Tyler Warner Moves 1,000 ETH Round Trip Due to ‘Rock Star Complex’: NFT Collector

Tyler Warner, also known as Tyler Did It on He first dabbled in cryptocurrency in 2017, and in 2021-2022, NFT mania captured his imagination and took his career in a new direction.

Tyler not only captured the Art Blocks wave, but also Azukis, Moonbirds, and Pudgy Penguins. His NFT portfolio was worth about 1,000 ETH, but like many JPEG enthusiasts at the time, he gave most of his paper assets back when NFTs were hit by a brutal bear market.

“It was all a round trip. I think it jumped to about 1,000 ETH, or about $3 million, at its peak in August 2021. I admit that during my first full cycle I had a bit of a rock star complex, thinking I was the best trader and very good at this. In a truly bull market, everyone seemed like a genius. “It was easy to catch up in an instant.” Tyler said.

“Then I look back and say, ‘Wow, I never learned how to hit the sell button in that cycle. I had great success with Art Blocks and then it was a downturn. Then I did well with Azuki, moved up a bit, and then I did very well with Moonbirds. I was buying birds on the first day. But I never really sold or realized NFTs at the right time because I thought it was a new paradigm shift. I really thought it had happened long enough.”

The GameStop series was a catalyst for self-reflection.

The former banker and corporate consultant said the GameStop incident in early 2021 raised questions about the legitimacy of TradFi’s system.

“When they shut down Robinhood and halted trading for the first few times, it started to feel like this was a really rigged system from the traditional stock market.”

“There was a lightbulb moment for cryptocurrencies solving this problem. “That can’t happen in a decentralized cryptocurrency market,” he says.

Feeling that his work in financial services consulting was contributing to a rigged system, he focused more on NFTs and cryptocurrencies and left the company in August 2021.

Within days of doing so, he launched his YouTube channel and doubled down on creating content for Web3. By the next month he was working full-time at Lucky Trader, and today he’s co-hosting The Morning Minute. FOMO time I’m still working at Lucky Trader.

“The crypto world excites me. It felt like a new frontier and a market where I could potentially have a voice,” he said. I would like to.”

“As I looked at my career trajectory, I wondered how I could have a voice in this market. I felt like the cryptocurrency space was a more interesting field and I was happy to show up every day and develop that voice.”

The future of sports collectibles is digital.

A big sportsman, Tyler is a huge fan of the NBA and NFL, and his He remains optimistic about the future of digital sports collectibles.

“There were two things that came to my mind in 2021. One was digital art, and how meaningful that was on many fronts, including the ability to view a work of art at any time rather than having it sit on an airport hanger. Another thing that clicked was sports,” he says.

“A good friend of mine was into real trading cards and baseball cards. He had thousands of dollars. He had to go to these trade shows to sell them and keep them in good condition. Moreover, storing it and avoiding sunlight was too cumbersome and burdensome.”

“When Top Shot came out, I just said yes. You have access to buy and sell these cards worldwide 24/7. You don’t have to worry about its condition. “You don’t have to worry about maintenance and the overhead is zero.”

Tyler believes NBA Top Shot, a major catalyst for NFT adoption in 2020 and early 2021, still has the greatest upside, and he recently purchased more to accompany the Victor Wembanyama Rookie Moment.

“I’m obsessed with Top Shot. That was one of my purchases four days before the peak. I was a genius for a short period of time, then my portfolio doubled, tripled, and then it all fell apart,” Tyler says.

“I have a Victor Wembanyama Rookie Moment, and I’ve sat down and watched it a few times in a row before because it’s so well put together and feels like the future. “If you believe that sports memorabilia will still be around 10, 20, 30 years from now, I think it needs to permeate more into the digital space.”

Self-proclaimed pengu maxi

One of the few PFP NFT collections to beat down-only price action over the past 18-24 months has been the Luca Netz-led Pudgy Penguins. Pudgy, which came under much criticism under previous ownership, has been reborn under Netz since taking over in April 2022.

Netz’s vision and execution for the Pudgy brand is viewed as a path to mainstream awareness through social media and digital spaces, including over 10 billion GIPHY views and physical toy presence in the world’s largest retailers, including Walmart. .

Tyler is a self-proclaimed Pengu maxi who bought Pudgy’s for double-digit sums before the previous owner left, selling it for near top dollar.

“It was one of the first collections we made in a decent size for 2021. I collected 10 worth around 0.2ETH or 0.3ETH. Prices went up by about 50% and I was looking for products to sell and realized I didn’t want to sell any of them. I liked them all. “I couldn’t pick a least favorite,” he said.

“I rode the wave up to the 4-ETH floor but wasn’t really a fan of the original owners behind Pudgy’s. When I saw what they were doing, I actually sold those tops almost as well as my Pudgy’s. It was one of the few things I did for the collection, and it completely shut down the whole thing.”

“Then Luca came back and I knew this guy had potential. I knew from my 2021 experience that the Pudgy art was good and many OG cryptocurrency experts have put up with it, so it had a built-in network which was the cool part. I think I bought my current Wizard Hat PFP when the floor was around 3ETH.” (At the time of writing, it was 7.6ETH.)

The iconic deal in which OSF and Mando dumped more than 70 Bored Apes for more than $9 million to Blur bids in February 2023 was something Tyler had hoped to emulate with his Pudgy collection.

“I made a conscious decision with Apes to be like Mando from OSF and the Pudgy Penguins. I built my stack up to 10, but I didn’t get caught up in the thesis, so I sold some and started chasing others. Eventually it was reduced to 5, then 3, and then only 1 left. If I stuck to that thesis, I was right. Sadly I didn’t run it. I’m still incredibly optimistic about Luca. CryptoPunks aside, I think Pudgy’s is the collection with the most merit.”

Quick Q&A with NFT collector Tyler Warner

What’s your favorite NFT in your wallet?

“It must be my Pudgy.”

What is your favorite 1/1 piece of art?

“My Grant Yun work, ‘American Gothic Painting.’”

Who is your favorite NFT artist?

“Alpha Centauri Kid.”

If you had to hold three meme coins for the rest of 2024, which coin do you think would go into your wallet?

“WIF is 100% there. By the end of 2024, all political coins are ruled out. Because we don’t know if that will last after the election. I am bullish on the RSIC token, Bitcoin’s rune coin, and am excited to hold it until the end of 2024. Lastly, I really like PacMoon. It seems to have legs, and it still seems relatively cheap compared to others.”

What was it like participating in Rug Radio’s FOMO Hour show?

“It was absolutely fantastic. I think these guys (Mando and Farokh) are a dream team. (But) there’s a huge job to fill behind OSF, and he’s not going to step down forever. Mando is really what got me started covering NFTs, and Farokh is driving that ship. He is the captain. He has energy and he brings it every day.”

What is the best thing about cryptocurrency?

“opportunity.”

What’s the worst thing about cryptocurrency?

“Bad actors.”

Who are your three favorite followers on X for NFTs?

“We’ll continue to connect with Gen Z through Stats, Mando, and Thread Guy.”

What are the best tools you use every day to keep track of everything?

“Dex Screener, Blast Landing Pages, Blur and Magic Eden for Runes and Ordinals in Bitcoin.”

Best Resources and Information

“Mandos Minutes is great, but I don’t read a lot of their daily newsletters because I don’t want to distort what I would write about myself. For inspiration, I’d say Milk Road. “I think it’s the single best newsletter and I’m very inspired by the writing.”

Do you have any advice on how to survive in NFTs and cryptocurrencies in the long term?

“Know it’s a marathon and learn when to transition. Basically, when to put your foot on the gas and when to put your foot on the brake so you don’t get tired. Don’t listen to people who say you shouldn’t have any sleep time. The idea of ​​no sleep is complete bullshit. You can build great positions and trade 9 to 5 very well.”

“Don’t feel like you have to burn the midnight oil. It seems that only when the skin becomes thick does it become rough. In a bear market, things can get serious, but just know that more good things happen in this space than bad. “Sometimes the bad things are magnified bigger than the good things.”

If you had to guess, what would the global market capitalization figure be at the peak of this particular cycle?

“I see it. Ten trillion dollars is my number. $10 trillion was in gold. This means we basically had to take 3x the amount of Bitcoin to get there. $150,000 is my Bitcoin goal. I’ve never actually calculated what that means for overall global market capitalization, but it’s probably in the $7 trillion to $10 trillion range this cycle.”

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Greg Oakford

Greg Oakford is Head of Growth and Partnerships at Upside DAO, Australia’s leading cryptocurrency and web3 collaboration hub and investment fund. He is an avid NFT collector and co-founder of NFT Fest Australia. Prior to cryptocurrency, Greg was a marketing and sponsorship specialist for professional events in the sports industry.

Follow the author @GregOakford