INTRO TO NFTS

Many celebrities have gotten involved in the NFT marketplace.

However, some celebrities are not very fortunate when it comes to experiences with NFTs. Justin Bieber decided to buy an NFT from Bored Ape Yacht Club, but ended up buying it for almost 300 percent of its original value. “Economically you would call them Veblen goods. Veblen goods are things that the more they’re worth, the more people want them,” Hadley said. “But, because they are so valued, people want them. The problem with NFTs is that they’re Veblen goods, but nobody actually agrees on how much they’re wanted.”

Robert Hadley

By Jasmine Yang Design by Ajay Singireddy photos by Grace Wheatley

NFTs can cause numerous problems, with the main one being the waste of energy it ends up using. Lots of energy goes into mining for the cryptocurrency used, and that ends up being damaging to the environment.

Besides damage to the environment, there can also be scams done. Whether that is through sending a fake link, or hiding a virus in a link, many transactions can end in scams for the buyer. Overall, there are several problems with NFTs.

NFT stands for non-fungible token, which means that different NFTs hold different values than each other, rather than the values being seen as equal. NFTs can represent basically anything, ranging from artwork to memes. However, rather than being a physical representation, they are digital representations. When an NFT is bought, it is recorded who the new owner is and who gained the right to it in a blockchain. “What you do when you buy it, is that it’s recorded that you have the right to it and the thing is you’re not actually buying the thing itself that it represents, you’re just getting a receipt in your name that tags you as the owner,”

Henry Thomas