Bringing NFTs to the Ladz

Ronin the Collector

Ronin, real name unknown, looks twenty years younger than his actual age and is father to three small children. And that, being a father, is the one thing he knew he wanted to be from a very young age. As it happens, despite a more mundane day job as a data analyst where he gets to check data in spreadsheets to mine fiat to support his family, it is looking like he will soon be able to migrate to a full time career in the NFT world. When this happens, and it’s coming soon, he will be living the dream.

His digital moniker, Ronin the Collector, sometimes confuses people. He will frequently receive links from artists and without any preamble, be asked to purchase their pieces. While sympathetic to the difficulty of selling art online and generally supportive of artists, he advises people not to do this — not least of which because he doesn’t have a large disposable income.

His love of all things digital began at an early age when he started gaming. He has strong memories of getting his first Nintendo Entertainment system when he was just six years of age. Ever since gaming has been a big part of his life, and that has morphed into different attractions including collectable cards. In 2015 he stumbled over the Topps collecting app and started buying Star Wars digital cards.

“I first discovered digital collectables when I read about a JPG selling for $200 and I was like whaaaat?”

Previously, Ronin had been a gamer and a hoarder at the same time. Playing the Japanese game Shenmue he operated a digital forklift task to earn points to spin the gashapon and win the resulting prizes.

“I literally worked at the forklift job for days on end to get the ultra-rare cards. As a kid we didn’t have much money and so I could not afford to buy cards, so earning them was a great way for me.”

Ronin is conscious that it is possible to buy these rarities outright — indeed he recently witnessed a player enter a Topps game and spend $25,000 to get the cards he wanted.

“I have kids and we have a new home — this was not an option for me — instead it drove me to be very good at the games, and when I accumulated prize money I used it to upgrade my gaming PCs”