“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts”
-Daniel Patrick Moynihan
“I keep returning in my mind to the glass onion. Something that seems densely layered, mysterious and inscrutable. But in fact, the center is in plain sight.”
-Benoit Blanc, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
In the world of cryptocurrency and NFTs, some project creators have developed a belief that their own version of reality is the only one that matters, and that they are entitled to their own facts. And this is where the delusion starts as evidenced by the actions of certain individuals. One example is Pak, the creator of The Fungible, which was released at Sotheby's in April 2021 under the guise of a scarcity mechanism that hid an initial coin offering. Despite making bold statements and teasing possibilities, Pak has hidden behind wordplay and loopholes when things have not gone right. It is this lack of transparency and accountability which highlights the potential dangers in the space.
With Pak, the delusions build up and just like in the movie The Glass Onion, it is remarkably clear through all the delusion what is at the center of it all. “The center is in plain sight,” remarks Benoit Blanc, the detective, at the end of the movie. But what is at the center of Pak?
Here is a short compilation, by no means comprehensive, of what Pak said and what actually happened. When beliefs simply aren’t so, they are delusions. No more foggy recollections, circumstantial evidence, deleted messages, Twitter bans. Time to call a spade a spade and see to the center of Pak’s “Glass Onion” yourself:
Delusion: Pak doesn’t care about money, it’s about the art
Reality: It is increasingly clear that Pak's primary motivation is profit, and he seems to prioritize this above all else. This is evident in the sales strategies for Lost Poets and Merge, which were designed to maximize profits at all costs. Pak employed various tactics such as teasing and tweeting to generate hype and encourage competitive buying. For example, in Lost Poets, there were "sweet spots,” and origin drops for the top buyers, and Merge had a hidden leaderboard that awarded larger "masses" based on the number of purchases, with different colored masses for the top 1, 5, and 100. While some of these tactics may be considered acceptable, it is troubling that Pak is using incentives and gamification during sales to encourage reckless social purchasing behavior, which can be financially damaging to buyers. Moreover, the fact that he promotes this behavior on Twitter and urges his followers to tell their family and friends to purchase under the guise of being "inclusive" is concerning and morally questionable.
Tempting as it is to argue that the price of art should not affect its enjoyment or value, this ignores the reality of the modern art market. The most celebrated and sought-after works of art command high prices, and these prices are often seen as indicative of their quality and cultural significance. Auction houses such as Sotheby's and Christie's (for-profit companies) have been in operation for over a century and are testaments to the enduring appeal and financial value of artworks. Collectors are drawn to rare works not only for their aesthetic value but also for their prestige and potential to appreciate in value.
Delusion:
Reality: This is a myth. Pak has not created any whales nor made anyone rich in the usual way that word is used. He tweeted “pumps” such as the above and subsequently hides behind the idea that his buyers chose his work only to buy pieces of art or for the “experience.” Pak calls and justifies it as “performance art,” a term that conveniently hides all the intent and money.
Delusion: Poets are for those who missed punks and the like (aka BAYC)
Reality: There is nothing to be said if the reality isn’t obvious.
Delusion: Pak pieces aren’t for investment.
Reality: Pak has closely associated himself with NFTSibs, both in terms of discord moderation, live event hosting, and Twitter spaces. NFTSibs are first and foremost “digital investor siblings” and the NFTSibs discord routinely promotes itself as providing alpha (even after their failed drop that raised several million dollars, all of which is unaccounted for).
If you look at NFTSibs website and Twitter, they are an INVESTMENT-focused discord: it even says it on their Twitter account. Pak designed their logo in a show of support:
Source: NFTsiblings.com
Delusion:
Reality: Lost Poets, Merge, Matter (which Pak said would have 3 value structures and would be burnable), and the politically controversial Assange drop are not burnable.
Delusion:
Reality: $ASH has failed to hold value, to any collector base. The only people for whom $ASH held any value at all are for those who sold it. None of the AshTwo artists have released collections in $ASH after the failed drop or even bother to mention $ASH at all.
Delusion:
Reality: There are no diamonds. The only people who believe this still…are delusional.
Delusion: Pak is Satoshi
Pak has teased many times in Discord that he is somehow related to Satoshi and the connection between Ash and Satoshi from Pikachu: Ash Ketchum, known as Satoshi (サトシ) in Japan. Satoshi is of course the founder of bitcoin.
Reality: While Pak has mentioned he was early to bitcoin, Pak isn’t Satoshi, and $ASH (which is an Ethereum blockcain token) has nothing to do with bitcoin or Satoshi Nakamoto. This is more or less Pak taking advantage of his anonymity and teasing false associations to stroke his own ego and legitimacy.
Delusion: Lost Poets will be burnable 365 days after launch (Sep 2021 was the date of launch). Pak said that he would be using the +$70 million from Lost Poets to “build a library” and drive a scarcity mechanism.
Reality: As of publication in June 2023, it’s well past 365 days, and my prediction that 0 poets would be burnable turned out to be…correct but for all the wrong reasons because Pak has continued to drag his feet and delay/fix issues.
Delusion: Pak pieces will hold value.
Pak has often said that their NFTs are designed to hold value with multiple scarcity mechanisms. You’ve seen the rocket emojis during the launch into Lost Poets and even for AshTwo:
Reality: $ASH is well below May 2021 levels (as if nothing significant has happened in the past 20 months). Lost Poets and Merge have fallen significantly below initial sales prices, especially the large Masses, some of which are down +90% and have not retained their purchase price.
Part of this is the too many problem: there are simply too many Pak NFTs out there and an insufficiently small buyer base.
Delusion: Pak rewards collectors
Reality: Pak has rewarded flippers and those who exited early. While Pak has airdropped pages once to $ASH holders and Page prices did go up initially, like many NFT projects holding them long term has not yielded many benefits. For example, after three successive 2-week periods after Lost Poets to flush out flippers, it was the flippers who benefited the most selling during those periods at up to 1.5 eth (~$5k). Pages are now at <$50 and Poets at $180 at the time of this publication.
It was the flippers who benefited during the debacle of the bugged Merge contract when they profitably sold M1s up to ~$1.8k before the contract was pulled. It was the collectors who held onto the Merge NFT (from the failed contract) and had it taken out of their wallets by Pak. Collectors patiently waited over a week for the new contract to be deployed. By that time, all the original hype had died down and prices became subdued.
Of course, many who still hold on to dear Pak NFTs will argue the non-monetary value of what they hold outside of the price and there is substance there. No matter how you look at it, Pak has forever intertwined his sales records and money sucked in with the art. BEAR IN MIND THIS IS AN INDIVIDUAL WHO HAS TAKEN OVER 8 FIGURES IN REVENUE. A SIGNIFICANT SUM EVEN BY MOST GOVERNMENTAL STANDARDS. If Pak cared about value so much aside from money, he would have given away for free the majority of his NFTs without gamifying drops to drive maximum competitive buying.
Delusion: $ASH will become a moving floor for all NFTs; designed to solve the “too many” problem of NFTs. According to Burn.art’s website:
Reality: $ASH, called a social currency, is neither a currency nor is it very social. In reality, sales volumes of NFTs denominated in $ASH have plummeted (last updated in July 2022 when there was any real volume) and there are single digits at best daily number of NFT buyers using $ASH. The hoped-for “distribution” from ASH Two did not materialize into more utility for $ASH and the communities from artists who dropped in $ASH, well….
Source: weacceptash.io
There simply is too much $ASH and too many Pak NFTs that are burnable/will become burnable. The grand goal for $ASH, especially the low-tier burn for the NFT space to solve the “too many” problem, will never be realized since $ASH doesn’t even solve the “too many” problem for Pak NFTs.
Delusion: Pak pieces are historic and therefore, will be valuable in the future
Reality: Pak’s drop with Sotheby’s The Fungible was historic along with his record $92 million money suck called Merge. That is true, but many NFTs that are historic do not hold value. Almost no one believes that the most historic $69 million Beeple Everyday sold is worth anywhere close to what was paid, and B20’s token price (Beeple fractionalization) has more or less crashed like every other altcoin/shitcoin.
Pak has also failed to break into traditional art or engage non-NFT buyers. Beeple has been wildly successful in selling pieces that are displayed in museums and many other famed cryptoartists have achieved significant crossover through conversation and engaging other innovative NFT communities. Pak…seems to prefer the relative quiet of his closed discord and stroking his own ego, telling himself he is the most significant creator of NFTs. Ok…
Delusion: Frequently, Pak often mentions himself as the "The most significant creator in the NFT space..."
Reality: Vincent van Dough, Punk 6529, Kevin Rose, Cozomo de Medici, and many other top NFT art collectors do not own Pak nor have they mentioned Pak. So why aren’t the most significant NFT art collectors buying the work of the most significant NFT creator?
While Pak has catered to a retail crowd, large collectors are rather approachable and hold many artworks and pieces from 10k projects. One formerly prominent NFT art collector that spent multiple millions on XCOPY in August 2021 simply said that they did not understand Pak. Cozomo is another good example, highlighting many artists and recently said XCOPY is the most significant NFT artist.
Delusion: Sotheby’s teased they would work with Lost Poets Origins and Poets.
Reality: This Lost Poets x Sotheby’s tease might still happen but I highly doubt Sotheby’s is going to do more NFT sales with Pak given potential reputational damage (just like Gemini was going to allow market making for a coin that crashed). It would also diminish and tar Sotheby’s brand if they actually tried to sell a failed NFT collection that is Lost Poets.
Delusion: Pak is about decentralization
Reality: Pak can, and has, changed the metadata of NFTs that he has delivered to collectors. Lost Poets erased the poetry metadata from the blockchain that people spent so much time crafting. Pak even changed a gifted Gold Vanguard Carbon into a regular Carbon because he disliked it was put up for sale. Incredible behavior.
This all goes against the spirit of decentralization and blockchain. Pak correctly points out NFT buyers own the token, which is an address/piece of software on the blockchain. But Pak has control over what the token points to and the software smart contract behind the token. It is like buying an iPhone that is hacked: yes you own the hardware (the “token”) but an external party can play with the software and what occurs on your phone any time. Not decentralized at all and no real ownership of…anything for that matter.
Pak, given the ability to make changes or “update” things (read: control), just couldn’t help himself. Especially if Pak doesn’t like you.
Delusion: Burn.art as a way to clean up the NFT space. Pak talked about burning his NFTs for ash like a garden that needs pruning and literally oversaturated the garden with weeds.
Reality: The Fungible (which was an ICO in disguise) WAS a brilliant, simple, and novel method to create scarcity. It was a rather elegant way to both launch an NFT and crypto, while creating a scarcity mechanism for cubes. Pak even thought $ASH would be so valuable that he created a low-tier curve for all other NFTs, thinking $ASH would become a moving floor for the NFT space.
More than a year and a half later, what has become clear is that the Pak ecosystem has become byzantine and perverted by complexity.
The Fungible bonding curve to mint ash in order to solve the “too many problem” has instead morphed into an overgrown garden full of weeds with too many Pak NFTs. There was Lost Poets which would be burnable, and Matter as well as a desire to create value on top of value.
Even with all of Pak’s scarcity mechanism and Burn.art, Pak’s ecosystem is drastically oversupplied. This is also a failure to build community with real collectors like BAYC or engage authentically with collectors like XCOPY and Tyler Fidenza, which builds up both history and resiliency, a strong narrative. And all the teasing about how 60k items in strategy games is not enough…Lost Poets was no game at all Pak deluded himself as he deluded buyers.
Other Delusions / Teases:
Multi Cube utility tease and how cubes could fly: they sure did but like Icarus, it came crashing down
AshOne was to provide liquidity to Gemini – never happened nor was it ever a good idea, it seems, to begin with. Pak also seemed a bit clueless about how market making would work
Lost Poets as a strategy game: Pak mentioned and teased multiple times about the “pvp” and “pvpve” (player vs. player and player vs. player vs. environment). I don’t think anyone who writes poetry thinks this and is another example of stretching the definition of words
Pak mentioned during the Lost Poets drop he would make publicly available the behind-the-scenes technology for Lost Poets (on-chain randomization, etc.). Nope
AshTwo Collection ::rocket emoji:: (Hint: it didn’t)
1 Cube =1 Castle: Pak loves to receive worship and praise and has almost always encouraged false optimistic narratives in the hope of pumping his collection (or at least stroking his ego). This is also true because Pak otherwise cannot create much of any value absent these pumps
Pak pumped Kevin Punks to well north of 1 eth, and they predictably collapsed to sub 0.08 eth.
VR Future: Pak said he is in love with the style. Counting several Turkish team members, the Twitter engagement with Pak and native language overlap helped contribute to Pak purchasing these NFTs. Sadly, they are even worth less than Kevin Punks now (whopping 0.014 eth gets you entry).
Pak also closely aligned himself with NFTSibs and WHALE community, designing their logos and participating in their discords. Both projects have crashed more than +95% and are unlikely to recover after their own money sucks and scam-pumping behaviors:
The best creators are also the best collectors. For someone who has done rather large drops, Pak is remarkably bad at buying NFT collections that hold value himself.
Pak’s Writing Style and Hypocrisy
It's important to understand Pak's communication style before diving further. Pak often uses vague language with the intention of creating loopholes and potential outs. While Pak claims to focus on his art and "performance" pieces, he also takes pride in setting NFT sales records and creating incentives to drive competitive buying during the minting process, often through the use of euphemisms like "scarcity mechanisms." It's a clever sales tactic: if you want to sell a lot without appearing to focus on quantity, emphasize how scarce the product is. Consider the following conversation leading up to the Merge/Mass release:
Pak stays quiet, mysterious, quizzical. Yet, he almost can’t help himself seeing grandiose money signs amidst the teasing:
Pak does a complete reversal within the span of 1 minute, showing his true colors.
Distracted by Wikipedia and Sales Records as Legitimacy
In the absence of a strong narrative, Pak has obsessed with his NFT sales records, negative media attention, and Wikipedia edits and omissions. Of course, these obsessions on Twitter and discord have been deleted, including the below:
In some ways, focusing on being early to bitcoin and sales records lends some legitimacy. It does take a certain degree of being cryptonative to appreciate bitcoin early on. There are also a few other benchmarks to determine whether something is “legitimate” in crypto aside from longevity. But by every indication Pak does not appear to understand what has happened in DeFi and Pak’s entry into bitcoin could very well just have been lucky (Pak brags about the date he entered bitcoin as if to prove he is “cryptonative”).
Nevertheless, Wikipedia entries and sales records don’t lend legitimacy to artists or creators. Sotheby’s never advertises how so-and-so artist had a sales record; successful auction houses care about strengthening the narrative and history around pieces, putting them into the right pantheon of context. No traditional artists would ever focus on Wikipedia like Pak did – they know it’s not important at all. But for some reason, Pak seemed to be stuck on this and countering back.
Murat: Ego Driven, Unable to Acknowledge Failure, Childish with an Extraordinary High Opinion of Himself
It speaks volumes that many people who previously worked with Pak no longer do. Starting at Buggum, Pak complained about being the victim of theft (likely true) and not getting credit for the graphics and visuals. Manifold, after AshTwo, appears to no longer talk to Pak nor have a working relationship as Pak has sought out other solidity developers to update Lost Poets and the $ASH ecosystem. Pak has a history of falling out with his partners and a number of collectors and then complaining about it. I wouldn’t be surprised if Pak never worked with NiftyGateway again, either (after the Merge bug).
A failure by Pak to even acknowledge his own failures. $ASH, AshTwo, and Lost Poets contain some of the biggest problems - you can’t fix something if you’re living in Never Never Land
When problems occur, Pak usually washes his hands – blaming issues on the market, the solidity programmers, or… Voldemort. Pak has rarely if ever provided an apology or said “I messed up.” At times, during failed drops or criticism, Pak resorts to rather childish behavior like banning people, censoring them, or just plain old complaining more about how he is the victim
Pak always provides some estimate of the timeline like “2 weeks,” “coming soon,” or “mid-June.” But not a single timeline has been met
The knock-on effects of NFTs and the token $ASH collapsing +95% can't be ignored, even if you pretend to be god: loss aversion is very much real and painful. Yet Pak seems to have his head stuck in the sand, pretending things are still fine.
Any pushback, Pak would say something along the lines of “look at all the things I’ve done.” The believers would take that as complete and sufficient but one only has to look at what was said beforehand.
Pak likens himself to Leonardo Da Vinci. Da Vinci was well known to seldom finish commissioned works, and tweaking things, adjusting creations for many years (or even throughout his lifetime). Of course, this heavily frustrated his patrons. While Pak may think he is like Da Vinci, this quality of being unreliable and not being able to keep to timelines/promises is pretty much the only thing Pak has in common with the Renaissance genius.
Unreliable
Pak enjoys having a lot of balls in the air, even as an NFT buyer. Pak is busy for sure. Pak has said he has dozens of projects planned that could be dropped. Doesn’t that sound great?
AshTwo was delayed at least 3 times while Censor, Merge, Lost Poets were launched. Then the AshTwo drop was, predictably, poorly executed and botted, burning a ton of eth and almost everyone who tried to participate (I sat it out).
Right after AshTwo, Pak wrote this in the Discord in March 2022:
The April and May referenced above WAS IN 2022. Merge/Matter games were announced, but “everything” did not become more useful, and Merge predictably shrunk back into its stable equilibrium of disregard. Even now, the Lost Poets “Twist” and Merge/Mass/Matter have been delayed. Just wait “2 weeks” is what Pak has written. Might as well wait 2 years.
Pak often deals with uncomfortable situations by shifting goalposts. For example, with the first AshOne drop (to be held in late November 2021), Pak said Art Basel delayed it and Manifold was out during Thanksgiving (Art Basel was scheduled and well known months ahead of time). Yet, Pak could have easily worked with Nifty Gateway developers as Pak dropped, instead of AshOne, the $92 million Merge two weeks later in December that made Nifty Gateway and Pak multiple millions from a flood of new buyers. On another occasion, Pak said that the Ash he received would go to Gemini for market making. But faced with apparent difficulty in getting that done and the subsequent collapse in the Ash price, excuses were offered (“market conditions”) which were soon forgotten by many.
Pak is ultimately unreliable. Given the short attention span in the NFT space, people tend to forget things that were said in the past, hardly ever comparing what was said before and what happened after. NFT buyers are some of the best at giving artists/creators the benefit of the doubt because it’s “art.” Reliability and trust are important factors in art and NFTs.
The NFT space is inherently dangerous, with many projects ending up being scams or not holding value. As a result, it is more important than ever to ensure newcomers (and those around) understand the previous fact patterns and context and hold the right expectations when buying. In this short attention span space, reminders of how things got to where they are and why are essential.
Beliefs have to be constantly examined because they shape the narratives we hold (read: hope) onto, and it is those narratives that we hope will generate value. So far, many beliefs around Pak may have been justified in the past but are no longer the case at present.
Weakness with Mechanisms and Over-Dependence on Volunteers
Pak has grand ambitions. He has sold +150,000 NFTs and raked in more than +$300 million in primary sales, more than any other NFT project or group. With all those NFTs and scarcity mechanisms, the oversupply has more than offset any scarcity mechanism.
There are several weaknesses with mechanisms. Mechanisms require engagement and do not automatically generate communities of interested people. Mechanisms also have stable equilibriums where there is inactivity (see AshTwo mechanism). Pak’s frequent disappearances also largely kill the initial momentum which leaves things floundering for weeks if not months. Delays, frequent teases (unreliable), and unclear (supposedly, “deep”) communication on Twitter turn people, along with their limited attention, away.
I have always wondered why prominent NFT collectors have largely avoided Pak. Vincent Van Dough, 3AC (Starry Night), Punk5269, Kevin Rose, etc. have rarely if ever mentioned Pak while buying numerous top artists. Pak pieces aren’t solely art, but attempt to create value through mechanisms and social engineering (some would call it, social manipulation) via vague but promising statements.
There is a simple imbalance between what Pak does before a drop, and what he does, or expects, after a drop. Before a drop, Pak is in full-on marketing mode. “This one you’ll like,” he says, or this is for those who missed Punks. With the authority Pak has, it is hard to not take him seriously.
But just like that, after a drop, Pak disappears, leveraging his own scarcity value. Pak also hopes his community and collectors fill in the void. This leaves a wide-open goal for those who are thoughtful to fill in the narrative. Pak depends on a lot of volunteers to step up and do things like creating liquidity on Uniswap or helping put on galleries or even making $Ash marketplaces (which never happened). It’s as if, after collecting $92 million from you, Pak did you a favor and wants you to voluntarily help him out while he…is nowhere to be seen. All the while, there are +150,000 NFTs floating around.
The Glass Onion
Perhaps a portion of those who think Pak is God are themselves in need of a god. A religious void in modern society could lead one to search for a “digital god” and lead to cargo cultism: the act of believing in a surface appearance of something without substance.
As one can see there are layers and layers of developments that Pak likes to call “value.”
But what has happened is that those value system layers have ended up being layers and layers of delusion. Very much like the business empire in The Glass Onion, Pak’s “Glass Onion” is purportedly innovative, powered by ambiguity, loopholes, and sleights of words, a visibly clear center, and easily shattered.
Look at those mysterious tweets, or from Lost Poets: “Who am I”
Think clearly, what did you actually see? Look at those carbons and cubes spinning and NFT records from inclusive drops. Pak tells you what he wants you to see, framing and packaging the drops as if they were gifts – “for those who missed punks” “this one you’ll like” and “I create whales” – and wrapped them up to distribute on Twitter. After Pak says those words, that’s what we all remember seeing. But think!
Pak loves turning off the lights (disappearing) and being thought of as an innovator (or Disruptor). All the while, he hides behind his gated discord, anonymity, and “deep” tweets. All the while, new generative and innovative artists abound and sell out on Sotheby’s and power the NFT art movement in 2023. Outside of Refik, Pak has never even mentioned top generative NFT art like Hobbs / Fidenza / QQL, Ringers, Memories of Qilin by Emily Xie, etc. which have all moved the culture forward over the past 18 months and eclipsed Pak. None of the artists behind those artworks had delusions of grandeur or showboated about their sales records: the records they possessed were in collector loyalty, widespread community engagement and rapport, and inspiring hundreds of derivatives and artistic offshoots.
A master of intellectual malapropism, Pak also doesn’t appear to know as much as we think he knows. Like paying a ghostwriter, he doesn’t write his own smart contracts. His grasp of “crowd control” is remedial at best (remember the awkward Pak-sponsored 2021 NFT NYC episode in Times Square with Ezra Miller, an actor who just can’t seem to stop getting arrested, or the equally jarring NFTSibs events). Instead of using the tens of millions from Lost Poets to “build a library,” Pak couldn’t’ even make an Ash marketplace and encouraged volunteers to do so pro bono (they didn’t or failed). In addition:
It is clear Pak didn’t know anything about market making since he appeared to gum himself up in discussions with Gemini on market making for $ASH on the lead-up to AshTwo.
Pak talks a lot about being inclusive and decentralized but locks his discord and censors people, and allows people to enter ONLY when HE opens the portal by posting a link on HIS Twitter (seems a bit authoritarian). Pak also chose mods to centrally manage the discord, at least one of which was great at banning and scamming the Pak community with NFT projects that only enriched himself (remember those pineapples and Urn/Sage/Alpha/___).
Pak wants to deemphasize himself by being anonymous, but this has the opposite effect when he complains or throws hissy fits, only bringing attention to himself as a human being. Then Pak quickly deletes the messages or restricts access (fortunately, some have saved many of Pak’s messages). This anonymity seems to be a way to avoid responsibility and disappear (and Pak’s identity, even if he tells you he is anonymous, is also in plain sight).
Pak doesn’t grasp liquidity pool dynamics and the need to be able to buy and sell a currency on Uniswap, expecting liquidity to just happen (apparent in the launch of $ASH and afterward) – everyone with even an iota of understanding of DeFi knows about this basic issue. Pak bought tens of thousands of $ASH and has plenty of eth, so could easily have supplied liquidity but hid behind the “market making” excuse that failed (Pak didn’t have to part with any of his crypto).
Delays were the result of “poor market conditions,” which lacks any real definition or clarity. No legitimate NFT artist or creator has made this excuse.
Pak seemed unable to grasp the political ramifications and controversy of raising millions for Julian Assange through the Censored drop, instead, focusing pre-drop on how the drop is “about you...for you all to participate” and the beautiful idealisms of free speech. Predictably, there was a firestorm with the AssangeDAO that won the 1/1 and controversy, and Pak conveniently no longer comments on it either on Twitter or Discord. Talk about pumping a drop pre-drop and then disappearing (surprise: Pak has an excuse for this behavior, too).
Pak didn’t know about the bug in the original Burn.art contract until Manifold told him so in early 2021 and the subsequent bug in the Merge contract, which likely was the result of an unbridled ambition to do complex things on-chain that ended up burning millions of dollars of eth.
Then there was AshTwo where Pak, despite being told about bots, clearly seemed unaware of their impact (literally every NFT project at the time was botted) which led to more millions of dollars burned and a collapse of the $ASH token.
Pak thought that Pages would be used up for poetry in an ill-labeled strategy game: his community and collectors were never that deep to have as much engagement to use ~30k pages to write poetry. As a result, a vast number of pages remain unused and seemingly useless.
Pak ended up destroying his own $Ash bonding curve talking about scarcity, creating so many NFTs (Lost Poets and Matter were supposed to be burnable) he couldn’t allow them to be burned and having to make adjustments and reneging over and over. As a result, Pak is now forced into course corrections to his grand plan, patching up screwups.
Pak often comes across as if…he doesn’t know what he’s doing at times.
Conclusion…
Look at his propensity for grandiose statements, constant deletion of what he writes, and desire to lock his discord and block anyone who criticizes him on Twitter. Pak makes you ponder over the meaning of basic words because he uses them in ambiguous ways to his own desire to get you to keep believing, keep buying, keep thinking you are a “collector.”
You are more an accomplice and sponsor of Pak’s behavior: you got your friends and family to buy Merge. Or Pak convinced you that you should. But look at the facts and delusions in plain sight, look through his Glass Onion. And we arrive at the center of Pak’s Glass Onion of layers delusions.
What you come to realize when you peer into the clear center of Pak’s Glass Onion…Were you an idiot to have ever been part of this folly or were you scammed by a master manipulator?