Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been making waves since 2014, especially in the last two years. The concept of a non-fungible digital asset, one that you cannot easily exchange on a one-to-one basis like cryptocurrencies, emerged as a way to represent ownership and scarcity in the digital world. As with anything scarce, these conditions have led to a focus on NFTs becoming the latest nugget in the blockchain gold rush. And that is the problem.
During the California Gold Rush, a relatively small number of people became truly rich and achieved significant wealth, while the majority either experienced modest gains or ended up with minimal financial success, often struggling to meet their basic needs due to the high living costs in gold mining regions.
In the case of NFTs, those costs include the complexity and technical knowledge needed to acquire them. And while the riches have been some of the most significant in recent times, the NFT industry also suffers from the same level of speculation, notoriety, and scrutiny as those transformative ’40s and ’50s.
But to…