>>27795686 (OP)
It's the same scam as modern art except on blockchain.
Literally money laundering and front for illegal transactions.
E.g.
> A needs an illegal service (i.e. needs to put his kingpin in country Z because oil or whatever)
> B offers an illegal service (i.e. a coup in country Z)
> A cannot pay B, because A's books are audited (e.g. A is a gov't agency or publicly traded or a charity or whatever)
> contract value is $10M
So
> A tells B to buy a worthless canvas from a painter X
> X's shit can be only bought from Schlomo Shekelstein, a respected art dealer in NYC
> Schlomo offers B a once-in-lifetime deal: X's newest shit for only $100K
> B buys the canvas, writes it off tax as an "investment"
> B starts to work on the contract
> Meanwhile, Schlomo is busy washtrading X's other shit at auctions in NYC
> Schlomo uses the initial $100k to pay for auction house comission and hires struggling actors to play milionaires bidding
> B concludes contract
> A inspects the work and agrees it's done
> B puts his canvas up for auction
> the auction house requires valuation
> the world's leading expert on X, Dr. Schlomo attests that the canvas is now worth north of $1M
> auction starts
> A has his people in the room, they start a bidding war all the way up to $10M
> A buys the canvas
Everyone happy:
> A has cash
> B has his work done
> Schlomo gets his 10% commission
> X is now famous and has money for coke and whores
Next stage:
> A takes the canvas to the bank and asks for a loan
> bank has no problem, since the painting is now obviously worth $10M
> bank lends A $10M
> A defaults on the loan
> bank reposesses the painting
> bank now has a $10M asset on the books
> at 5% reserve requirements, the bank uses it to give secure $200M of subprime loans to niggers and crack addicts