I’ve been trying to understand these Non Fungible Tokens so here’s what I’ve learned.
Non fungible essentially means that it can’t be replaced with another identical item. It’s one of a kind.
Take, for example, a Batman action figure. Let’s just say that it’s the only one in existence. You might decide to trade it for a Robin figure. but that’s not going to fly in the world of NFT because it’s not the same. If there are thousands of Robin figures but only one Batman, it’s not a fair or equitable trade. A collector would pay a much higher price for the lone Batman figure than for a Robin so you wouldn’t even consider trading your Batman for one (unless you were a complete idiot).
If you own the Mona Lisa, then you have something that’s non fungible. There could be prints of the Mona Lisa but only one original.
But here’s where it gets a bit messy as far as I’m concerned. Let’s just say, for argument’s sake that the Mona Lisa was originally created as a digital image. There would still only be one NFT original but digital copies, as we know, are exactly the same as the original. So, if I showed somebody my copy of the Mona Lisa and they said ‘Ah! But it’s not the original.’ I’d reply that I didn’t care because I didn’t have to pay millions for it and it’s exactly the same as the NFT version.
Now, let’s take this a bit further. The artist retains copyright and reproduction rights. Fair enough? There seems that there’s nothing to stop our digital Da Vinci from creating more Mona Lisas, each with its own NFT. Of course, the more he creates, the lower its value will be. But imagine being the poor schmuck who shells out for the first one and later finds that it’s not as unique as he first thought? He might as well saved his money and gone with a standard non-NFT digital print. Of course, NFT can apply to many things..like that first ever tweet or even a music file.
In essence (as far as I can understand it), what you’re getting is the new age equivalent of an autographed copy of something. We see it all the time in book publishing where the author will sign a limited number of copies. The same could happen with NFTs.
With ebooks, I think it will only be a matter of time before authors offer NFT versions of their work in place of or alongside the autographed printed version.
So what have I learned? Not a lot. You see, I’ll never have the amount of silly money needed to partake in these digital shenanigans.
Non fungible essentially means that it can’t be replaced with another identical item. It’s one of a kind.
Take, for example, a Batman action figure. Let’s just say that it’s the only one in existence. You might decide to trade it for a Robin figure. but that’s not going to fly in the world of NFT because it’s not the same. If there are thousands of Robin figures but only one Batman, it’s not a fair or equitable trade. A collector would pay a much higher price for the lone Batman figure than for a Robin so you wouldn’t even consider trading your Batman for one (unless you were a complete idiot).
If you own the Mona Lisa, then you have something that’s non fungible. There could be prints of the Mona Lisa but only one original.
But here’s where it gets a bit messy as far as I’m concerned. Let’s just say, for argument’s sake that the Mona Lisa was originally created as a digital image. There would still only be one NFT original but digital copies, as we know, are exactly the same as the original. So, if I showed somebody my copy of the Mona Lisa and they said ‘Ah! But it’s not the original.’ I’d reply that I didn’t care because I didn’t have to pay millions for it and it’s exactly the same as the NFT version.
Now, let’s take this a bit further. The artist retains copyright and reproduction rights. Fair enough? There seems that there’s nothing to stop our digital Da Vinci from creating more Mona Lisas, each with its own NFT. Of course, the more he creates, the lower its value will be. But imagine being the poor schmuck who shells out for the first one and later finds that it’s not as unique as he first thought? He might as well saved his money and gone with a standard non-NFT digital print. Of course, NFT can apply to many things..like that first ever tweet or even a music file.
In essence (as far as I can understand it), what you’re getting is the new age equivalent of an autographed copy of something. We see it all the time in book publishing where the author will sign a limited number of copies. The same could happen with NFTs.
With ebooks, I think it will only be a matter of time before authors offer NFT versions of their work in place of or alongside the autographed printed version.
So what have I learned? Not a lot. You see, I’ll never have the amount of silly money needed to partake in these digital shenanigans.