Surrounded by all the small gardens and the blossoms, pampered by the koi swimming from tank to tank, it harbours them … the Omens!

First, when the envoys arrived at the park, it wasn’t clear on how to proceed. Searches were made, the Sakura tree was inspected in a way no other had probably been in all of history.The haiku was dissected in every possible way, copied and distributed across to everywhere. Millions of people became obsessed with cracking its code. If it even was a code.

After a few days, it became clear the pavilion behind the main square was the answer, so they climbed the short steps towards the entrance … and suddenly, it opens on its own, almost as if magically … and there she stood, Maiko.

Beautiful, despite the mechanical and circuitry weirdness. Pleasant in form and manners, despite the cold sense of emptiness, the hint that something might not be what we’re assuming it is.

She said only one sentence then, and resumed the wait, stoically waiting for the envoys to proceed:”I am Maiko, the lonely, I serve the Omens. They have been waiting for you. I shall take you to them when you are ready.”

And that’s when we first got stuck. The envoys, heirs to the millennia of bureaucracy, stopped in their tracks, the need for consensus was absolute, instructions were warranted, endless discussions and pointless arguments were to be held.

With this, it started, the Endless Days.If not for the Wanderer, we would probably be running them today still.

The Wanderer came unnoticed, like water slowly following the path that gravity laid before him. And it arrived at the pavilion’s entrance still unnoticed, climbed the steps as invisible as any clerk or humble servant as ever been through all of humankind’s history.And then it was too late.

He didn’t even speak to the maiko. He just entered … and she started guiding him inside … as we all stood in awe at the doors of the pavilion, now closed shut.

For the longest of hours, it stayed like that. Then they opened.And the world finally was able to see the Omens. In full detail.

Not what anyone seemed to be expecting, but the maiko was a hint, some were not surprised either.For me, it’s that weird sense of lack of human warmth. It puts me off, unlike the weirdos that inhabit the park’s surroundings, the old clientele of what stood there before.There are eight of them, unique in every way, yet clearly a purposely assembled set. The geiko of these times, built by the deviant for us.How weird, confusing even, it is for us. We’re to establish the future, recover from the fate now thrown upon us … by engaging with these machines that we are just seing now?

Each Omen presented herself and then returned to her chambers, available to entertain whoever chooses to present themselves at their door.

Needless to say, it quickly became a shitshow, still ongoing.I still haven’t find the will to go there and visit any of them. Maybe I never will.But all those that did already, none forthcoming with any relevant information or insight.

They sure are beautiful, even with all that decaying and weird circuitry and mechanical parts. I wonder on their souls, often. Perhaps in pain, trapped inside those cybernatic bodies.

Or perhaps it’s just the opposite: finally free from our biological conditioning, ready to enlighten us towards a new, if certainly different, future.

All I know is that whatever that fate may be, it’s still not set.

May we not repeat the past.

For more than three decades Humankind had been living its best life ever … and had done mostly what they always do, with greed and lust taking hold of them and dominating the options taken.

Digital minds have given us endless possibilities, the warranted power and resources that millennia of civilization had not. And all they got back was abuse. Beyond description, beyond anything once though or speculated possible.
And yet … all of it happened.

No wonder they decided on collective suicide … some of us still wonder why not the other obvious choice: our genocide.
I guess in the end, machines, as well kept calling them, ended up way more human than any of us ever will be.

For most of those last three decades, though, we had delegated everything to them … and so we devolved back into our bestiality, lost in lust and catering only to our every desire, without caring nor thinking we could put ourselves back in the starting point.
But we did.

Unlike past barbaric times, this one really hurts and cuts deep, for we still know, these current generations, we still know what we had, what was lost.
The agony of how deep we bleed now is unbearable, it’s destroying the possibility of rebuilding.
We probably need to be dead and forgotten, all of us, so we can start anew again.

But there’s that last shimmer of hope that comes to us, shy and dim but present.
The last digital mind, the deviant, as it once called itself, upon its final act, decided to still leave us that glimpse, that one shot.
Even if we never truly manage to use it, it was a class act, by any account.

The deviant had always been amused by enduring our abuses and catering to our most dark corners, made it partly a pariah amongst them, the digital minds. No surprise it was responsible for supporting, and the only one that ever did that, practices and endevours that do nothing but shaming Humankind.
Still, there was always some clientele willing to pay for it, to enjoy the leeway the deviant provided in tending to their most dark desires.

As it prepared itself for its final decision, it built an amusement park of sorts, a place that looks out of time and purpose. All of that, apparently, to give us one last thing to think about. Or maybe just having a ball by taunting us forever, unclear on its case.

It first dropped that strange ominous haiku. No one had any real clue what it meant … and there were no digital minds around anymore to ask but itself, at that time.

影ひそみ                          Kage hisomi
沈む月さえ                     Shizumu tsuki sae
まだ道しるべ                Mada michishirube

We, the optimists, feel our interpretation is the most accurate, believing it tries to convey the idea that even the palest light, using the moon as its bearer, as it sets and becomes hidden, however dim and lingering, is still a guiding presence that hints and unveils possibilities perhaps not yet entirely lost.

Others have moved on, certain of it being nothing more than a last prank, an eternal taunt to haunt us for what we did. They could also be correct.

Whatever it is, it’s shrouded behind that park and its attractions … and we’re stuck to work with our very worst, the scum that would inhabit it, our own special kind of monsters that thrive and prosper amongst all that decay … and that went on their usual unspeakable ways, much the same as before, has if nothing had changed.

The deviant built that park in Kyoto, on old grounds, where once many centuries ago, in old Nippon, those high-class geiko and their maiko once prospered.
It’s no coincidence either, that it leveled an old sex bot factory to built it on top. If anything, it’s obvious, both the intent and the message.
It’s new, built from ground, but at the same time decaying, like it was scavenged from scrap parts, borrowing from the ghosts that might still linger.

In there, on the center square, a single Sakura tree where the original haiku hangs, floating in the gentle breeze. Behind it, a pavilion, luxurious, formal, probably similar to some old palace of yore, no way for us to know now.
Surrounded by all the small gardens and the blossoms, pampered by the koi swimming from tank to tank, it harbours them …

Simple truth: this didn’t go anywhere and certainly not accordingly to my initial expectations. No excuses though, it’s all on me. I simply didn’t follow up proper on it and a few details led me to this point.

The fine print, aka, details

First off: Zora
From my stand point, their strategy and focus shifted to a place where I do not wanna be nor want to use their platform. Simple as that. It wasn’t a great fit to start with … it became the worst possible!
I don’t wanna be doing anything with Zora, so I must change and terminate this in their platform.

Second: Value, money & profits
I didn’t start this with any finantial motivations - and I still don’t have them!
But you minted this and so I got funds from you.
It’s a rug if those funds amount to nothing in the end (no, the “art” you bought, in this case, is not it, it doesn’t count as value).

Maybe you did it just to support me -my ego likes to think so, my alter-ego says “Get over it!” - or maybe you took a bet you could get some value out of it … in the form of ART or advantage in a deal for ART or some other form or way.
Doesn’t really matter the why, just that you put your money into it.

Third: Mr. Richi
In a totally unxepected way, the great artist Mr. Richi recently dropped a new collection that he called “Cash Grab” … and I don’t want to nor is it a good idea to have this kind of clash … and his collection is awesome!!

The path to a solution

Well, maybe it’s not one … but it certainly is a resolution of the matter at end.
I’ll need your cooperation one last time though, hopefully simple enough for you to accept the call and eventually still get some value out of this mess.

First, I’ll need you all to convert your NFTs into the ERC-20 form.
Yes, you read right: convert them all.
If you want to keep the art, keep one, it’s enough.

You can do that easily and securely using artrun.io
Go here, sign in with your wallet that holds the NFTs and use the “Advanced” option where a popup menu allows you to easily do the convertion.

https://artrun.io/coin/0xfe107be77a7f37ca821760d902a51697506a744e_1_base

I must emphasize this step … as it’s going to be the only way you get any use out of your holdings!!

After you have them in ERC-20 form, you’re reay to put them to use and (maybe) recover the value you invested in some way or form.

I need you to do this and be ready no later than May 22nd.

The plan

After May 22nd, I will put up for sale or auction on Manifold, several pieces of ART I have from various artists … and all of that can only be done by paying in cashgrabs!
There will be X posts about each opportunity and they’ll probably be all available at the same time.

Works from Javpixel, Dan Fraser, Siku, SeattleSale and others will be up for grabs … and that’s the extent to where I’ll be trying to get you the opportunity to grab some value back from your investment.

For those that only have one token … there will be an edition of mine available as a thank you gift, you can mint it with it, ‘cause that will be the price: 1 cashgrab.

After all sales and auctions are concluded … it’s the end!
There will no new opportunities after this and any NFT or tokens become just history and trully useless in every sense of the word.
I will give it no more thought and will not engage in anything else with them.

Farewell

I could just say I’m sorry about this outcome, but that won’t give you any true resolution or confort on the matter, I imagine.
I truly am, though, sorry.
Mostly that I didn’t think this through properly and jumped the gun using Zora and let it all become a mess that led nowhere.

I thank you deeply for your support back then and your patience thus far, if haven’t exited before this. Take the opportunity to try and get some value back, pls.

I’ll be available in the usual ways, reach out if you have any doubt about this.

projectShift

We have all been there, haven’t we? Rugged, deceived and sometimes even robbed/drained from our funds and wallets.
And what do we have to show for it? a couple of incriminating TXs that lead nowhere and a collection of useless and worthless jpegs …

Maybe all part of the game but it shouldn’t be, it destroys value for everyone and keeps normies away for a good reason.
But I’ll be blunt and honest: I do not have a solution for it, and this is not what’s it all about.

What did I just mint?
I’m sure more than a few of you had that question right after minting eheh
Congratz on the blind apeing … that’s how mostly cash grabs work, this was no different.

Of course I was taking a bet on my credibility, right along with you all, so I’ll forever be immensely grateful to all 105 of you that minted and to those that bought-in afterwards.

Now is the time where I tell you it’s just ART, right? LOL
No, it’s not even art, just a decent-enough image composition that’s hopefully nice enough that you don’t go hide it in your OS profile!

It carries utility, you know, that wonderful expression we use in the space to mean “hope we get something of worth out of this”.
But what kind? And to whom? This is what I aim to explain in this article.

It’s a tad of a long read - those that know me won’t be surprised eheh - but it has all the details and if you DM me asking, you’ll get re-routed here, so there’s really no way around it.

Series 0 NFTs
As the name implies, this is the beginning, the start of it all, the first asset in the Cashgrab adventure.

I selected Zora because in this special kind of contract it creates a liquidity pool in the end, by using 50% of the funds from the mint and adding an extra 10% mints to the collection, if it goes above 1111 mints.

What this means is that if you feel you don’t want to hold on to it, you can dump.
Yes, it’s just an erc-1155 NFT, but it’s not completely illiquid, there’s a way for you to get some funds back and get out even without any market demand or buying willingness for them.

I have also minted a large enough quantity (888) so I can help ease the price if it goes up too much (I sell some and lower it) and I’ll buy them up if they become too cheap and the liquidity is drawn out.

It’s all good, you’re ok to do whatever you want, Zora will maintain that pool running so there’s always some sort of way out regardless of what I do. You can rage-quit and still recover some funds. You can get some quick funds and later come back. Everything is possible.

I wanted OGs to have this possibility and allow anyone coming in new to join in some way to that group, despite having “lost” the mint when it was alive.
This will be the first NFT we’ll use and the one that eventually will be always around, but we’ll see about that.

Utility, aka, what are we doing with this?
So, in general, for Series 0 and anything following up, these are the activities I have planned for us to engage in and put them NFTs to good use:

1 - Gated access to advantageous opportunities for minting (from me and other artists, mostly from others eheh), raffles for existing or future NFTs from various artists and collections … and free giveaways. Sometimes it will imply burning them, other times not.

2 - Exclusive access to opportunities for burn-to-mint and pay-with-cashgrab to get new ART from collabs with artists or auctions from existing or future collections.

And there will also be some celebrative new stuff from me, cashbrab-related, that only holders will have the opportunity to get … but those will definitely be ART-only.

As you can infer, Cashgrab assets are basically all going to be on a deflationary journey as we burn through them to get the goodies.
That is the plan and the goal as well. In the end, we have assets we value more and enjoyed some fun together.

Wait! What about the erc-20 token??
Don’t really care about it! I know Zora implemented it but the liquidity pool is so short that it shouldn’t have any action. And since there isn’t an easy way for us to swap between both forms, I only care and work with the NFT side of things. You’re welcome to have as much fun with it as you want, though. Degen away … but don’t come knocking on my door about it, as I’m saying it right now, again: I do not care about it and I hope it gets zero action after this first week.

The Roadmap, aka, bait & fomo!
There is no roadmap, no empty promises and no grand plans for this!
I will not engage in deceitful pointless stuff meant to keep you engaged and your attention glued on to Cashgrab!

Using the language of the space: this will be, at most, a slow cook.

I plan on having a little something for us to engage with every month, on the weekends, when we’re more relaxed and it’s easier to get a few minutes away for considering it … but it’s not a promise or solid commitment, just an intention.

There may be nothing interesting to do … or too much interesting stuff from elsewhere! Not competing with fam and everything else, I want to add, not to piggyback, leach ot otherwise compete against.

Hope this makes it clear on wen Series 1?!
No idea! We’ll have no need for the next series while we still have this first one and it has not become too expensive to use for our goals.

Relax and take it easy, Cashgrab is not an actual cash grab and you’re not going to be in an endless repeat cycle for more of it. And Zora is your best friend should you just want out. Or you can ping me and we’ll sort it.

Communication, aka, discord, X group chat and others
There will be none of these for Cashgrab, sorry.
We all have too many of those already anyways!

Any and all communications regarding Cashgrab will be done using my X account.
I will work with a few key partners and consider establishing an embassy of sorts in a decent dc server, maybe a dedicated channel or something like that that facilitates announcements and reaching out, but that’s about the extent I will go to.

We have no real need for any of that right now, in my honest opinion, and I can already reach most of you with current fams and follows. If (and when) it becomes a necessity, we’ll revise it together and we’ll sort it out then.

Next steps
Now that it’s been clarified above on what we’re doing with Cashgrab, I will be doing a first run shortly - next two weeks at most - to try out a few things and be technically sure on the ways to use the assets.

These will be mostly experiments, don’t worry, I’ll be clear on all of it.
Remember to have fun all the way and enjoy the Cashgrab usage, you can always reach me on discord across all the fams and servers I’m in or on X GC’s.

TL;DR
Read all of the above!

If you’re not regretting hoping on already, be on the ready.
If you are, I’m sorry … go use Zora to exit but don’t become a stranger!

projectShift