The A to Z of Ethereum, NFT market, and the Tungsten cube bubble
Tungsten – A word that people from the space seldom resonated with has now become the talk of the crypto-town owing to its intriguing and fascinating features. The cube being talked about is merely 14 inches in size and is made of tungsten. However, it weighs a ton [approximately 907 kg.] due to the density of the metal.
According to people from the space, HODLing the cube is an experience like no other. Well, being perplexed at this point is quite understandable, but it should just be kept in mind that anything that’s able to grab the attention of people has value today.
Over the last few days, people have been trying to figure out the whole cube frenzy. The Google Trends result speaks for itself. The spikes on the chart below are quite relentless and the previous spikes barely make their case anymore.
Source: Google Trends
Getting the facts straight
Before proceeding with other astounding details, it is crucial to see how and why this cube saga all started.
Well, Midwest is a tungsten service firm that has been around in the space since 1958 and specializes in tungsten and alloys. Of late, their newer cube products have started to grab a lot of eyeballs. Since the year 2015, the cube has allowed a lot of people to experience the density of tungsten first hand.
Now tungsten, as a matter of fact, is a metal that’s 1.7 times as dense as lead. Savants have been buying it for quite a while and owning them has evidently been a joke on Reddit.
Well, the precipitous popularity of these cubes saw Midwest Tungsten Service’s sales surge by over 300% in October. As per the firm’s official customer breakdown data, until recently, the majority of its business came from industrial customers. However, the hype provoked them to start offering cubes in a host of sizes – right from 1 cm to 10 cm to cater to the needs of its new retail customer base.
According to Midwest’s recent blog, the interest in tungsten cubes pushed the firm to analyze and figure out the biggest cube they could build. Post the introspection, its biggest 14-odd inch cube was born.
Gawk-worthy reactions
New owners of the cube have already started dramatizing the whole situation. One of them went to the extent of asserting that their past life, especially during the waiting period, was a ‘bad life.’
Finally got my cube, after two whole weeks of shipping. The waiting was heart wrenching – especially after understanding what I’ve been missing out on.
Two weeks without the intensity of density now feels like a distant memory, a past life, a bad life. pic.twitter.com/BesMsCEeQI
— torkel (@torkelrogstad) October 28, 2021
By and large, people are climbing onto this cube bandwagon just not to miss out on the whole cube saga. Well, it was Ether rocks recently and now, they’re tungsten cubes.
am i influencing? pic.twitter.com/5CfskSmHGA
— Meltem Demir◎rs (@Melt_Dem) October 14, 2021
Terms and conditions applied
To keep up with the crypto-relevancy, Midwest decided that the tungsten cube would be sold as an NFT. Owners of the NFT would be able to pay an annualized visit to see/photograph/touch the physical cube that would be stored at the headquarters of the Midwest Tungsten Service.
As per the NFT’s description on OpenSea,
“Subsequent owners of the NFT cannot visit the cube in a year in which the cube has already been visited.”
In fact, the company went on to clarify that the cube would be stored in a room of its own that would be locked and only be accessible by the NFT owner. The cube would additionally not be available to view until 12 weeks after the first sale. With respect to the delivery, its blog noted,
“Burning the NFT will result in shipment to the most recent owner via freight truck, owner will be responsible for alerting Midwest Tungsten Service of the intention to burn and transport after freight drop-off.”
Bid worth thousands!
The NFT was recently sold to a group named TungstenDAO for close to 57 ETH, approximately worth $250k. Even though what the group intends to do with the NFT is not known, it more or less seems like the purchase was made to bring the DAO to the spotlight.
The group describes itself as an “experimental meme incubation studio” and aims to “amass a collection of assets that are highly memorable, then create content that reinforces their social significance and strengthens memetic desires for these assets.”
Source: OpenSea
Well, a few claim that the density of the cube, along with the intangible/immaterial nature of NFTs, make a perfect combination. While for others, the experience of HODLing these objects is its own reward. The most straightforward and appealing answer, however, advocates that the block is being bought to gratify one’s meme-bones.
Will TungstenDAO become the first multi-billion dollar meme studio? Will the cube hype continue to last? Even though the answer to the aforementioned questions is likely not, no one from the space can claim it with surety. Given the ever-changing trends, a cuboid or perhaps a sphere might soon end up dethroning the cube.
NFTs are revolutionary by themselves, but the trends these days are getting out of hand. And, looks like the cube is merely another one trying to bite the dust.
