While brands are carefully entering the NFT world and protecting their copyrights and intellectual property, Binance launched their new NFT platform on June 24, 2021, with works “by” Andy Warhol and Dali, without any respect to the artist’s copyright, mention of their estate, or any other note, except the company that listed the work, ApeNFT, whose mission states that they want to turn “top artists and art pieces into NFTs,[…] transform them from being elite-exclusive items to something that truly belongs to the people and mirrors their aspirations.” The power of money however buys the press, as there is zero mention of these issues, anywhere. And Justin Sun, Tron’s founder, was just announced as the winning bidder of the “Warhol”’s work for $2.8M! Please help us…
See The Genesis collection [Binance NFT]
See my Twitter thread with comments relevant to this situation [Twitter]
See the articles about Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, being the winner of this controversial NFT [Yahoo Finance]
The UK just banned Binance from conducting any “regulated activity”. God saves the Queen. Or should I say “The Queen saves Crypto”? [BBC]
After some research, I added some details to the original findings and some concerning elements surfaced.
1. Binance launched their nft platform with a genesis collection with works "BY" andy warhol and Salvator Dali : https://www.binance.com/en/nft-premium/genesis.
Their description of Dali's NFTs is that they "digitally recreate one of the most famous Divine Comedy artwork, the one by Salvador Dali." "Divine Comedy: rebeget" is a series of digital recreation by a community artist's tribute to Dali's work."
Their description of Warhol's NFTs is the following: "We think Andy is an excellent symbol for the revolution of the arts. "Three Self-Portraits" is a rare masterpiece created just a few months before Andy Warhol died." "Three Self-Portraits recreation series" is a community artist's tribute to Andy Warhol's" Three Self-Portraits." Through various interpretations in color and style, it expresses its respect for the pioneer artist Andy Warhol. "Three Self-Portraits:rebeget" also reflects the vitality and value of artwork created by community artists with blockchain technology in the digital era."
2. The auction of Andy Warhol's three self-portraits got auctioned and won by JustinSun, the infamous founder of Tron blockchain for $2.8m. There are some inconsistencies as well with the way the work was presented and was sold.
Artwork detail page >
Creator: ApeNFT
Provenance: Minted by @BinanceNFT 2021-06-21 12:55:37
ApeNFT's website and twitter are not very helpful: https://twitter.com/apenftorg?lang=en
Their tweet of the sale does not explain anything or respond to concerned comments:
Their website states "Like how blockchain democratizes finance like never before, APENFT, by turning top artists and art pieces into NFTs, not only upgrades the way artworks are hosted, but also transforms them from being elite-exclusive items to something that truly belongs to the people and mirrors their aspirations. APENFT is the art for everyone."
And it mentions a link to Helutrans fine art storage and transportation company: Established in 1979, Helu-Trans Group is the leading art handler and fine art storage provider in Asia, equipped and trained to meet the special demands of the ever-growing arts industry. Our commitment to quality and reliability has earned us the trust and faith of major art institutions, art collectors, auction houses, artists and art galleries in the region. Our head office is in Singapore, with regional offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, and Yogyakarta.
Here are more details on apenft and one article that mentions the collusion we were all thinking about:
3. The question is the copyright infringement and the artworks being "transformative enough" to be a real "recreation of the work by the community" or just straight up a copyright infringement / scam.
They added the word "rebeget" to the titles… Ok… Produced again… I'll let you be the judge of the lack of transformation, it's not hard.
There is however NO mention of this potential copyright infringement anywhere in the press coverage of the genesis collection launch, except some twitter comments:
Comments to the binance tweet:
Comments to my tweet:
See Coindesk: (a tiny mention at 4:26): https://www.coindesk.com/binance-nft-marketplace-warhol-dali?jwsource=cl
Bitcoin.com: no mention https://news.bitcoin.com/binance-nft-marketplace-launches-with-artwork-from-dali-warhol-and-100-creators/
4. This is all happening in a climate of doubts around Binance practices and bans.
They have a history of hosting all NFT scams, like Binance Punks, etc.
- See Larvalabs tweet back in February:
- And this article about all the copycats: https://www.playtoearn.online/2021/03/02/nft-copycats-exploding-on-binance-smart-chain/
On June 28, Binance was banned from the UK from doing any regulated activity (which probably does not involve NFTs, just the currency trading): https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/28/cryptocurrency-exchange-binance-banned-by-uk-regulator.html. Below are some of Binance reactions on Twitter:
Posting 3 or 4 times this letter from a UK-based crime unit: "Recently our team was acknowledged by the UK South East Regional Organized Crime Unit for assisting its investigations relating to cybercrime."
A notice trying to minimize the ban (see the comments for corrections):
https://twitter.com/binance/status/1409229415846981634
I’ll conclude by a funny question from Binance Twitter from June 30:
https://twitter.com/binance/status/1410297147141111812