28/12/2021 Arizona Senate candidate brings NFTs to politics

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Blake Masters, co-author of tech pioneer Peter Thiel's blockbuster "Zero to One," and now a Republican U.S. Senate candidate in Arizona, is offering NFTs with a limit of 99 copies.

Why it matters:Masters, 35, told Axios the plan is to attract support "from folks who are less conventional political donors and more founders and builders who want to see new thinking and new energy in our politics."

What's happening:Masters is leaning into his Silicon Valley ties with an "Origins NFT" that shows a rotating rendition of the early cover art he used to help persuade Thiel, his former Stanford Law professor, to collaborate on "Zero to One," published in 2014.

  • The NFTs will go to donors who give the maximum of $5,800 — half for the primary, and half for the general election if he wins.

Zoom out:Masters, who lives in his native Tucson, helps run Thiel Capital, a multibillion-dollar firm that invests in tech startups, and is president of the Thiel Foundation.

  • The Republican primary also includes Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich. Both aim to take on Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly.
  • Masterswho was agueston Tucker Carlson's show last week — held a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago that included former President Trump as a speaker. That gives Masters' camp hope for an endorsement.

Between the lines:The idea is to give donors a sense of ownership. Real-life events are planned for the virtual club.

  • Masters said: "The best NFT projects aren't just random 'art on the blockchain,'" but instead "create or support certain communities where people share an excitement about something in particular."
Arts

https://www.axios.com/blake-masters-nft-senate-arizona-998f683e-65cd-4115-9e79-86b1f48eb2b7.html

Interesting NFTs
Stay Free (Edward Snowden, 2021)
This unique, signed work combines the entirety of a landmark court decision ruling the National Security Agency's mass surveillance violated the law, with the iconic portrait of the whistleblower by Platon (used with permission). It is the only known NFT produced by Snowden. Produced using open source software. This auction is on behalf of Freedom of the Press Foundation. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/appeals-court-strikes-down-nsa-phone-spying-program-aclu-lawsuit
Rare Kratos
For Stickers...
Clock
one thousand four hundred forty one
The Harvest
An anthropomorphic figure stands, wide eyed, staring at the viewer; its body masculine, muscular, and humanoid. Its “mind” dissociates into a conglomerate of structures resembling feathers, grain, teeth–as well as a radial flower “node”, casting linear rays throughout the composition. To his left, a vat of bodies gesture and writhe in a kind of amniotic soup, attended by a video game robot. The bot's red display reads “uWu”. Behind the robot and filling the left side of the composition is an archaic figure composed of a variety of vintage objects and symbols. Among them are a hardbound book with ancient cuneiform scripts, indicating barley, beer, bread, ox, house, and sky, behind which is a grimacing, salivating jagged toothed maw; and an old Commodore floppy drive. The figure’s head tilts toward an illuminated crescent moon, suggesting the Egyptian Sacred Bull. The archaic figure is composed of a variety of mutating cells, which shift in color, and pattern; eventually breaking free into an ephemeral broadcast of bubbles which move across the background. The work came into being against a psychological introspection, which included associations to pop culture such as alien abduction and pod people, as well as quite a bit of reflection on grains as a symbol of civilization, agriculture, sustenance, life, and imbibing (mainly whiskies).
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By OthersideDeployer