NFTs And The Concept Of Ownership
What Part Of That NBA Top Shot Do You Really Own?
I was on a Zoom discussion yesterday, and when I mentioned the importance of understanding exactly what rights are conveyed with an NFT (non-fungible token) purchase, one of the panelists seemed to brush it aside, as if to say, “Everybody knows what they’re buying.” The panelist was a top US venture capitalist, and an investor in Dapper Labs, which is probably best known for issuing the recent NBA Top Shot NFTs (as well as spawning the now infamous CryptoKitties — that crashed the Ethereum network a couple of years ago). He’s actually run a digital music retail platform before, and in my previous communications with him, he’s intimated his aversion to dealing with music rights.
He’s obviously very intelligent, and Dapper Labs certainly has seen huge success with their Top Shot NFTs (with more than $370 million in trades between users to date). Perhaps the combination of sports fanaticism and pent-up crypto demand has found an outlet that the average consumer is comfortable with and can comprehend. After all, no one seems to be attempting to license their Top Shot moment (yet), and no one seems too concerned that the rights to the video footage itself is still retained by the NBA. So, maybe the digital equivalent of a sports trading card is a simple enough place to create a…
