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The whole point of NFTs is that the provenance is 100% traceable. The value is derived from a market created by the artist, not the fact that it exists on the

The whole point of NFTs is that the provenance is 100% traceable. The value is derived from a market created by the artist, not the fact that it exists on the chain. The blockchain simply provides a way to prove that it is authentic and trace its ownership history. So if you copy one to another chain, you've created a new piece of art that will only have value if you can create a market for it. It might be a bit-for-bit copy of the original, but it won't have come from the original artist, and therefore won't have the same value.

agsamek 6y ago
Wow - this is the most insightful comment and is downvoted???? The key idea - the artist can be the one who creates a market is extremely insightful for me. It means that the art is an extremely risky value storage since entire market is limited at the moment and may never expand. The number of players in the market is what makes it thrive or disappear. Of course there are somehow two institutions fueling this market. The author and ethereum users with some visible synergies.
- downandout 6y ago
  Wow - this is the most insightful comment and is downvoted???? I get some auto-downvotes on every comment I make...it's been happening so long that it doesn't even bother me anymore lol. Every once in a while, someone still reads a comment of mine, while it sits at the bottom of the page :).
lottin 6y ago
> it won't have come from the original artist, and therefore won't have the same value All copies ultimately come from the artist, and they are all bit-by-bit identical. Why wouldn't they have the same value?
- downandout 6y ago
  The artwork can be copied, but not the provenance. If the artist publishes address(es) from which authorized tokens are released, authenticity can easily be verified. A NFT purporting to have been created by them will not have been originally sent from an authorized address, as long as the artist's private key(s) have not been compromised. So whatever value is attached to the art having been created by that artist is lost, because it cannot be proven that it came from them.
  - lottin 6y ago
    > authenticity can easily be verified Authenticity of what? What does it mean for a JPEG of some work of digital art to be authentic? As long as it is bit-by-bit identical to the original, authenticity (whatever it means) makes absolutely no difference.
    - downandout 6y ago
      What does it mean for a JPEG of some work of digital art to be authentic? Authentic means that it was put on the blockchain by an address owned by the artist. It means that the art could have only come from a specific artist. As long as it is bit-by-bit identical to the original, authenticity (whatever it means) makes absolutely no difference. Of course it makes a difference in value. If your neighbor was able to exactly duplicate a Picasso, do you think it would hold the same value as an original Picasso? It wouldn’t. A big part of the value of art is the provenance and the story behind it and the artist.
      - lottin 6y ago
        That's because a Picasso is physical object and people feel attached to physical objects. We don't feel attached to a particular digital copy of a JPEG. And, by the way, the JPEG is not on the blockchain. The NFT on the blockchain tells us nothing about the provenance of the various JPEG copies that exist or about their authenticity.
        downandout 6y ago
        Again, the blockchain can positively tell you that the data (whether it’s just a reference to the image or the image itself) was put there by a specific person that had the keys to a specific address. If that address is associated with the artist, then the artist (or someone with their private keys) put it there. Depending on who that person is, it can add value. This NFT by Beeple [1] just sold for $70 million. Something tells me that your copy, which will not have been put on the blockchain by an address associated with Beeple, won’t fetch the same price. [1] https://apnews.com/article/beeple-nft-christies-record-sale-69-million-548cfccdad07dc86e7ac09c9926aea38 https://apnews.com/article/beeple-nft-christies-record-sale-...

agsamek 6y ago

Wow - this is the most insightful comment and is downvoted???? The key idea - the artist can be the one who creates a market is extremely insightful for me. It means that the art is an extremely risky value storage since entire market is limited at the moment and may never expand. The number of players in the market is what makes it thrive or disappear. Of course there are somehow two institutions fueling this market. The author and ethereum users with some visible synergies.

downandout 6y ago
Wow - this is the most insightful comment and is downvoted???? I get some auto-downvotes on every comment I make...it's been happening so long that it doesn't even bother me anymore lol. Every once in a while, someone still reads a comment of mine, while it sits at the bottom of the page :).

lottin 6y ago

> it won't have come from the original artist, and therefore won't have the same value All copies ultimately come from the artist, and they are all bit-by-bit identical. Why wouldn't they have the same value?

downandout 6y ago
The artwork can be copied, but not the provenance. If the artist publishes address(es) from which authorized tokens are released, authenticity can easily be verified. A NFT purporting to have been created by them will not have been originally sent from an authorized address, as long as the artist's private key(s) have not been compromised. So whatever value is attached to the art having been created by that artist is lost, because it cannot be proven that it came from them.
- lottin 6y ago
  > authenticity can easily be verified Authenticity of what? What does it mean for a JPEG of some work of digital art to be authentic? As long as it is bit-by-bit identical to the original, authenticity (whatever it means) makes absolutely no difference.
  - downandout 6y ago
    What does it mean for a JPEG of some work of digital art to be authentic? Authentic means that it was put on the blockchain by an address owned by the artist. It means that the art could have only come from a specific artist. As long as it is bit-by-bit identical to the original, authenticity (whatever it means) makes absolutely no difference. Of course it makes a difference in value. If your neighbor was able to exactly duplicate a Picasso, do you think it would hold the same value as an original Picasso? It wouldn’t. A big part of the value of art is the provenance and the story behind it and the artist.
    - lottin 6y ago
      That's because a Picasso is physical object and people feel attached to physical objects. We don't feel attached to a particular digital copy of a JPEG. And, by the way, the JPEG is not on the blockchain. The NFT on the blockchain tells us nothing about the provenance of the various JPEG copies that exist or about their authenticity.
      - downandout 6y ago
        Again, the blockchain can positively tell you that the data (whether it’s just a reference to the image or the image itself) was put there by a specific person that had the keys to a specific address. If that address is associated with the artist, then the artist (or someone with their private keys) put it there. Depending on who that person is, it can add value. This NFT by Beeple [1] just sold for $70 million. Something tells me that your copy, which will not have been put on the blockchain by an address associated with Beeple, won’t fetch the same price. [1] https://apnews.com/article/beeple-nft-christies-record-sale-69-million-548cfccdad07dc86e7ac09c9926aea38 https://apnews.com/article/beeple-nft-christies-record-sale-...