Decentralized Value Systems (DVS)
The Decentralized Value Systems (DVS) project was started in 2021 to question our perception of value in the modern economic construct where prices are an omnipresent determinant of demand and desirability. In a world increasingly edging into virtuality, the purpose of money is redefined and desensitized. Worth has been transformed into derivatives stretching across time, distance and electrical pulses.
Currency, crypto, decentralization
Currency traditionally functions as a medium of exchange, a unit of account and a store of value. Early forms of money were made from precious metals and other items of rarity and intrinsic value. Paper replaced as the material but currencies largely continued to be backed by physical precious commodities until the demonetization of gold with US’ termination of the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1971. This led to wide adoption of fiat currencies which are legal tender. Their supply and value are controlled by governments which also regulate payment and transfer systems.
The concept of the bitcoin was explained in the seminal 2008 paper by Satoshi Nakamoto as a counter to the trust-based model in financial transactions, using cryptographic proof to achieve decentralized consensus. Public ledgers are maintained on a peer-to-peer network of computers which follow cryptographic protocols to prevent double-spending and validate ledger changes. With bitcoin, the network of computers, or miners, are incentivized to be honest in operating the system with rewards of new coins and transaction fees. There are about reportedly over 13,000 crypto currencies (as of June 2022), of which bitcoin has the largest market capitalization.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology potentially help to reduce cross border transaction cost, secure privacy and transparency, and enable financial inclusion in underbanked and hyper-inflating economies. On the other hand, critical issues of accelerating energy consumption, market manipulation and possible illicit funding activities should be examined and addressed. Cryptocurrency has become an attractive asset class but the volatility also negates usability as payment for most daily purposes.
What is the existential meaning of decentralization? It does not seem to have radically changed the inequity situation, with a high concentration of mining capacity (0.1% of Bitcoin miners control nearly 50% of mining capacity) and ownership (the top 1000 bitcoin investors hold about 3 million bitcoins or 16% of the bitcoins in circulation). But it has certainly sparked faster movement into digital currency, with institutions and corporates eager to build financial innovation capabilities. Governments are assessing the extent that regulation is possible, and some are launching central bank digital currencies.
We are curious and concerned about the future of money, cryptocurrency, and the societal implications.
Our starting questions
As with our artworks, we start this project with questions we ask ourselves, given our gathered but limited knowledge at this point.
Can we create concrete intrinsic value in a temporal, virtual space?
Do individual objectives, potentialities and relationships change in the face of anonymity?
How do we build meaningful and engaging nodes of discussion in a diegetic world?
These questions will become more important as virtuality converges across human interaction and organization.
We’d love to have you with us, on this journey to explore, ask and create.
What do we do with the money?
We will commit 10% of all primary and secondary sales to NGOs that we believe in, and right now it will go to UNHCR, as we have worked directly with them previously and visited their refugee camp in Kakuma, Kenya in 2019. We have personally seen their work up close, and they do incredible and important contributions to humanity. It is also pertinent in times like this.
For the rest of the funds, we intend to build a team dedicated to Chow and Lin projects. We have been working on art projects over the past 12 years, and most of this is self-funded. We have 2 wonderful interns at the moment, but we think that the funds can bring us to the next step, including working on a global Poverty Line project reaching 50 countries for the next decade.
Our first decade of The Poverty Line has already won us numerous accolades, including named MoMA favourite photobooks of 2021, and praises from 2 Nobel prize-winning economists.
Roadmap
30%
First Artist AMA session (1 hr)
Get an insight into the minds of artists Chow and Lin with their first ever AMA session. Community members will be able to interact with Chow and Lin where we will discuss topics on arts, economics, the world today and more.
50%
10% of the profits from the initial sale would go to UNHCR. We chose UNHCR because we have seen their work up close, and are convinced they are one of the NGOs out there that are making positive change on a global scale.
70%
Expert conversations.
Chow and Lin would invite friends whom are experts, Art curators, Economists, Crypto analysts, and more, to hold an online sharing session on their works and other topics. Mantou collectors will be invited to participate in a private Q&A session with the speakers.
100%
We will prepare to launch our next Art project with the earnings. Continue the conversation, continue the dialogue.
Benefits for Gold and Silver Mantou Collectors:
Gold and Silver Mantou owners get first dibs on next NFT project listing.
Gold and Silver Mantou owners get to interact with artists more.
