NFTs - future or failure

[maflynn]

Late to the game regarding NFTs to be sure, but I stumbled upon some stuff that intrigued me, and re-woke some questions I had about NFTs. So I never really got the allure of NFTs. I get that they're nonfungible, and technically you own the digital image but its an asset that doesn't exist in physical form.

Bill Gates says crypto and NFTs are a sham
He mentions traditional physical assets, and for me (being old I suppose) makes sense. I also agree with Gates, that this falls into the greater fool theory

Those digital asset trends are “100% based on greater fool theory,” the Microsoft co-founder said Tuesday at a TechCrunch conference, referencing the notion that investors can make money on worthless or overvalued assets as long as people are willing to bid them higher.

Gates added that he’s “not long or short” crypto. And he mocked Bored Apes NFTs, joking that “expensive digital images of monkeys” will “improve the world immensely.”
...
Instead, Gates said he prefers old fashioned investing.

“I’m used to asset classes, like a farm where they have output, or like a company where they make products,” he said.

Take Jack Dorsey's first tweet. It was sold as an NFT for 2.9 million

Here's his first tweet that I found on twitter when I did a search. So why spend 2.9 million dollars for something that I or anyone else can either screen grab?

Looks like the buyer lost his money on that NFT. The last auction had a bid of 280 dollars - yikes!
‘Jack Dorsey’s First Tweet’ NFT Went on Sale for $48M. It Ended With a Top Bid of Just $280
Why Jack Dorsey’s First-Tweet NFT Plummeted 99% In Value In A Year

Ubisoft tried to get in on the action and was largely lampooned and failed
Ubisoft’s first NFT experiment was a dumpster fire

Honest question, what is the value in a digital image that people can screenshot? The use of a blockchain doesn't matter, its an image and screen prints exist - how could value be derived from it?

 

[Herdfan]

I'm still trying to figure out why gold is valuable.

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

I will almost certainly never purchase an NFT, but I can understand the appeal on some levels FOR SOME THINGS. It is akin to the difference between a piece of art directly from the hand of the artist, a print of the artwork through an official channel, and an image of the artwork I stole from the internet and printed out myself. All three of these things have different values, but only one is "the real thing." I could see someone finding value in "owning" the official first tweet, as referenced in @maflynn's OP.

 

[Basic75]

I'm still trying to figure out why gold is valuable.

At least gold has a lot of applications due to its material properties like electric conductivity, non-corrosiveness, and elasticity or whatever it's called that allows gold to be spun into very long very thin wires. For the rest it's just because most of the world agrees that it's valuable.

 

[Basic75]

The best explanation of what NFTs are is still "Imagine you have a wife and your wife is getting drilled by everyone and you can't do ****. But you have the marriage certificate. Thats the NFT." Failure.

 

[dukebound85]

I'm still trying to figure out why gold is valuable.

I am still trying to figure out money and where that value comes from

 

[Herdfan]

At least gold has a lot of applications due to its material properties like electric conductivity, non-corrosiveness, and elasticity or whatever it's called that allows gold to be spun into very long very thin wires. For the rest it's just because most of the world agrees that it's valuable.

It does. And for those applications, it has some value.

But as something that is simply valuable because others say it is makes little sense. A barrel of oil has real value in that you can burn it for heat or energy or make plastics from it.

 

[Mousse]

I'm still trying to figure out why gold is valuable.

Gold has intrinsic value as being one of the best electrical conductors we know. This is why it's widely used in electronics because it does not corrode or tarnish like copper or silver or aluminum. If I could wire my house entirely with gold, I'd never have to rewire ever again.😁

Also gold makes a good binding medium for the super valuable latinum.

Diamonds, now that's is worthless, except for drilling or sanding applications. Diamonds as jewelry?🙄 NFT is the biggest scam since the diamond is forever BS. The De Beers syndicate has gas lit folks in to thinking diamonds are valuable. They can create diamonds in a lab that's is of higher quality--on the GIA scale--than natural diamonds.

 

[KaliYoni]

Honest question, what is the value in a digital image that people can screenshot? The use of a blockchain doesn't matter, its an image and screen prints exist - how could value be derived from it?

Two, non-collector uses of NFTs that help drive prices to stratospheric levels:

• Money laundering
• Token and coin "foreign currency exchange" without having to make a trade or taking an action that will affect the market for the token or coin

But as something that is simply valuable because others say it is makes little sense.

There's a long history of items without or with minimal intrinsic value becoming expensive. Gold, though, is a special case because it encompasses pretty much every characteristic that makes humans regard something as valuable. Gold is an important industrial commodity, an important consumer commodity, a governmentally sanctioned medium of exchange, a store of value, a signal of wealth, scarce in its natural form, and a widely traded financial asset.

For anybody interested, these are a couple of good books. One is a classic, the other is recent.

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Harriman Definitive Edition): The classic guide to crowd psychology, financial folly and surprising superstition

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Harriman Definitive Edition): The classic guide to crowd psychology, financial folly and surprising superstition

www.amazon.com

Status and Culture: How Our Desire for Social Rank Creates Taste, Identity, Art, Fashion, and Constant Change

All humans share a need to secure their social standing, and this universal motivation structures our behavior, forms our tastes, determines how we live, and ultimately shapes who we are. We can use status, then, to explain why some things become “cool,” how stylistic innovations arise, and wh...

www.amazon.com

plus

Goldfinger (James Bond 007)

WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY KATE MOSSE In Fleming’s seventh 007 novel, a private assignment sets Bond on the trail of an enigmatic criminal mastermind – Auric Goldfinger. But greed and power have created a deadly opponent who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

www.amazon.com

The Diamond Smugglers (Vintage Classics)

is the true story of an operation responsible for smuggling millions of pounds worth of precious gems out of Africa. Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, drew on interviews with the reluctant hero of the diamond companies’ counter-attack to explore the world of the real master criminals of h...

www.amazon.com

 

[enterthemerdaverse]

They’re money laundering, wash trading, inside trading scams. Some of them parade as membership cards. Some of them parade themselves as game assets.

The economics behind all of them require a greater fool to come along and buy at higher and higher prices. That always results in running out of buyers, then a loss of confidence, then a collapse.

But by then the people who started them already took the money and ran away laughing.

If a company sincerely wants to do these kind of assets without the terrible economics, then can do that with a database containing a merkel tree and they can accept regular payment cards like Apple/Android Pay without the use of a blockchain or volatile tokens.

A blockchain is totally unnecessary as the assets are not held on it anyway. Assets can be transferred between companies and platforms who have transfer agreemeets.

 

[enterthemerdaverse]

At least gold has a lot of applications due to its material properties like electric conductivity, non-corrosiveness, and elasticity or whatever it's called that allows gold to be spun into very long very thin wires. For the rest it's just because most of the world agrees that it's valuable.

Right.

Anything physical, made of real matter, has value because we depend on it. Without it we can’t even make a computer.

However, the commodities like precious metals do have too much speculative value on top of their utility value. Can you imagine if countries had never spent vast amounts of money on hoarding gold and instead used that money to build infrastructure? We could be two decades ahead and on a much more sustainable path.

The same goes to speculators in gambling, property or the stock market. There is excess liquidity in these things that could be so much better spent elsewhere in a way that benefits us all, including the environment and wildlife.

If we have excessive speculation and hoarding in another asset, such as crypto, on top of everything above it just means far more important goals will have less funding.

 

[satcomer]

I kew that fact because they were not hard to make for any artist! I tend1 to live by thew old saying "What sounds to good to be true is actually a sham" and this old Man hasn't got the Time!

 

[maflynn]

"What sounds to good to be true is actually a sham" and this old Man hasn't got the Time!

Seriously, when that ape stuff kicked off the NFT, I was scratching my head - just a goofy ape cartoon that any artist could make. Then the fact its digital only so you really don't own a physical copy, unlike most other paintings/drawings

 

[TSE]

Digital beanie babies.

 

[Huntn]

I'm still trying to figure out why gold is valuable.

Gold is a physical valuable tangible commodity, precious metals the traditional basis for currency. Currency has to be based on value real or percieved, but since the U.S. dropped the gold standard, now that value is perceived value in the hands of the federal government as to how much to print.

For my own info I had to look up NFT- Non-Fungible Token, say what? Digital products whether they are artwork, or a program are valuable. DRM (Digitsl Right’s Management) is a thorn in our sides when commercial entities decide to rent instead of sell the current version of their software, but that is a different topic.

What Is An NFT? Non-Fungible Tokens Explained

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) seem to be everywhere these days. From art and music to tacos and toilet paper, these digital assets are selling like 17th-century exotic Dutch tulips—some for millions of dollars. But are NFTs worth the money—or the hype? Some experts say they’re a bubble poised to pop

www.forbes.com

An NFT is a digital asset that can come in the form of art, music, in-game items, videos, and more. They are bought and sold online, frequently with cryptocurrency, and they are generally encoded with the same underlying software as many cryptos.

As I am not a expert on this I have purchased plenty of digital items for $, not crypto currency. I have bought many tanks in World of Tanks, but they only function in the game and only have value as long as the game exists And I’m playing it. These are not NFTs, although such things have been sold to other consumers, look at World of Warcraft, accounts sold, but again the only value there is within the game, not outside the game.

 

[Marsikus]

Seriously, when that ape stuff kicked off the NFT, I was scratching my head - just a goofy ape cartoon that any artist could make. Then the fact its digital only so you really don't own a physical copy, unlike most other paintings/drawings

I have seen a painter selling the physical paintings accompanied with NFTs, makes some sense.

 

[Bodhitree]

They’re basically not worth anything, they’re just tokens representing something non-physical. I don’t think NFT’s have a future, unlike crypto, which has some genuine uses.

 

[Lasrjock]

Diamonds, now that's is worthless, except for drilling or sanding applications. Diamonds as jewelry?🙄 NFT is the biggest scam since the diamond is forever BS. The De Beers syndicate has gas lit folks in to thinking diamonds are valuable. They can create diamonds in a lab that's is of higher quality--on the GIA scale--than natural diamonds.

Actually, diamonds have some great intrinsic properties other than hardness. They have a very high thermal conductivity with a very low electrical conductivity. This could make them useful for cooling ICs as well as other stuff if you can get the manufacturing problems sorted.

Now I agree that mined diamonds have no greater value than manufactured diamonds.

 

[MacGizmo]

NFTs are proof of the old saying that a fool and his money are easily parted.

 

[Huntn]

NFTs are proof of the old saying that a fool and his money are easily parted.

I don’t understand how if not backed and regulated by the government, how a made up digital token can have any value. Obviously there must be percieved value there, but the problem is as I imagine it, that a thousand people could create a thousand currencies and what would make one more valuable than the other if at all?