In this series, the Tech department of L’Express tells us about the rise and fall of four of these innovations which promised to disrupt our daily lives. Today, we are interested in NFTs, which intended to revolutionize property and especially art, but which seem to have failed.
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The team: Charlotte Baris (presentation), Agathe Hernier (writing), Jules Krot (editing and production)
Credits: CNN, Canal +, Gaumont, Europe 1
Music and dressing: Emmanuel Herschon/Studio Torrent
Logo: Jérémy Cambour
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Charlotte Baris: To start this episode, I’m going to tell you about Babar. Yes, the elephant in a green costume, hero of children’s stories. Except that the Babar in question today wears a Rolex watch, is chrome-plated and very expensive.
Babolex is the name of these contemporary works of art, created by Vincent Faudemer at the end of the 2010s. After conquering art galleries, Vincent Faudemer decided to launch into cryptocurrencies. Buying a Babolex is perhaps the opportunity to win a Bitcoin which at the time was worth 60,000 euros. In 2021, the artist adds several NFT collections. The prize is gifts and, above all, access to an exclusive video game that earns money! The promise appeals, and buyers trust him: after all, he is “the Warhol of NFTs” according to a renowned art magazine.
However, a few months later, some have not received their statuette, others find themselves with defective Babolex and above all the video game looks nothing like what was planned. In the meantime, Vincent Faudemer is leading the way. And today, more than 200 people accuse him of fraud and he has been caught by the courts. This story is not just that of a scam: it tells how the NFT trend collapsed, to the point that the technology that was predicted to be revolutionary almost seems to have disappeared…
To go further:
Cryptocurrency: the end of the golden age of NFTs?
Boom of NFTs: “We currently have a feeling of the Wild West in terms of law”
NFT: the danger of broken promises