WEEKLY DOOM: SUMMER IS OVER

Host: Doomsayers (@DoomsayersNFT) · Tue, 22 Sep 2026 · 1:08:06 · 5 speakers

TL;DR

• Bloodsayers is close: art mostly done, promo campaign kicking off October 1, mint described as "literally only weeks away" [1:33].
• Doomsayers published Pixel Studies #2 on CryptoPunks, which happened to land during a 24-hour stretch of 30+ Punk sales — unintentionally excellent timing [4:40].
• Long riff on PFPs as social identity, including the host openly weighing whether to rock his Argonauts (ACK) PFP for editorial credibility instead of repping his own brand [15:00].
• Jack Butcher's X Pay open edition was the week's main event: pay first, art later, US-only rails, nothing delivered yet at the time of the Space [22:36].
• Argonauts drama recapped: Osin burned a Bored Ape and bought ACK's own Argonaut PFP for 20 ETH, later topped by a 25 ETH sale [33:53].
• Modest's long-running art game wrapped after 201 days with the remaining citizens cooperating instead of PvP'ing each other [53:24], and Chumwizards pitched the revived Rodeo as the cheapest fun in art collecting [1:00:52].

Highlights

[1:33] — Fall is here, Bloodsayers is next. The Space opened with weather envy (Kerry in a hoodie and inadequate short socks, the host in Florida where wool socks are "superfluous"), then pivoted to news: Lex's 101s keep getting tweaked, artwork is nearly finished, and promo starts October 1 because "people's attention spans just... they're short." Kerry offered the patience sermon: good things, big boy pants, hunkering down.

[4:40] — The macro finally caught up to NFTs. The host noted that NFT activity has been ramping for a year but Bitcoin and Ethereum are only now running too — "so it's not just like our little ecosystem percolating." Exhibit A: 30+ CryptoPunk sales in about 24 hours, unprecedented volume for the collection in years.

[5:45] — Pixel Studies #2, written before the Punks ran. Kerry asked the obvious question ("did you write that article before or after you found out about this?"). Before. The host framed the series as art-forward, quasi-journalistic writing that barely exists in this space, and admitted CryptoPunks was a nervous one to critique as a non-owner.

[10:04] — The Beatles analogy. On why Punks look "simple" through a 2026 lens: imagine judging the Beatles by the standards of modern heavy metal. What was punk about Punks wasn't the art style, it was being first to do it at all.

[11:11] — Raven on manufactured status. Raven has been reverse-engineering what gives a collection status, because "you can't manufacture history." Her Builder Bots thesis is a deliberately designed social identity system — if something happens socially with the collection, she wants it to be by design rather than accident, including the underlying question of what a PFP is even for.

[15:00] — The host's PFP dilemma. Repping Doomsayers promotes Doomsayers; repping ACK's Argonauts signals he isn't shilling his own bag, which he suspects makes his writing land with less resistance. Raven added that NFT PFPs and meme coin PFPs function differently, and Speaker 4 put a number on it [20:31]: the right PFP is the difference between five people replying and a hundred, because "certain communities definitely move for their communities."

[22:36] — Jack Butcher's trust-me-bro open edition. The host walked through it: a post, no visible artwork, funds via the brand-new and heavily gated X Pay, wallet address in the memo, delivery promised later — "some fucking very crypto Ben ETH type shit." He minted using the free $25 Elon gave him for setting up the account, then got locked out of adding more when his debit card and X both flagged the attempts. Kerry's DMs, meanwhile, became a US passport checkpoint [24:48]. Raven asked whether there's substance underneath or just novelty [26:44]; the host's read is that the way Butcher does it is the art, and the possibility he runs off with the bag is part of the narrative.

[31:27] — Michael Saylor doubled my Bitcoin, allegedly. Kerry's deadpan setup landed perfectly, and the host escalated with a genuinely unsettling story: an AI Donald Trump appearing mid-college-football-stream in a full White House setup with a QR code, offering to double whatever you send. He took screenshots, saw no one mention it, and briefly considered that it might be real — "I was not above the idea of Donald Trump actually doing this."

[33:53] — The burn, the 20 ETH bid, and the 25 ETH top. Osin's answer to Bored Ape vs. Argonauts sniping was to buy an Ape and burn it, then bid 20 ETH on ACK's own Argonaut PFP — which ACK accepted. Cole, the ex-Pudgy founder, then bought an Argonaut and flipped it at 25 ETH. Speaker 4 read the burn as a statement [38:34], while Raven traced a pattern of up-and-coming collections using Bored Apes as a weak-point foil (Stonk Brokers' flip narrative being the template) and wondered whether that strategy actually works or just rents attention [40:14]. The host's distinction: Apes became a product and a business very quickly, while Argonauts is "just an artist launching art... it is what it is, there's no more no less to it."

[44:04] — Betting on an artist's journey. Raven explained why she chose a known-but-not-arrived artist (Chaz) over an established name: she wants to map how someone gets to that pinnacle, and contribute to the lore rather than buy into finished lore. The host added the structural advantage — artists level up with each release, where IP-forward projects catch "extractive" and oversaturation pushback for doing the same thing.

[47:58] — Chumwizards on plans vs. reactions. He deliberately sat out the Butcher mint to watch it, and said he was surprised nobody had monetized all that free X money sooner. His broader point: the people who succeed sat down and formulated a plan where every release serves the goal, and the crowd that copies them afterward is proof it worked. He also pointed at Bankr bot as a tool that solved the same problem and barely gets discussed.

[53:24] — 201 days later. Modest's long-running game/installation ended with the remaining citizens coordinating an exit that benefited everyone — "pretty cool for humanity's sake." Adam Weitzman recycled his winnings into a sweep and a contribution toward the Marfa event, which Chumwizards confirmed is Art Blocks' [55:00].

[1:00:52] — Rodeo is back. Chumwizards' plug for the revived platform (Shrimpto and Flexosaurus), where pieces are collectible for 24 hours and artists don't eat gas. The host has been minting something nearly every day since relaunch, and both landed on the same point: the joy is in not checking the price.

[1:03:50] — Next Space, pre-ordered. Raven asked to make "the collector experience" the next topic, noting she only cares about art she's actively building around, and wants to understand what the experience is for people who collect differently. Chumwizards recommended studying Lynette Grant's breakdown of Sam Spratt's Masks [1:06:09], and spelled it out in the Jumbotron.

Topic timeline

Notable quotes

• "Could this dude absolutely run off with the most biggest bag? Yes, but I think that also adds to the story." — Doomsayers [30:54]
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• "My DMs were like flooded, and uh it was like, yo, you're American, right? And I'm like, no." — Kerry [24:48]
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• "The other day, uh Michael Saylor talked to me on uh YouTube, and he said that if I sent him 0.25 Bitcoin that he would double it immediately." — Kerry [31:27]
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• "That one PFP can mean the difference between interacting with five people or interacting with like a hundred." — Speaker 4 [20:31]
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• "I would rather spend 20 ETH on this than your blue chip that's been around and has bullshit value in my opinion." — Speaker 4 [39:27]
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• "It's not even Dollar Tree anymore at that point. It's like you're in a candy store and everything is 25 cents and you got $10, like you're gonna have a good time." — Chumwizards [1:03:13]
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Who said what

• Doomsayers (@DoomsayersNFT) — host; drove the agenda from Bloodsayers logistics through his CryptoPunks study, the Butcher mint (which he minted with Elon's $25), the Argonauts saga, and the case for artist-led collections.
• Kerry (@kerrymcook) — cold in a hoodie, warm on patience; provided the market-rally read, the "you're American, right?" DM report, and the Michael Saylor deadpan.
• Raven (label ; not clearly matched to a roster handle)^* — the research voice: social identity systems, what a PFP actually does, why Bored Apes keeps getting used as a foil, why she passed on JPEG Friends, and the request for a collector-experience Space.
• Chumwizards (@Chumwizards) — sat out the Butcher mint on purpose, argued for plan-driven releases over reactionary ones, flagged Bankr bot's underuse, clarified the Art Blocks/Marfa connection, and evangelized the revived Rodeo.
• Speaker 4 — sharp short takes: PFP reach math, reading the Ape burn as a message, the Bored Ape/Pudgy holder feud, televangelist comparison for the QR scams, and a threat to launch his next collection on Gum Road. Closed the room with "Be doomed."

Worth a full listen

• [11:07] – [21:15] — The PFP conversation is the intellectual core of the Space: status design, meme coin vs. NFT PFP function, objectivity vs. brand loyalty, and whether any of this is new to humanity (jerseys, flags, clothes). Too many threads to compress.
• [22:36] – [33:27] — The Butcher mint story runs straight into the Michael Saylor bit and the AI Trump broadcast. It's the funniest and most on-theme ten minutes in the room: three flavors of "send me money, trust me bro," one of which people actually wanted in on.
• [33:38] – [44:04] — The Argonauts/Bored Apes segment, where a burn, a 20 ETH PFP purchase and a 25 ETH flip get unpacked into a broader argument about artist-led collections vs. product-led ones, with Raven and Speaker 4 adding competing readings of what any of it means.

* some voices are identified from context; those names are marked as likely.