What’s Happening: Veteran finance writer Matt Levine’s towering 40,000-word feature for Bloomberg demystifies the inner workings of cryptocurrency, comparing NFTs to a Ponzi scheme that may spell trouble as we become gradually more entrenched in Web3.

The Download: Praising the good parts, critiquing the bad, and offering slivers of hope that this newfangled technology may persist, Levine’s story arrives as a landmark for Bloomberg. It’s the only article in this week’s issue of the magazine and marks the second time the 93-year-old publication was dedicated to a single story. With good reason: the writer offers plain-English explainers of all the complex systems behind Web3, making his story an essential read for those interested in the blockchain.

One key takeaway involves NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which took the art world by storm in early 2021 but whose market has since cooled considerably. (Remember when no one bid on Chevrolet’s first NFT, even though it came with a free slime-green Corvette Z06?) Levine likens NFTs—and most of the crypto space, for that matter—to an enormous Ponzi scheme, asserting that most tokens are purchased with the sole purpose of flipping them for profit. “Why do you think someone else will buy the tokens?” he asks. “Is it because you think they like the product? Or is it because you think they are planning to get rich by selling to a bigger sucker? Where does that end?”

There are no easy answers to his questions, but the NFT bonanza jumpstarted by Beeple’s staggering $69.3 million sale of Everydays: The First 5,000 Days lends credence to Levine’s position. Almost overnight, everyone within and beyond the art world wanted in on the promises of financial gains afforded by this newfound technology, leading to an influx of middling digital art minted on the blockchain and sold for astronomical prices using cryptocurrency, mainly Ether. The most famous NFT collection became the Bored Ape Yacht Club, a series of 10,000 images of monkeys, which celebrities, art dealers, and venture capitalists dropped millions on for clout.

What these starry-eyed buyers may not have realized is the vulnerable infrastructure behind their purchase. Because it’s unregulated, “the technological and legal connections between blockchain and JPEG ownership are a bit thin, but the connections are enforced culturally.” He quotes well-known software engineer and hacker Moxie Marlinspike, who wrote that NFTs simply contain a URL that points to the data online. Anyone with access to that data in the future can change the NFT’s image, title, or description to whatever they’d like, regardless of whether or not they “own” the token.

“If you buy an NFT,” Levine writes, “what you own is a notation on the blockchain that says you own a pointer to some web server. On that web server, there’s probably a picture of a monkey, but that’s none of the blockchain’s business.”

This spells problems as NFT ownership gets positional—and adopted by early crypto evangelists who, Levine writes, “got very rich very fast and were very annoying about it” by buying Lamborghinis and islands. “Being in the cool internet chat room will be desirable the way living in a fancy house in a good neighborhood is desirable now,” he says. “Having a cool online avatar will be desirable in the way that wearing a nice watch is desirable now. And if crypto is a way to make those things scarce, to make the desirable avatars a limited edition available only to trendsetting early adopters and rich people, then you can make money selling them. This all seems bad to me, but what do I know?”

In Their Own Words: “If you build a financial system that has trouble with houses but is particularly suited to financing video games, then that system might be increasingly valuable as video games become an increasingly important part of life,” Levine writes. “If you build a financial system whose main appeal is its database, it will be well-suited to a world lived in databases. If the world is increasingly software and advertising and online social networking and, good Lord, the metaverse, then the crypto financial system doesn’t have to build all the way back down to the real world to be valuable. The world can come to crypto.”

Surface Says: Looks like the guy who bought Jack Dorsey’s first tweet NFT is the “bigger sucker” in the Ponzi scheme.

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Reach the design world every morning. Find out more about advertising in the Design Dispatch.

James Turrell recently made a foray into design, teaming up with Lalique crystal to create two custom fragrances and decanters that debuted at Paris+ par Art Basel. Known for finding endless inspiration in light and space, Turrell also created Crystal Light Panels, a series of crystal engravings that showcases 30 different color sequences. “The nature of my work is the shaping of light,” Turrell says. “Light is the material; perception is the medium. There is no image in my work because I am not interested in representation.” Though Turrell and Lalique founder René Lalique are separated by generations, his outing with the crystal house and its legacy of technical virtuosity seems most fitting.

In his richly layered portraits, the British-born Cantonese painter and UOVO Prize winner surrounds his queer, Asian diasporic subjects with “Chinese cowboy” imagery that explores both the nuances and obfuscations of belonging.

Here, we ask an artist to frame the essential details behind one of their latest works.

Bio: Oscar yi Hou, 24, Brooklyn.

Title of work: Old Gloried Hole, aka: Ends of Empire (2022).

Where to see it: The Brooklyn Museum until Sept. 17, 2023.

Three words to describe it: Huge-ass flag.

What was on your mind at the time: I was thinking about U.S. imperialism and its relationship to “Asia America.” I was also thinking of Jasbir K. Puar’s theorization of homonationalism.

When: Oct. 28–Dec. 22

Where: Druker Design Gallery at Harvard GSD, Cambridge, MA

What: Throughout his storied career, the Australian-born architect designed a remarkable series of buildings, from Scarborough College in Toronto’s outer suburbs to the Intelsat Headquarters in Washington, DC. Though his work garnered global praise at the peak of his career, the advent of postmodernism—and wider social and economic changes—led to waning fame in the 1990s. One of his most celebrated works, however, is the Harvard GSD’s George Gund Hall, which marks its 50th anniversary this year. To celebrate the occasion, this show offers drawings, ephemera, and models that examine his career and design legacy, positioning him as an architect with an indelible impact on late modernism.

Our weekly roundup of the internet’s most preposterous headlines, from the outrageous to the outright bizarre.

A Rumor About a Crabs Outbreak at Brigham Young University Sparks Talk of Armpit Sex [Rolling Stone]

San Francisco Wants to Spend $1.7 Million on a Single Public Toilet [Reason]

Deadly Fungi Are Infecting More Americans [Wall Street Journal]

“World’s Dirtiest Man” Dies in Iran at 94 a Few Months After First Wash [The Guardian]

She Was Killed by the Police. Why Were Her Bones in a Museum? [The New York Times Magazine]

A 28-Year-Old Who Unexpectedly Won a Dalí Etching at Auction for $4,000 Has Gone Viral With Her Rueful TikTok Video About It [Artnet News]

California Lawsuit Alleges Weed Didn’t Get Plaintiffs High Enough [Vice]

Woman Goes to Work, Gets Swallowed Whole By 22-Foot Python [Washington Post]

Before fashion, collectibles, toys, and cross-brand merch collabs formed into an all-encompassing monoculture, there was Bearbrick (known as Be@rbrick). The Japanese-made collectible art bear has served as one of streetwear’s most inimitable symbols since launching 18 years ago. A spate of coveted special-edition releases has ensued, with brands and artists all across the spectrum—Kaws famously designed custom editions for Chanel and Fendi, and streetwear royalty like Bape and Stüssy have released their own versions—putting their stamp on Bearbrick. Following in that tradition is Lancôme, the French beauty company. Adorned in a modern reinterpretation of its logo and rose emblem, the bear is accompanied by the label’s signature Advanced Génifique serum in custom packaging of the same motif.

Perched on the edge of New York’s Governors Island beneath Outlook Hill is a monolithic wooden structure that slightly resembles the hull of a ship. Look closer, and you may see passersby wandering inside, captivated and overwhelmed by rows of giant steel chains rumbling overhead. Yes, it’s a slave ship. The work is the second part of California artist Charles Gaines’ The American Manifest, the 78-year-old’s inaugural public art project that critiques America’s racist track record. “It shows the history of slavery, Manifest Destiny, colonialism, and imperialism as an interlinking narrative,” he says. “Standing in the middle of it and hearing the sounds exist in time is pretty emotional.”

A defining voice in modern luxury interiors, Holly Hunt offers exquisite and highly customizable pieces for residential and commercial properties. Founded in 1983 by Holly Hunt, the Chicago-based brand pioneered a new style of luxury interiors with an elegant, streamlined aesthetic and timeless color palette, drawing both residential and commercial design trade seeking distinctive and custom design pieces.

Surface Says: Holly Hunt’s discerning selection streamlines the process of outfitting interiors with modern, designer pieces from ceiling to floor.

You may be able to stay in Orbital Assembly’s space hotel as early as 2025.

This new Black-owned condom brand provides no-nonsense wellness tips.

TikTokers are taking the scathing restaurant review to the next level.

Andy Warhol’s former New York City building is heading to the auction block.