Cozomo’s weekly #ArtTank buy
Crypto‑collector persona Cozomo de’ Medici launched a weekly #ArtTank initiative to acquire five emerging works via Rollbit, prompting hundreds of artist replies in the thread (x.com). The social post frames the program as ongoing patronage, and the replies show strong artist interest in the opportunity (x.com).
Cozomo de’ Medici has turned his long-running #ArtTank post into a weekly open call, saying the Medici Emerging Collection will acquire five artworks each week with Rollbit. (binance.com) A repost of the call on Binance Square says, “Each week the Medici Emerging Collection acquires 5 artworks, in partnership with @rollbit,” and names rotating guest curators in some weeks. OpenSea’s MediciEmerging profile also describes the collection as “#ArtTank sponsored by Rollbit” and tells artists to post under Cozomo’s Tuesday thread. (binance.com) (opensea.io) The weekly format dates back to February 28, 2023, when Rollbit’s partnership with Cozomo was described as “#ArtTank Tuesdays” with $1,500 a week for digital-art purchases. A later Rollbit-partnership report said artists were invited to submit work in the replies and selected artists were announced after purchases. (bitcoinchaser.com) That setup gives emerging artists a public pitch lane inside a collector’s comment thread instead of a gallery application or closed curatorial process. The Medici Emerging account on OpenSea presents the project as an ongoing acquisition program rather than a one-off contest. (opensea.io) Cozomo already has standing in institutional art circles beyond crypto platforms. In February 2023, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art said Cozomo donated 22 blockchain-based artworks by 13 international artists, which the museum called the first and largest collection of that kind to enter an American art museum. (lacma.org) That museum donation gave the pseudonymous collector a role closer to a patron than a trader, and #ArtTank extends that image into the market for newer artists. LACMA said the gifted works spanned 2017 to 2022 and were added to or promised to the museum’s permanent collection. (lacma.org) The patronage language is explicit in Cozomo’s own branding. The Medici Collection site says it is a collection of digital art assembled by Cozomo de’ Medici, and outside coverage of #ArtTank has described guest curators choosing weekly acquisitions from artists replying in-thread. (cozomomedicicollection.com) (outposts.io) Rollbit’s role also shapes how the program is received. Rollbit operates a crypto casino and trading platform, and its sponsorship links an art-buying initiative to a gambling-and-trading brand rather than a museum, gallery, or nonprofit funder. (rollbit.com) The result is a weekly ritual: artists post work in public, curators or Cozomo pick five pieces, and the Medici Emerging Collection keeps growing in full view of the social feed. That is a much more legible model of crypto-era patronage than the anonymous whale buying spree that defined the market’s peak years. (binance.com) (opensea.io)
