Xer0x is a Tezos artist who has created many sought after works that many compare to the style of Xcopy or DesLucrece. Xer0x even states on his profile “If you copy a copy enough times, eventually the quality will degrade to a point where it looks original.” A little over a week ago Xer0x showcased “Trust”, the second work in their “Royalty” collection. This collection (despite currently only consisting of two pieces) has consisted of very interesting artistic financial thought experiments with an nft attached.
10,000 editions of this experimental work was minted on April 2nd alongside the tweet featured above. Xer0x claimed that “Highest offers WILL NOT be accepted. Instead offers will be used as a tool for selecting 25 free airdrops.” The other 9975 editions will be burned and the bidders are as Xer0x says “Going to have to trust me”.
After the snapshot was taken, in a surprising move Xer0x gave the works for free to the top bidders and burned 9975 editions as he promised. If Xer0x wanted to betray the “trust” of the bidders he could have clicked a button and instantly claimed 64.5k Tezos which was over $200,000 USD. That doesn’t sound like a very bad payday. Many outside of the space may think this move makes no sense. Why would Xer0x give his art out for free? He could have just made hundreds of thousands of dollars on a digital image! The answer is because they chose to value trust over immediate monetary gain and this CleanNFT is symbolic of that idea.
Always fascinating to see new creative ideas emerging from this flourishing underground art scene.