Introducing Rep Your Area Code

What’s in an area code? Phone numbers that were once easy to get, such as 212, 310, and 415, are now increasingly scarce. These numbers are just as much a part of their respective cities as are the Statue of Liberty, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Hollywood Sign. And so today, I’m launching a new NFT called Rep Your Area Code (RYAC), available now on OpenSea. I hope this new product will generate the same buzz as my first land-rush NFT.

In 2019, I founded Landemic — conveniently named before the Pandemic — which was an NFT marketplace that sold tiles of the Earth for a penny each. Within a few weeks of launching, this crypto-rich fellow in San Francisco started buying tiles by the hundred. When I met with him, he said his fingers hurt from having to click so much. So, I suggested, “Well, why don’t you buy the whole company?” He asked, “How much?” Then, I gave him a number, and one week later, he sent me a chunk of bitcoin. Two years later, “the metaverse” has become a buzzword that has fueled a boom cycle for crypto, with billion-dollar virtual land companies, like Decentraland, leading the way.

The key with these land-rush NFTs is to have some kind of viral map. Below is a snapshot of Landemic:

And here is the one for RYAC:

The inspiration for Landemic and RYAC goes back to the Million Dollar Home Page. In 2005, Alex Tew told the world, “Hey, I’ll sell you one pixel for one dollar,” and within a week, he had his million.

Will RYAC become the next million-dollar NFT? It’s hard to say. But if experience has taught me anything, it always pays to be first.