should I do? It can only be voiced internally. Bored Apes, CryptoPunks and Azuki holders may all want to match the encoded domain names. Of course, this can only depend on who is faster in snatching the domain name. Moreover, if you hold a 4-digit ENS domain name corresponding to the pfp NFT, the holder is likely not to sell it. After all, this opportunity is rare. Everyone aspires to take the full set.
Secondly, everyone wants to own their web3 identify.
Some people call blockchain a decentralized network, while others call it a detrust network. I prefer the former. So, is there any trust in the blockchain world? Yes, but it has been constrained in the past.
The following example is the first time I’m sharing it with the external world, and I hope to have the opportunity to realize it in the future. For example, the topic I studied before is how to build decentralized credit lending system.
As you know, when DeFi is hot, AAVE, COMP and other decentralized lending projects are in a mess, but what about their decentralized lending? It's nothing more than mortgage. That is, I hold ETH, and I think it can still rise in price. I don't want to sell it, but I need money for temporary turnover recently. I mortgaged my ETH, borrowed a little USDT for emergency, and then returned it to USDT and retrieve my ETH. But this kind of mortgage itself is a pseudo-demand, or it is said to be a substitute demand, because the collateral is an asset that is very liquid. For example, we use the perpetual contract between ETH and USDT. If the current price of ETH is $3,000, I hold 1 ETH, but I urgently need 1500 USDT. I sold 1 ETH to get 3000 USDT, then took 1500 USDT for emergency, and used 1500 USDT to make 1 more ETH on the perpetual contract. I have achieved all my goals, and I don't need to mortgage at all! In other words, decentralized mortgage lending only transfers some functions of centralized sustainable contracts or delivery contracts to the blockchain.
Therefore, whether it is centralized financial lending or decentralized financial lending, the crown in the field of lending is credit lending. But none of AAVE or COMP can make it. Why? Theoretically, the longer a person uses an ETH address, the more it stores their own assets, and there will also be records such as transfers and transactions. Blockchain records are also easy to query and collect. Through big data, it is also possible to build a portrait of the Ethereum address holder. At least we know how much their income will be and whether they have the ability to repay it, so as to give you a credit limit and rating. Yes, yes, some people may borrow money and don't pay it back, but even on Alipay (the money lending platform by Alibaba in China) money is lent out and some people borrow money and will not pay it back, but do you think Alipay is still profitable if they do not realize this problem and have solutions in place to prevent it? As long as you do a good job in big data analysis and interest rate model design, once you default, you will be recorded in the credit information system. In theory, it can also be done in the field of blockchain, and no one here cares how high the interest rate you charge. If the risk is high, the loan interest rate will be set a little higher.
So why is there no successful decentralized lending program so far? Because of this: Alipay's password can be changed. However, the private key of Ethereum's address cannot be changed. Once the private key is leaked, the address can only be abandoned. And as the Ethereum address used is interacting with other contract addresses, the risk of being hacked increases. Therefore, many people will use an ETH address for a period of time, and then change the address after a period of time to transfer the assets. Anyway, there is no upper limit on applying for Ethereum address, and it is free and fast. In this way, the problem arises. Each address does not last long. How do you do big data analysis? Even if we can do data analysis on these multiple addresses to score your credit rating, how do you proof you own these addresses?
Yes, the key lies in the big data analysis of multiple addresses, and you need to prove that the address you use belongs to you. At this time, the ENS domain name is reflected as the ID of the future web3. Note that this is the important role of ENS domain name NFT in the upcoming web3 space. ENS domain name has a very practical function called reverse domain name resolution, which is to bind your ENS domain name to the Ethereum address, so as to prove that this address belongs to you. Every time you change the address, you only need to reset the reverse domain name resolution. By analyzing the data records of all addresses that have been bound to the ENS domain name NFT during the binding period, we can evaluate a person's asset strength and the solvency of the corresponding credit line. The ENS domain name is your web3 ID. No matter how many ETH addresses you have used, credit loans are only to the address of the ENS domain name NFT for reverse resolution, which is very good. If you are worried about the theft of the ENS domain name, you can put the ENS domain name NFT in a separate wallet. The reverse domain name resolution is bound to other ETH addresses, and reduces the risk of putting the ETH address with the ENS domain name NFT, which greatly improves security. It's complete.
Without basic knowledge, this example may sound a little difficult to understand and unimportant. You just need to know that web3 is the future of the Internet, and the identification of web3 in the future is very important. The ENS domain name NFT can meet the needs of web3 identification. That's why I said before that I'm my number, and my number is me. There are 67 billion people worldwide, but there are only 10,000 4-digit ENS domain names, plus 1,000 3-digit ENS domain names, and you will know where its scarcity is. Does this feel like a QQ number that is hyped when it’s super short?
Some people ask if there will be other domain name provider that will seek out a piece of this market? My answer is yes. For example, behind Bored Apes, you can also use the domain name of .ape and airdrop the corresponding 4-digit domain name to your NFT holder. However, it is still about track records as mentioned before. If the lead project ENS of the domain name track record is not acceptable by the public, the Bored Ape has no meaning when paired with that .ape domain name. Instead, it will be regarded by the holder as a waste of time, and this airdrop will be worthless. It makes no sense to hype other non-hyped decentralized domain name NFT projects. Holding the 4-digit ENS domain name NFT is equivalent to getting onto the right track. As long as the project wants to improve in the future, the price action of the 4-digit ENS domain name NFT must be opened.
Third, ENS domain names have a lot of practical value compared to traditional domain names. Unlike the dry hype of traditional domain names, ENS domain names have many practical value. Give a few examples.
I don't know much about traditional domain name hype. Let's borrow other people's opinions here. First of all, the traditional domain name is 2B, and the final way is actually sold to the companies that need it, but not many companies actually needs them; but the ENS domain name is 2C+2B, and 2C may still account for the majority. For example, nowadays, many Twitter users change their Twitter name to the corresponding ENS domain name they hold, and so do many VCs, because they think using domain names as Twitter names are cool and highly recognizable. As I just said, I don't often use Twitter, but after I changed my Twitter name to a 4-digit ENS domain name, I actually gained more than 100 followers in two days. For example, as a man, I don't want to think about the nicknames of various social accounts. I think it's very good to use a compelling .eth domain name directly. Everyone can recognize me and know who I am. Twitter has been acquired by Musk. If it is more web3-friendly in the future, it may be bound to the wallet address, such as the NAME of .eth. Maybe only the holder of ENS domain name can use the platform, which adds uniqueness.
For example, the ENS domain name reverse resolution function we mentioned earlier is very practical. For example, when you usually transfer money with a MetaMask wallet, you don't need to know my ETH address at all, and you don't need to know whether my address has changed. As long as you take a look at my short .eth nickname, you can directly enter the domain name to transfer the money to me. This solves the problem that the ETH address is too long to remember. Or I don't know a VC well enough, but I know he owns a domain name. If I enter his domain name directly, I can donate to him. You can also try to donate money to me when you go back. I also need it.
Of course, there are many practical ways to play with ENS domain names. It is said that 10kclub also wants to hold offline parties, not to mention the details. After you have the ENS domain name NFT, you can operate and practice by yourself.
In addition, compared with the pfp NFT, the 4-digit ENS domain name NFT is not only similarly scarce, but also less fake. What do you mean? The ownership of NFT belongs to you and is unique, but the external performance is actually a picture. The counterfeiters can copy this picture to make their own pfp without permission, which is a little embarrassing. On Twitter, you can also meet some counterfeiters who pretend to be the owner. However, does the counterfeiter dare to write the ETH payment address column as your 4-digit ENS domain name? He dares not, because others will only transfer money to him through this domain name, and cryptocurrencies will be transferred to your wallet. He can't deceive people of money.
Finally, let's talk about my opinion on the price of 4-digit ENS domain name.
My understanding of 10kclub is that if you can survive the early stage of the project, everyone will realize its value, and then enter the index-level growth cycle stage. In about 2 years, the top 3-digit or 4-digit top ENS domain name with a price of 1000 ETH, the floor price will be above 100 ETH.
Some people say that the recent 4-digit digital domain name has risen too fast and too high? It is very popular, and the number is only so much. Of course, it has risen very fast. But if it is understood from the perspective of possible growth potential, the price may not be high. Looking back now, let’s just look at spending 0.3 ETH to buy Bored Apes and not spending 3 ETH to buy Bored Apes. The difference between holding and not holding is very large, and there is even a gap between one or two classes. I think the same will happen to the 4-digit ENS domain name. Set up a flag here and see you in two years.
Thank you!
April 30, 2022
Organizedby: ****.eth
(Internal information for members only)