NFTs Are The Future of Online Creativity
Recapturing the scarcity that used to make art valuable
An older man has a painting he can’t wait to show you. “It’s an original Rothko. You’re going to freak out when you see it. I snagged it for 50 million dollars.”
You arrive at his modern home near the ocean. He rushes to the living room and displays his hands in front of a painting. It’s mostly…red. To you, it mostly looks like a giant canvas painted red. How is this worth 50 million dollars?
The man is smiling, like, pretty cool, right? You smile back, like, sure, man — whatever floats your boat.
People don’t buy things. People buy feelings. Relative status (created by scarcity) is a powerful feeling.
NFTs Recreate Real-World Scarcity
Tom Bilyeu, who founded Impact Theory, got me interested in the concept with his Neon Future NFT collection. By attaching the comics to an NFT, only one person is allowed to own it. That creates scarcity — as if it were a Rothko painting that can only be owned by one person.
What is the difference between owning this comic book and merely looking at it online? For those who don’t know, an NFT is a crypto token created in a way similar to bitcoin in the sense that it can’t be…
