This piece is an act of political speech. It is a contribution to the conversation about free mints and subsequently the protocol rewards being offered exclusively for free mints. Art should be valued for what the artist puts into it. The meritocracy that many people came to Web3 to contribute to and participate in has been clouded by financial coercion, where conversations around accessibility and community have metastasized into pressuring artists to lower the value of their work. While I do not denounce free mints in and of themselves, the labor should simply reflect the reward.

If it is volume that the platforms want, then volume you will get, but to that ethos of mass production and mass adoption I say: “here is a free mint. This is what you will get for free. I for one will keep my deeply meaningful, passionate, well-thought-out work priced at what it’s worth because other people do not dictate my value for me.”

This token signifies your support of artists’ right to BE their worth and protect their value.