Cryptos and NFTs are revitalizing the creative economy.
James McClay. Business Design Manager at Fjord Chicago, USA.
I am a hybrid designer, focusing on how we make things work and what makes us react to digital services. I have a background in Industrial Design and Mechanical Engineering and have worked as a service, interaction, and business designer over my career.
Back in 2007, I learned about blockchain and how it could provide value to people. I wasn’t surprised when Bitcoin came out in 2008 because the timing coincided with the financial crisis. Suddenly there was this new technology with no real person behind it, suggesting that we could take control back as a society.
Looking at the history of ownership, property, and intellectual property, and the changes this new technology was promoting across these fundamental concepts, I thought, wow, this is really intriguing.
As a business designer, sitting at the intersection of users, business and stakeholders, I got a sense that this new way of thinking could bring value beyond delivering a product or a service.
We now can help people be better off than they were before.
For example, NFTs are young and maturing quickly, but when you look at how they are embedding certain properties into the asset you realize this is a significant change in market dynamics. For example, every time the asset is sold the creator gets a cut each time, forever.
This is a fascinating aspect of this technology because the creator benefits from the increasing value of its asset, not just the investor. Look at this from 30,000 feet and we get an interesting picture of where things might be heading! There is a whole new business industry emerging around cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
Crypto wallets like Nexo, crypto exchanges like Coinbase, and Bitcoin vending are good examples of the impact crypto has had in the finance world. A great example of the possibilities is the Brave browser which rewards you for your attention, so for every ad that you view in the browser, you earn 70% of the ad revenue in crypto tokens.
In March this year, the rock band Kings of Leon released their album using NFTs, which was the first NFT I ever bought. They had an option called the Golden Ticket, which is an NFT with unique digital art on it. There were only 18 of them and it gives whoever owns the token four front-row seats to any Kings of Leon concert during each tour for life. The VIP experience included a personal driver, a concierge at the show to take care of their needs, a hangout with the band before the show, and exclusive lounge access. And upon leaving the show, the fan’s car will have four bags filled with every item from the merch booth.
This mixing of the digital and the physical world is a fascinating business opportunity!
These new technologies are so young that it is good to see people experimenting and trying new things. The co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, was just 21 years old when he launched it in 2015.
This is a very interesting time to be witnessing the change, the decentralization of services, and ownership. Design is about making things better or making things that are surprising to people, changing what people think. And these technologies have the potential to achieve this.
As a business designer, it’s my responsibility to understand the potential of new tech and to apply new mental models that influence the creation of business opportunities. Unlocking the value of information, or ideas is really exciting. The fascinating path ahead is exploring how we make this happen.
How do we create business models around the value of the idea itself, and not on the process of creation. This is the challenge to solve!
There are a lot of risks in using these technologies in the current environment. But once enough people start to use it, the momentum will be unstoppable. Plenty of signals are indicating that there is interest, investment, and a vision of what decentralized services and ownership could become.
Who knows what we’ll talk about in 10 years, but these technologies will be part of the conversation for sure. I know because the communities built around blockchain, and crypto are so passionate and dedicated.
I think that this is the right time to find the right partner to test, to experiment, to push boundaries, and to learn where this can take us. I know a couple of clients who would be willing to come along this path of exploration.
There is a way to lead forward!
