Any news that emerges from the growing crypto space is always exciting in tech – whether this be new emergences in the space or new ways to utilise the changing space. This has become especially apparent recently, with bitcoin hitting the $61,000 this past weekend and big companies like Tesla announcing their support for crypto with heavy investment, it’s clear to see things are still certainly on the up, and as other business start to adopt crypto as a common currency it only helps with those in the online gaming space here being the latest as new online services have been willing to make the shift.
(Image from list.co.uk)
The latest news in the space has come from something that doesn’t make all that much sense at first, even if you’ve followed closely, as NFT’s have been introduced to the Ethereum blockchain. A ‘non-fungible token’ is something considered unique – an easy way to understand the process is that if you trade one bitcoin for another, you end up with the same item with the same value, it’s a fungible item. The other side is something like a unique painting, it’s one of a kind, whilst you can trade it for another painting it’s no longer the same item and has a completely different value.
In short this make NFT’s more or less a collectible wallet for digital art and similar products and seems to be the primary usage for now as artists like Grimes and Kings of Leon have suggested they feel it may be the future for this type of work – but that’s where the problem comes in, as whilst the NFT seemingly grants the ‘original’ product, the waters are a little muddied in digital. One example would be the sale of the Kings of Leon NFT, as whilst it provided an opportunity as over $2 million was generated from the sale of the NFT album, it was also subsequently released directly to streaming platforms like Spotify, raising the question of what you actually get for the cost. The same is true for the ‘Beeple’ artwork that sold for $69 million, unlike a physical painting, digital artwork can be copied, replicated, or reproduced with little difficulty and if you’re paying such a huge sum for a piece of artwork that someone can simply right click and save, where is the value held?
There will no doubt be future changes to NFTs as it continues to evolve and spread into different markets, as many expect it wont simply reside in the digital artwork space, but given the process isn’t entirely clear for some, it may be difficult for a wider adoption by many.
