Blockchain, etherum, bitcoin…words that would drive me away in a split second as I try desperately to escape from the clutches of the cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
We’ve all heard about the ideals behind “virtual money exchanges” at some point, but with its current status of being a playground for either the rich or the investing fanatics, most of us remain on the sidelines.
Being part of the many who ignore news relating to this topic, I imagine we’d share a moment of genuine astonishment when reading about the Crypto Art Fair, which took place November 2nd on no other stage than the busy streets of Times Square, New York City.
You heard it right, virtual art displayed for purchase through the exchangeable data unit known as a non-fungible token or NFT.
So let’s start with a simple question…
What exactly is an nft?
The main characteristic of a non-fungible token (NFT) is that it’s created to be unique and irreplaceable. They can be any piece of digital media from a tweet made by the CEO of twitter to exclusive scenes of the film Pulp Fiction.
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin can be traded for one another with more or less a standard of value. In the case of an NFT, you get a completely new thing once you trade it. The appeal of NFTs come from the very principle that there is none other like the one you own, hence the investing appeal of selling a “one-of-a-kind.”
In a nutshell, an NFT follows a blockchain system, which as the name suggests, creates chains of data owned and traded from one user to another with rules set up to track who owns what. Yes I know, tech complicated stuff going in and it gets worse…but for now the big takeaways are:
- NFTs are unique digital “tokens”
- The investing value comes from trading a “One of a kind”
- A blockchain system tracks the ownership history
nft and the digital art scene
Digital artists have often found trouble selling their digital art. Worried about scammers, about stealing and reposting content, and battling the “legitimacy” of digital art as a whole. NFTs have been proposed as a way for artists to take control of their craft and get better remuneration, the designers maintain the copyright of their art while the costumers gets to support the artist while gaining usage rights.
Now…what exactly is the problem with this new alternative of selling digital art? Well there are a lot of plot holes in this apparently sound argument:
- The impact on the earth’s climate that NFT storing and computation requires
- The potentiality of carefully crafted scams and damaged data
- The way Ethereum stakeholders and big time investors benefit from the NFT hype
In their article computer scientist @antsstyle explains in great details these and many more other problems with the upcoming NFT popularity and why they’re not as worth as proclaimed to be.
The big takeaway
So…after all this information…are NFTs bad or not?
That is a complicated question that is currently in a very premature stage. But one thing that’s clear is that NFTs have been gaining crazy popularity beyond the digital art scene with big figures like brands and CEOs planning on investing in this new form of crypto-art.
Such a fast growing and unregulated scene is bound to cause problems.
As an artist, consumer, environmental activist, or your average internet/social media enjoyer, we should be paying close attention to the consequences that the NFT hype is attracting.
Sources.
Clark, M. (2021, August 18). NFTs explained. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/22310188/nft-explainer-what-is-blockchain-crypto-art-faq