3 Reasons Why NFTs Deserve Your Attention
You’ve heard your friends chat about them at the bar, your colleagues discuss them in the office, and watched your social feeds gush about them, well, anytime you’ve looked at your phone. But what are NFTs and why do they deserve your attention?
- They’re unique.
Simply put, NFTs are digital assets that link ownership to unique physical or digital items. Not the strongest selling point, right? But what if that unique item is a Banksy piece or an exclusive track by the Weeknd? The benefit of NFTs in situations like these is that they enable an artist (and the buyer/seller) to verify originality, as each NFT holds a unique, immutable code on the blockchain. Given we’re all wired with an innate urge to distinguish ourselves from one another, you can begin to see the appeal of NFTs. And with more and more uses for NFTs being found everyday, this appeal will only sparkle more.
2. They’re great for digital artists.
As mentioned, NFTs offer a way for you to own the digital rights to a unique piece of art. But for the artist there is just as much or even more appeal to NFTs. In the past, many digital artists have struggled to earn money from their work, despite the work being splashed endlessly across platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. NFTs help remedy this problem by adding the vital ingredient of scarcity, which, for anything collectible, makes the item more valuable and sought-after.
But the appeal for digital artists doesn’t end there. When an NFT is created (or ‘minted’) the artist can set a royalty percentage into the token so that every time the NFT is sold they earn money, something that musicians (or, sadly, the companies that own the music) have been able to do for decades.
3. They’re great for community.
It’s funny: we all want to be unique but we all want to belong to something (I think they call it being different together). And while it’s crucial that any artist strive to stand out from the crowd, that same artist will often draw inspiration from being part of a group of like-minded people (regardless of whether they make similar art). The same goes for communities beyond the art world. Because of the decentralised environment that NFTs exist in, you can harness NFTs to create projects that draw attention to and empower your community, regardless of your race, gender, or sexual orientation. In time this appeal will only grow as the communities that have typically been marginilised by the mainstream media embrace the technology and bring light to their communities on their terms.
While the world of NFTs is nascent and volatile, and will likely be for some time yet, beneath the hype and celebrity noise there are aspects to this world that have genuine and long-lasting benefits for everyone. And while these aspects mightn’t be the first that capture your attention, they will no doubt be the ones that hold it.
