Is PCGS/Collectors Universe getting into the NFT business?
ShadyDave
Posts: 2,205 ✭✭✭✭✭
I was recently poking around the Collectors.com site and decided to check out the "Career" section of the website. I found two interesting job listings relating to NFT's which makes me think the company may be working towards certifying NFT's in one way or another. For those of you who don't know what NFT's are, here is an article to explain:
https://www.theverge.com/22310188/nft-explainer-what-is-blockchain-crypto-art-faq
Below is a copy of the listings still on the Collectors.com website for those interested. I'm sharing this as it seems like an interesting and new path for our host to take. Having some general experience/knowledge on NFT's and crypto, I'm not even sure how/what they can do certify/authenticate NFT's. I look forward to seeing what they've come up with.
Principal Software Engineer, NFTs
We’re looking for a Principal Software Engineer to lead our engineering efforts on a stealth project team focused on NFTs and crypto. This leader will serve as the Technical founder and leader of this new initiative and will come in at the ground floor, partnering hand-in-hand with the Product founder. We are looking for someone who is passionate about building Web3, and has proven experience leading NFT projects and deploying crypto products. You’ll use these skills to play a lead role in shaping the future of Collectors, and will be at the forefront of innovation and emerging technologies. We seek a Principal Engineer who is ambitious, quick to learn, comfortable with ambiguity and outcomes driven. We value people who can quickly obtain a deep technical understanding of new domains, and enjoy working highly independently to solve our most important problems.
This role can be remote or based in any of our offices.
What You’ll Do:
Serve as a technical co-founder of a new NFT initiative, developing technical strategy and its architecture
Be able to serve as a full-stack blockchain developer (solidity, javascript)
Build frontend and backend software in Web3 environments (e.g. ether.js, web3.js, Foundry, React, Node.js)
Collaboratively partner with product, data science, UX, and other teams within the organization to identify the highest impact technology opportunities to impact the product and user experience.
Partner with other leaders from architecture, engineering management, and product management on project requirements.
Help to set a high-bar on code quality by writing thorough tests, conducting code reviews, and creating robust documentation.
Mentor junior engineers as they develop their software development skills.
Stay on the bleeding edge of the latest NFT/Blockchain trends, best practices, and technologies
Who You Are:
6+ years of software engineering experience with recent experience experience working on dApps or other crypto projects
Experience with Ethereum smart contracts (Solidity or Vyper), NFT standards (ERC-721, ERC-1155 and ERC-988), DAOs (governance contracts), dapp development (frontend and backend), and other Web3 related software
Proficient in increasing security, scalability and efficiency of smart contracts and the architecture of web3 systems
Working experience with design and engineering teams to plan, develop, test, deploy and maintain software.
Fluent in high-level languages like .NET tech stack (C#, .NET and/or .NET Core, SQL), Java, Typescript etc. and are not afraid to take on other new technologies
Excellent communication and leadership skills; able to inspire and provide technical direction to the company
Strong exposure to collaborative engineering methodologies (agile, code reviews, linting, continuous integration, cloud deployments)
Experience with generative art is a bonus
https://careers.collectors.com/4410590004
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Senior Product Manager, NFT
We’re looking for a Sr. Product Manager to be part of a new project team focused on NFTs and Blockchain technology. This leader will serve as part of the founding team of this new initiative and will come in at the ground floor, partnering hand-in-hand with the Product founder, Engineering, and Marketing. We are looking for someone who is passionate about Web3, and ideally has proven experience with NFT projects and building digital communities. You’ll use these skills to play a lead role in shaping the future of Collectors, and will be at the forefront of innovation and emerging technologies. We seek a Product Manager who is ambitious, quick to learn, comfortable with ambiguity, and outcomes driven.
This role can be remote or based in any of our offices.
What You’ll Do:
Serve as the lead product manager of a new NFT initiative
Lead the development and implementation of a high-quality product roadmap toward the team's strategy and vision
Collaboratively partner with engineering, marketing, design, and other teams within the organization to identify the highest impact opportunities to drive the product and user experience
Set project KPIs and goals and use data to drive results
Help execute Go-To-Market strategy for NFT projects that deliver awareness and adoption goals
Monitor, evaluate, and advise on the customer experience through user research and customer feedback
Stay on the bleeding edge of the latest NFT/Blockchain trends, best practices, and technologies
Who You Are:
5+ years of experience in product or program management, product marketing, business development or technology
Experience leading, or involvement in, an NFT project, or within the Web3 space
A self-starter with experience launching successful products and features
The ability to lead across disciplines, collaborate, and influence peers
The ability to empathize, listen, and obsess over our customers, external and internal
Ability to communicate effectively across levels, including ability to simplify complex topics for broad audiences
Thrives in ambiguity and can think innovatively to solve challenging problems
https://careers.collectors.com/4363997004
Anyway, here is a T$1 I recently received back from PCGS and is currently with CAC. I suspect it will receive a green sticker 
XF-40
Comments
"stealth project team" —well, not anymore
that's a fantastic circulated trade. how much for the NFT?
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
what a lovely trade $ !
It's logical. Perfect pedigrees for all coins.
Will PCGS slab these NFT's and will CAC sticker them?
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
The NFT would be tied to the slab. A better question is whether the CAC would be added to the NFT.
Would this be a way to own a share of a rarity?
OK another form of ownership.
Is that an answer to a question nobody is asking?
Will registry heroes amp up the competition for digital rights?
Please answer these questions.
Thanks.
Bubble burst...little late to the game.
https://kotaku.com/nft-market-collapse-square-enix-ubisoft-sega-konami-sca-1848878945
You don't understand NFTs. The registry itself could be an NFT. It's not a digital right, it's a blockchain certificate of ownership. If you take the slab ID number and put it in a blockchain, you have an NFT that tracks the complete provenance of the coin.
TRUEVIEW = NFT
Genius
Or the registry number...or both.
You don't understand NFTs.
An NFT is a digital ownership recorded on blockchain. The registration and true views are neither.
They both could be. That's the point.
Ttt
https://postergrind.com/can-an-nft-be-a-physical-object/
Some folks here seem to be fully misunderstanding one important function of an NFT...
An unalterable trail.
@jmlanzaf said it "perfect pedigree".
Among other things which clearly aren't quite being understood by the masses, yet
Now, as for coins as NFT's...I'm taking full credit for starting the first dedicated NFT Coin Mint. It's well over a year old now and I've sold a few
Coins are Neato!
"If it's a penny for your thoughts and you put in your two cents worth, then someone...somewhere...is making a penny." - Steven Wright
https://postergrind.com/can-an-nft-be-a-physical-object/> @Kurisu said:
I think people are being mislead by the early application to memes and digital art. Ultimately, i would expect every deed to be an NFT. I think it actually makes more sense for ownership of physical assets to cut down on fraud and theft.
The problem is and always has been that coins belong to the person who has physical possession of them. If I lose my private key for my NFT that corresponds to my coin, the NFT is irretrievable but I still have the coin. Does that make it less valuable or unsellable? I think not. The problem is that there is and really can never be a mechanism to tie a digital record (NFT) to a physical item without adding a whole bureaucracy and system around it to ensure rightful ownership is restorable and maintained. Think car titles and property deeds. In the case of cars and property, the government has entities to provide processes by which you can regain your car or your home should you misplace your paperwork, but who is going to replace the NFT for your coin if you lose it (theft or carelessness), and who will legally decide ownership of a physical coin based on possession of an NFT? The government's not going to do it and I'm not sure the world (not just the US) will buy into letting a private company have legal master control over their physical coin collections.
I'm not sure what CU has in mind but it sounds like a solution in search of a problem.
Now the US Mint and CU could forseeably start to mint their own collectible NFTs and people might have interest in that, but I"m personally not interested in digital collectibles.
Neither of you understand NFTs. NFTs are unique one-of-a-kind digital records, nothing more. Ownership can be proven by proving control of the wallet the NFT is held by.
Hold on a sec....first of all our host, not a small company. They have and are acquiring some strong thinkers I'm sure.
Additionally we have no idea what the higher-ups THINK they are planning at the moment for current or future plans involving blockchain, NFTs, crypto, etc...
Plans change and evolve, I'm excited to see what pops up first from our host in this realm
Coins are Neato!
"If it's a penny for your thoughts and you put in your two cents worth, then someone...somewhere...is making a penny." - Steven Wright
Right... I also meant to say that the NFTs might not have anything to do with the coin business since they are in so many other areas. It will be interesting to see what they come up with.
Isn't that what I said? You can't agree with me and call me wrong at the same time. Lol
If several people own a share in a major rarity, who gets to take actual physical possession of the coin?
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Owning a NFT is owning the token representation of something. No rights or copyright ownership goes with it unless other arrangements are made. I just don’t see the appeal.
TurtleCat Gold Dollars
Not true. See link above.
An NFT is an electronic maker in a public ledger. So you “own” a token representing something. Totally true what I said.
https://www.investopedia.com/pros-and-cons-of-investing-in-nfts-5220290
https://www.lamag.com/article/nft-law-copyright/
https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/what-are-copyright-implications-nfts-2021-10-29/
“It is no secret that the sale of an NFT does not necessarily transfer the underlying copyright in the work which exists "off-chain" to the purchaser. Such is the case when selling a physical copy of nearly any type of creative work — the transfer of the underlying copyright is up to the creator or most recent copyright owner.”
TurtleCat Gold Dollars
It's more true than I originally read it. But NFTs on the Ethereum network can be smart contracts that carry ownership rights.
I have followed the NFT phenomena since it began. Interesting, but not for me. As noted in one of the articles above, it is currently an unstable arena. I will stick with my tangible assets. Cheers, RickO
I fail to see how an NFT is different than stock or bonds which do not have any physical entity at all. Turn the S&P500 into a blockchain ledger and what changes?
Blockchain, in and of itself, isn’t any different than any other ledger entry except for being very demanding on the environment. My issue is the NFT itself and how it has been applied.
TurtleCat Gold Dollars
No, you don't need unique tokens to represent shares of something. Fungible tokens would do that better.