5 ms·

I've used the analogy that NFTs are just a fancy notary public, and exactly as exciting.

zwkrt 5y ago
Well it’s a less fancy version, considering that a notary public can legally notarize a binding contract between two parties. The analogy I have been using with my artist friend (who is interested in their use for selling digital art) is a global bulletin board.
- gspr 5y ago
  I think that's what the cryptocurrency/NFT folks are dreaming about: a society in which there are no official services (no official money, no officially sanctioned notaries, etc.), so that you'll instead have an every-man-for-himself kind of society where their kind reign supreme. Then they throw in examples of how official services can be corrupt and how fiat currency can be abused as a reason that we should all get on board with throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I can't fucking wait for the cryptocurrency/NFT scene to come crashing down. Not because I want to see people hurt, but because that should (hopefully?) shut these people up for a generation.
jacknews 5y ago
Except, would you trust a notary public in, say, Sudan? NFT gif collections are obviously speculative money/crypto-laundering garbage, but there is a real use hiding in there somewhere.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- ncmncm 5y ago
  With so much horseshit, there has to be a pony in there somewhere.
  - jfk13 5y ago
    Pony? I was hoping for at least a unicorn.
- matsemann 5y ago
  > Except, would you trust a notary public in, say, Sudan? How can I trust an NFT? I don't know if the person minting it was the true owner, or just someone uploading stolen content. I don't know what the URL used to point to or if the content has changed. It's basically useless without something external verifying it.
  - thebean11 5y ago
    You're right that you do have to verify it's origin, but the benefit is that you only have to verify it once, then the entire chain of custody can be derived. With a piece of physical art, the original creator cannot just give you an identifier that allows you to, with 100% certainty, check authenticity. You need expensive, manual, and fallible inspection of the physical object.
yawnxyz 5y ago
Notaries are kind of exciting, when you can program them to execute code. It's like having a notary that can notarize NEW things in a way that you won't tell every new notary how to notarize it. I think that's kind of cool

Well it’s a less fancy version, considering that a notary public can legally notarize a binding contract between two parties. The analogy I have been using with my artist friend (who is interested in their use for selling digital art) is a global bulletin board.

gspr 5y ago
I think that's what the cryptocurrency/NFT folks are dreaming about: a society in which there are no official services (no official money, no officially sanctioned notaries, etc.), so that you'll instead have an every-man-for-himself kind of society where their kind reign supreme. Then they throw in examples of how official services can be corrupt and how fiat currency can be abused as a reason that we should all get on board with throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I can't fucking wait for the cryptocurrency/NFT scene to come crashing down. Not because I want to see people hurt, but because that should (hopefully?) shut these people up for a generation.

jacknews 5y ago

Except, would you trust a notary public in, say, Sudan? NFT gif collections are obviously speculative money/crypto-laundering garbage, but there is a real use hiding in there somewhere.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
ncmncm 5y ago
With so much horseshit, there has to be a pony in there somewhere.
- jfk13 5y ago
  Pony? I was hoping for at least a unicorn.
matsemann 5y ago
> Except, would you trust a notary public in, say, Sudan? How can I trust an NFT? I don't know if the person minting it was the true owner, or just someone uploading stolen content. I don't know what the URL used to point to or if the content has changed. It's basically useless without something external verifying it.
- thebean11 5y ago
  You're right that you do have to verify it's origin, but the benefit is that you only have to verify it once, then the entire chain of custody can be derived. With a piece of physical art, the original creator cannot just give you an identifier that allows you to, with 100% certainty, check authenticity. You need expensive, manual, and fallible inspection of the physical object.

yawnxyz 5y ago

Notaries are kind of exciting, when you can program them to execute code. It's like having a notary that can notarize NEW things in a way that you won't tell every new notary how to notarize it. I think that's kind of cool