One of the best features of the internet is that nothing is scarce. If I were to lend you a CD, I would no longer be able to listen to it, but if I send you an MP3, we can both enjoy the music. Similarly, there’s never any risk of the newsstand running out of newspapers, as the sharing of information has been liberated from the physical constraints of newsprint.
Every bit and every byte can be copied, duplicated and shared with relative ease, and this is a very useful thing. So, it’s odd that arguably the most talked about new technology today is designed to make digital goods scarce again.
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are digital certificates of authenticity. They use complex mathematics to prove beyond any doubt that you – and only you – own whatever it is they are attached to. And if NFTs take off, they could transform how digital goods work, and create a world where it’s possible to own images, avatars or any other type of digital file, just as we can own things in the real world.
If you’ve spent any time on the internet lately, you’ll know that they are already exploding in popularity. Particularly in the world of digital art, as the web has been taken over by an invasion of cartoon apes, pixellated zombies and plushie kittens (don’t ask).
