32 ms·

Can someone explain how NFTs accomplish Coinbase's mission, which is to "increase economic freedom in the world"?

fleddr 5y ago
NFTs can be anything, so the potential future use cases may be extremely diverse, but let's limit ourselves to the current main narrative, which is art. Optimistically, NFTs give artists and photographers a new channel to sell their work without being constrained too much by middle men. As an example, photographers often try to monetize using stock agencies, whom fully dictate terms and give them pennies, whilst keeping most of the resell value themselves. As such, NFTs offer less gatekeepers, less or no cut on revenue, as well as new technical possibilities. The artist has far more control, and thus economic freedom. At least potentially. As to whether this actually leads to artists more successfully monetizing is another question entirely. Too soon to tell.
- dstaley 5y ago
  > NFTs give artists and photographers a new channel to sell their work without being constrained too much by middle men. This is a benefit of cryptocurrencies in general, but doesn't explain specifically how NFTs themselves (rather than a generic selling platform not utilizing NFT tokens) increase the artist's economic freedom.
  - fleddr 5y ago
    A generic selling platform can go under, delist you, censor you, change terms, get hacked, accidentally lose all content, can change content, they can do (almost) anything. A NFT is on chain and immutable. Further, they can have smart contracts where artists dictate advanced terms. So you have more freedom and control in general. As to whether this leads to more monetary success is another question.
    - wjohnsto 5y ago
      What happens if the domain hosting your URL pointer from your NFT disappears?
      - fleddr 5y ago
        Probably IPFS is the best solution right now. You know, this problem is a lot more generic than many think. There is no such thing as "forever hosting" for a fixed one time cost.

NFTs can be anything, so the potential future use cases may be extremely diverse, but let's limit ourselves to the current main narrative, which is art. Optimistically, NFTs give artists and photographers a new channel to sell their work without being constrained too much by middle men. As an example, photographers often try to monetize using stock agencies, whom fully dictate terms and give them pennies, whilst keeping most of the resell value themselves. As such, NFTs offer less gatekeepers, less or no cut on revenue, as well as new technical possibilities. The artist has far more control, and thus economic freedom. At least potentially. As to whether this actually leads to artists more successfully monetizing is another question entirely. Too soon to tell.

dstaley 5y ago
> NFTs give artists and photographers a new channel to sell their work without being constrained too much by middle men. This is a benefit of cryptocurrencies in general, but doesn't explain specifically how NFTs themselves (rather than a generic selling platform not utilizing NFT tokens) increase the artist's economic freedom.
- fleddr 5y ago
  A generic selling platform can go under, delist you, censor you, change terms, get hacked, accidentally lose all content, can change content, they can do (almost) anything. A NFT is on chain and immutable. Further, they can have smart contracts where artists dictate advanced terms. So you have more freedom and control in general. As to whether this leads to more monetary success is another question.
  - wjohnsto 5y ago
    What happens if the domain hosting your URL pointer from your NFT disappears?
    - fleddr 5y ago
      Probably IPFS is the best solution right now. You know, this problem is a lot more generic than many think. There is no such thing as "forever hosting" for a fixed one time cost.