Every day, I spend some time browsing through my web content aggregator, skimming or reading through articles or reports or beautiful bits of the internet. I tend to share what resonates with me on my LinkedIn feed, because why not share inspiration? But like with any social feed, the items you post tend to disappear from view after a week or so with the algorithm. This weekly digest is a way to curate and expand on the posts that were shared throughout the week with my network on LinkedIn, and maybe include articles or other ideas that weren't. And this week, it's all about NFT's.
Been reading a lot about artist #NFT's from posts here on LinkedIn (and in every other technology-related article) and its rocket-rise as an alternative source of investment wealth. I won't lie, it's a fascinating space, and it speaks to how technology continues to influence our lives in fundamental ways. However, the fallout in creating any kind of cryptocurrency equates to a massive hit to our environment. And we all are not Elon Musk. The Ethereum platform claims it's transitioning to a more sustainable model, but what's the incentive to speed it up?
And here's another good article from Wired on why our climate and natural habitats will pay the price for this digital gold rush (analogous to the negative impact to the environment actual gold mining causes): link to article
The maturation of blockchain technology, a pandemic that provided us with excess free time to explore the digital world, and a gamification mentality created the perfect storm for NFTs. Suddenly, there is a rabid interest in owning pieces of digital stuff. (Goods tracked by tokens are themselves often referred to as NFTs, but the NFT is, properly, just the means by which they are recorded and “tokenized.”)
NPR has a pretty good breakdown as well on the genesis of NFTs: link to article
If you don't know who Seth Godin is, well you really should check him out. Here's what he has to say about NFT's.
BUYERS of NFTs may be blind to the fact that there’s no limit on the supply. In the case of baseball cards, there are only so many rookies a year. In the case of art, there’s a limited number of famous paintings and a limited amount of shelf space at Sotheby’s. NFTs are going to be more like Kindle books and YouTube videos. The vast majority are going to have ten views, not a billion. It’s an unregulated, non-transparent hustle with ‘bubble’ written all over it.
Digital art is not the only type of creative content that is up for grabs in this crazy NFT space:
Until Nike and other major sneaker brands decide they want a piece of the NFT market, you can try to buy original creations from RTFKT Studios. On its sold out webstore, you'll see prices that start at $1,500 for editions of 300 and run up to $10,000 a piece for more limited editions.
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/05/974089381/whats-an-nft-and-why-are-people-paying-millions-to-buy-them