This ATM dispenses social feedback along with hard and cold cash.
An installation by Brooklyn art group MSCHF stole the show at Art Basel Miami this year. Dubbed the “ATM Leaderboard,” the piece of art was a working ATM that would display a user’s photo and bank account balance on a large screen for all to see after someone swiped their card or tapped to withdraw money. Then rate their balance against other ATM users in a “high scores” list inspired by old-school arcade games.
MSCHF is known for trotting out rich, sexy art and fashion pieces designed to go viral. For example, the art collective created imitation Birkenstock sandals (dubbed “Birkinstocks”) which were made by destroying designer Hermès Birkin bags that originally cost tens of thousands of dollars, and then selling the “Birkinstock” sandals for $34,000 to $76,000. dollar.
So the idea behind the ATM Leaderboard was to show how some people get paid to show off how much money they have. “The ATM Leaderboard is a very literal distillation of the ostentatious impulses of wealth,” MSCHF co-founder Daniel Greenberg told CNN. “Since its conception, we have mentally assigned this business to a location like Miami Basel, a place where there is a heavy concentration of people who rent Lamborghinis and wear Rolexes.”
And many guests of Art Basel were ready to play the game. Music artist and DJ Diplo went viral after tweeting his “high score” with more than $3 million in his bank account, announcing on Twitter, “I just won Art Basel.”
But he was later bumped by a user showing off $9.5 million in his bank account, which was the highest score on the final day of Art Basel Miami this past weekend.
And the piece of art wasn’t just counting money; She also collected it, as the “ATM Leaderboard” sold for $75,000 to a South Florida collector, according to one local news Report.
The Art Puzzle cashier took to Twitter and Instagram as social media users shared their amusement (or disgust) at how willing Art Puzzle guests were to share their bank account balances.
But many observers have also wondered why anyone would have so much cash in a checking or savings account, which usually results in very low interest payments.
Certified financial advisor Ana Gonzalez Ribeiro told MarketWatch about people who keep millions of dollars in a checking account: . “You also want to hold them in tax-sheltered investment vehicles in order to legally reduce your income tax liability. Examples include qualified retirement plans like 401(k), tax-exempt municipal bonds, annuities and real estate investments.”
Caleb Pepperday, Wealth Advisor JFS Wealth ConsultantsHe says that people may also have larger than recommended balances in their bank accounts temporarily if they are about to make a large purchase.
“If you plan to buy a home in the next 12 months, it might make sense to keep enough cash for a down payment, closing costs, furniture, etc,” he said.
Diplo and the guy with $9.5 million in his bank account likely had more cash than six months of the emergency funds on hand that many financial advisors and experts recommend.
What’s more, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) only protects consumer deposits In checking, savings, and other cash accounts in banks up to $250,000 per account, or $500,000 for joint accounts. This means that any account where a person holds more than $250,000 in cash in a single bank, runs the risk of losing any money over the $250,000 threshold in the event of a bank failure – although this should be noted. bank failure Rare, according to the FDIC.
This may indicate that only a small fraction of the millions of dollars that Diplo and other Art Basel ATM users have in their accounts are federally protected.
MarketWatch’s Alessandra Malletto also described some of the best ways to store cash over here.
The FDIC was created after the Great Depression in 1933, and President Barack Obama signed it into law Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act In 2010 the FDIC deposit insurance increased from $100,000 to $250,000.
