• About
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Write for us
  • Contact
  • Terms of service
No Result
View All Result
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
THE MILLENNIAL SOURCE
  • World
  • US
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Profiles
  • Lifestyle
    • Food & Travel
    • Tech & Money
    • Health
    • Entertainment
  • Newsletter
TMS
No Result
View All Result
Home WORLD

What’s the future of NFTs?

byJake Shropshireand Edited byBrendan Monroe
March 17, 2021
in WORLD
Reading Time: 5 mins read
What’s the future of NFTs?

Source: 2021/BEEPLE/Handout via Reuters

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Linkedin
“The high-end art world and its auction agents and houses have been impacted and will be heavily disrupted,” Bruno Fruscalzo, an NFT curator and creator, told TMS, adding that, “the music business has already been turned on its head.”

Last week, art auction house Christie’s sold a non-fungible token (NFT) entitled “The First 5,000 days” by the graphic designer Beeple for a grand total of more than US$69 million, making the first NFT sold by such a reputable auction house also the most expensive ever sold to this point. 

The high price tag rivals the costs associated with paintings by Picasso, Monet, or Van Gogh and leaves many wondering what industries might next be disrupted by future uses of NFTs.

Beeple isn’t the only one cashing in on the NFT explosion. 

Twitter chief executive officer Jack Dorsey has his first ever tweet up for auction as an NFT right now, the price reaching well into seven digits. Canadian artist Grimes sold a collection of her digital art for around US$6 million at the beginning of the month. 

Even Elon Musk is getting in on the action, tweeting Monday, “I’m selling this song about NFTs as an NFT,” with a video attached of a digitally generated piece of art and music that involved “NFT” in the lyrics.

I’m selling this song about NFTs as an NFT pic.twitter.com/B4EZLlesPx

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 15, 2021

“The high-end art world and its auction agents and houses have been impacted and will be heavily disrupted,” Bruno Fruscalzo, an NFT curator and creator, told TMS, adding that, “the music business has already been turned on its head.”

The NFT market has exploded in recent weeks – since the last TMS story covering NFTs on March 2, the market has nearly doubled in total art value, going from US$187 million to over US$356 million at the time of writing. 

But most of that growth isn’t coming from multimillion-dollar sales. According to cryptoart.io, a site that keeps track of NFT market statistics, the average NFT sale price sits at between US$5,000 and US$8,000.

The music industry is beginning to see a shift too with the rapid growth in NFTs, as more prominent musicians and bands begin to sell music through NFT format. 

Last week, Nashville based rock band Kings of Leon announced they would be releasing their new album as an NFT. The move has been compared to U2 and Radiohead selling their music on Apple’s iTunes Music Store more than a decade ago in an effort to shift the industry. The shift to NFTs in the music industry could be the next step in that process, increasing scarcity as a means to increase long-term value.

“Some NFTs are a very worthwhile investment,” said Fruscalzo, “as are the related cryptocurrencies and social tokens.”

These other tokens can take many forms and NFTs could just be the path to further tokenization of real-world items. 

Tokenization is when ownership is defined within the realm of the public ledger known as the blockchain, something the real estate token marketplace RealT is doing with physical properties across the United States.

Though RealT’s site doesn’t define what they sell as NFTs, the process is extremely similar. With only a blockchain wallet and some Ethereum, you can buy tokens that represent a piece of ownership in a property. 

From your ownership in a RealToken (the digital asset that you own when investing), one receives monthly payments from the rent that the real-world piece of real estate is being rented out for.

But the growth in popularity of NFTs and Ethereum has come under criticism for, of all things, its climate impact. The close relationship NFTs have with the Ethereum cryptocurrency has been deemed problematic by some due to the mass amount of greenhouse gasses that are emitted by mining Ethereum and processing transactions.

Ethereum uses a “proof of work” algorithm for securing its blockchain, a process that is notorious for consuming large amounts of energy. The annual carbon emissions from Ethereum are therefore massive and its carbon footprint is comparable to the entire country of the Ivory Coast.

According to Blockchain for Climate Foundation founder Joseph Pallant, the responsibility of Ethereum’s carbon emissions is similar to that of an airplane. If an individual purchases an airplane ticket, they are responsible for a portion of that plane’s emissions. But that plane would likely have taken off whether they bought a ticket or not. What matters more is if the general demand for plane tickets goes up and more planes take flight.

Similarly, Ethereum is often mined one way or another. But as demand for it increases, so does the volume of the Ethereum being mined and, therefore, the carbon emissions caused by that mining.

Beeple says that he recognizes the environmental impact and that going forward he will offset his carbon emissions related to his NFTs by investing in green conservation projects and renewable energy.

As for the market as a whole, questions still remain about how sturdy its rapid growth is. Some have predicted that the bubble might burst, while others, like Fruscalzo, think it’s here to stay.

“There will be booms and busts,” said Fruscalzo. “It’s currently the wild, wild west, however this is the future.”

Have a tip or story? Get in touch with our reporters at [email protected]

Like TMS? Subscribe to our free daily newsletter

Related

Tags: Businesseditors picksLonger readNorth America
ShareTweetShare

Latest Posts

China's Belt and Road Initiative may have a competitor: The Blue Dot Network (BDN)

China’s Belt and Road Initiative may have a competitor: The Blue Dot Network

April 20, 2021
Will China soon have more billionaires than the US?

Will China soon have more billionaires than the US?

April 20, 2021
Biden’s stance on Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang

Biden’s stance on Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang

April 19, 2021

What is herd immunity and how close is the US to achieving it?

April 19, 2021

Biden’s relationship with Putin, explained

April 18, 2021

What would expanding the Supreme Court mean for the US?

April 18, 2021

2020 was a bad year for China’s Belt and Road Initiative

April 18, 2021

The executed Lai Xiaomin left China Huarong teetering on the brink. Will Beijing save it?

April 15, 2021

Despite the persecution of Uighurs in Xinjiang, Muslim majority countries are maintaining business ties with China

April 15, 2021
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Careers
  • Write for us
  • Contact
  • Terms of service

© 2020 The Millennial Source Ltd.

No Result
View All Result
  • World
  • US
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Profiles
  • Lifestyle
    • Food & Travel
    • Tech & Money
    • Health
    • Entertainment
  • Newsletter

© 2020 The Millennial Source Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

The Millennial Source
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.