> I don't think they fell for anything. I think it's more likely that they saw an opportunity to make some money and had a loose enough moral compass to go through with it.

But even this means they fell for it. There’s very little money in providing access to NFTs in the short term. The money is made by dumping over hyped projects (ex: anything BAYC puts out).

What Shopify probably saw were the transaction amounts that OpenSea was doing, and thought they could jump on that business thinking it was any sort of long term model. They “fell” for it because they thought building a branch of their business out for NFTs was a good idea. Anyone could have seen this was a bad idea, and not a great way to make money, and also something that would die and fall apart in a few months.

I think Shopify did an ICO (or the NFT equivalent) for their own little cheap blobby avatar art. They sold thousands, starting bids at around 20k. So that was the play.

> There’s very little money in providing access to NFTs in the short term.

This isn't strictly true -- marketplaces take a cut of the fees, and there was a lot of ETH sloshing around at one point.

I think OP didn't mean the NFT sellers (the ones who saw an opportunity to make some money) but the NFT buyers.

Yes, I believe they're two sides of the same coin. Buying an NFT did two things: A) it gave you the opportunity to flip it for a higher price (this is the most visible way that one can make money from NFTs), and B) it signaled to the crypto community that you were one of the tribe. The second was important if you wanted to execute your own trading scam, which many did.

>I kind of wish I kept note of everyone who took part in the scam.

I don't understand those that are vocal with public "threats" like the above.

I remember friends on Facebook with the same idle threats about those not wearing mask. Or those that voted for Trump.

"I see you! I will remember this!"

Ok.

I wasn't thinking of it as a public threat, more of a personal log of people who I don't consider trustworthy.

I unfollowed a lot of people over the last year who had turned to pushing scams. The problem is, my memory is short. I'll soon forget who the scam artists were, and, if they scrub their profiles clean, I'll probably end up following them again.

Shades of Inglourious Basterds.