They're a scam in the way that anything for which its value is mostly a function of its scarcity; the scarcity is still always just a modifier on the demand for

They're a scam in the way that anything for which its value is mostly a function of its scarcity; the scarcity is still always just a modifier on the demand for it. I would be more inclined to call it a scam if the technology was a failure or the purported scarcity of the asset being sold was being misrepresented. Neither of those are true. Instead, what is being traded are extremely scarce assets for which the demand is unimaginably overestimated. In 10 years will anybody actually care that there's a signed entry in a particular blockchain saying that this asset belongs to you? Probably not. I think if technologies like video games hook into a blockchain and let the owners of an NFT artwork for example use it as a character skin or put it up in their virtual house as a painting, maybe they'll have some value amongst people...but the demand is still probably extremely overrated. I'm guessing the value of something like that would be more on the order of <$100. TL;DR I don't think scam is the right word. I don't think Beanie Babies or IPOs are scams just because people severely overestimated the future demand for the thing that they're buying.