4 ms·

perhaps because NFT's offer no meaningful version of ownership -- you don't control it according to the government (no copyright/ip transfer), you don't control

by setr 5y ago

perhaps because NFT's offer no meaningful version of ownership -- you don't control it according to the government (no copyright/ip transfer), you don't control it according to the physical universe (you don't actually have anything -- not even bits), you don't control it according to the internet (others have just as much access and distribution as they did before), you don't control it according to blockchains in general (you can trivially establish a second NFT chain and claim ownership there). The thing that's being traded is a certificate of ownership that is enforced and considered by almost no one. It's equivalent to trading on emails that say "I own the Eiffel Tower". The fundamental question is why the hell does anyone want an NFT in the first place? "it's art" doesn't cut it, and "it's like baseball cards" doesn't really cut it either, because you aren't buying the card in a way that you can claim ownership over -- you're buying a certificate that contains a link to the card, and trading on that. Entirely independent of the object under question. In fact, you don't need the digital asset in the first place. You might as well trade tokens directly, and let go of the farce. But I suppose you just have a normal coin then.

dmarcos 5y ago
NFTs are probably more similar to baseball cards and other collectables than you give credit. I can easily find an image on any card and print it. Still we value the original. NFTs are a proof the you own an original and not a copy. A piece of cardboard is all you own with a baseball card. Value comes from artificial scarcity that owner has no control over. Baseball card companies can easily print more cards and destroy value. They don’t. There’s a social contract between collector and producer. Similar to NFTs.
- tompazourek 5y ago
  I think it's more like if the player portrayed on the baseball card sold a certificate saying it's actually him on the baseball card with his signature on the certificate. The actual original of the card isn't traded. As the buyer, you don't end up owning anything new, you get just a signature from some guy.

by setr 5y ago

dmarcos 5y ago

NFTs are probably more similar to baseball cards and other collectables than you give credit. I can easily find an image on any card and print it. Still we value the original. NFTs are a proof the you own an original and not a copy. A piece of cardboard is all you own with a baseball card. Value comes from artificial scarcity that owner has no control over. Baseball card companies can easily print more cards and destroy value. They don’t. There’s a social contract between collector and producer. Similar to NFTs.

tompazourek 5y ago
I think it's more like if the player portrayed on the baseball card sold a certificate saying it's actually him on the baseball card with his signature on the certificate. The actual original of the card isn't traded. As the buyer, you don't end up owning anything new, you get just a signature from some guy.