In recent weeks, the network has been actively discussing non-interchangeable tokens (NFT). They are tied to paintings, 3D models and even memes, earning millions of dollars. Journalist Jason Schreier tried to understand the phenomenon and told what representatives of the gaming industry think about NFT. We have chosen the main thing from the material.
Art for Halo Infinite, by Ben MauroWhat is NFT
Non—interchangeable tokens are a special type of cryptographic tokens. Any cryptocurrency (for example, bitcoins) can be exchanged for another one exactly the same, and nothing will change. Whereas each NFT is unique and cannot be replaced or forged.
In other words, NFT is something like a certificate of authenticity. It can be tied to the original virtual thing and thereby secure the rights to it.
Million-dollar fees
- The popularity of NFT has increased dramatically over the past few months. In February, collectors spent more than $60 million to purchase tokenized GIFs, JPEG images, memes and other fully digital items. The excitement was also taken advantage of in the gaming industry.
- Raf Grassetti, art director of God of War, creates 3D models of celebrities and sells NFT on them for tens of thousands of dollars. About as much cost, for example, the right to the model of Elon Musk (Elon Musk).
- Nicolas Bouvier, art director of Halo Infinite, sold a painting with a castle for $ 35 thousand.
- The artist Ben Mauro designed his art for games and films in the form of collectible cards and earned over $ 2 million on this. Moreover, the cards were sold in just seven minutes.
The negative side of NFT
- Most NFTs are tied to the Ethereum blockchain platform, which consumes a huge amount of energy. This confuses eco-activists. There are also game artists among them.
- For this reason, thousands of users were extremely unhappy when ArtStation, an online portfolio creation service, decided to open a market for buying and selling NFT. The artists even threatened to delete their accounts. All this forced the service to retreat and roll back the idea with tokens.
- Also, opponents of NFT claim that these tokens will only increase the gap between poor and rich artists.
- Another argument against NFT is that scammers can steal copyrights to a thing if the owner has not linked this token to it in advance. The fact is that in order to create an NFT, it is not necessary to prove ownership of the original work and anyone can tokenize a digital item.
Cool new scam artists should be aware of. Any rando can now turn your tweet and by extension, your artwork into an NFT by tagging this account @/tokenizedtweets
Block this guy pic.twitter.com/JeHXwcoYFV
— RJ Palmer (@arvalis) March 9, 2021