I have been noticing some growing tension in the NFT community lately. Specifically, I've seen issues with people who are creating derivative versions of projects that already exist and then uploading it as their own and often times profiting. It's happening to thousands of different assets so far, and as far as I can tell no one seems to care or do anything about because it happens so often. In this article, we will be exploring how the NFT derivative Cricis came about and whether or not we will ever see an end to it.

What is an NFT Derrivative?

A derivative is a copy of an existing collection. They may look very similar or have small identical changes but in all they are the same. To the public they may look the same, these projects often look like the original and function similarly in terms of utility.

Derivative collections often act as a lower entry point into a blue-chip-like community. But is there any value in collections like this long-term?

What Does a Derivative Project Look Like?

Derivatives look very similar to the most popular collections available. Collections that have the most inspiration drawn from them are:

• Bored Apes Yacht Club
• CryptoPunks
• Doodles
• Cool Cats

These projects will pull attributes and styles from the most popular collections to make their projects pop. The similarity in art style helps bring these collections to the top of OpenSea for a few days. This trend does seem to be unsustainable long-term though.

Often times, they are similar in name, or a play on the name of the original collection, as well.

Who started the derrivative cricis?

While it is tough to say for sure who the "Father of Derivatives" was. Many agree that one of the most popular early derrivative projects was Crypto Phunks which was a derrivative of CryptoPunks.

How is this ethical or legal?

In most cases, if you buy a digital art NFT, you will do so through a marketplace. These marketplaces serve the same function as art galleries, auction houses, and eBay do for works of physical art. They connect buyers and sellers. They also create the terms of sale. If it’s a first-time sale, those terms are (presumably) created in conjunction with the original artist.

So, if you buy an NFT, my presumption is that you are only buying ownership in the NFT itself. You are not buying the copyright unless there is a written contract (such as language in the marketplace’s terms of sale) stating that the seller is assigning the copyright in the work to the buyer.

Will this ever come to an end?

I don't believe this trend will go away anytime soon since the notion of everyone having their own version or spin-off of a product is seemingly irreversible with marketplaces that approve the listing of these derivative projects in production. In the end, if customers are still willing to buy these products and sellers are willing to produce them then who exactly is at fault?

Just take a look here, Magic Eden Solana’s leading marketplace for NFTs recently released an article on how they feel about the listing of derivative projects to their platform.

Quoting “We will ensure that collections that are either flagged or marked as derivatives will not be featured on our home page, but they will remain tradable. We think it makes sense to list derivative works that improve upon existing non-fungible tokens." This shows awareness of the fact that many customers enjoy derivative projects from popular original collections, but because of that, Magic Eden has made it a point to make it clear to give credit to the original project of which it was a derivative from.

My Personal Thoughts on NFT derrivative projects?

As an anarchistic self-proclaimed degenerate, this whole situation has me on the fence. If the market chooses not to care and still allow for the usage of derivaties then why as the consumer/collecter or whatever you call yourself should we care if we are the ones buying into these projects. But as I've been digging into it more and more, it's becoming very clear to me that we have a revolution on our hands here - A BIG F** You to the system! Whether you like it or not, the average person will never be able to APE into 'Bored Ape Yacht Club'. But as a Bored Ape Solana Owner, the estatic satisfaction buying into this derrivative and seeing how this all plays out is mind boggling.With this being said I'm taking matters into my own hands and joining this revolt.

Derivatives have huge potential

The derivatives market has as much potential as the NFTs themselves. If we can work together as an industry to create a system for derivative works that is as safe and easy to use as the current base NFT marketplaces are, it can take the market to entirely new levels.

The next major breakthrough for NFTs could be anything, but if I had my guess, I think derivative works have a lot of potential and will be the next major frontier for the NFT community.

As a speculative social experiment, I will be joining this massacre while bringing readers along with me. Yes, I am going to create and sell my own derivative project though in doing so I will be stepping on the other side as a seller and showing why it is difficult for non-experts to both purchase NFTs as well as value them (even if it's a derivative). This will be documented evidence about what market manipulation does and how non-experts trying to collect unique items can be taken advantage of. This will be documented PROOF that anyone can create their own NFT project (Even if it’s a Derivative). Call it what you want: manipulation, political maneuvering or simply a stab at democracy -- as they are presented on the blockchain, these examples are all true! This may be what TRUE DEMOCRACY for ALL looks like. During the process I will document the steps I took along this journey and bring Mirror.xyz right along with me … why did I choose Mirror? One reason is simply that the Project I will be creating a derivative of will be a mirror of the original image and Will be released on the Solana blockchain at a FAIR MINT price to all…Take side with us and bootstrap because we’re going to the MOON!!

DeGen Diary: This series will be a two part series that shows you exactly how we went about creating this collection and more! With DeGen Diary, you’ll get an in-depth look at the process undergone to create each of our collections and why these products were created and a little insight on who the author Is.

Part 1 of my production diary will detail everything I have done before the products are minted, showing you exactly what it took for me to bring this project from start to finish. If this collection sells out during mint this collection will get listed exclusively on Magic Eden.

If this collection gets sold out, I will write Part 2 of my production diary that will cover in-depth what it feels like to sell out a derivative project and details on some projects I have planned in the cryptocurrency/web 3.0 blockchain space.

My question to whoever is reading this article is, Would you like to join me and take part in this revolution?

Derivative Mint Details?

Mint price: 0.06 SOL ($0.36)

Mint Supply: 666

Blockchain: Solana

Mint Date: 1.26.2022

You will be able to mint the collection on this NFT Marketplace once the collection has dropped!

Future Mint Details regarding the OFFICIAL Twitter and the official mint link will be posted in the next article… Stay tuned !! WAGMI!!!!

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