For many artists, the NFT acts as a certificate of authenticity, akin to Sol LeWitt's signed certificates[1]. It's certainly possible to manage these with mere

For many artists, the NFT acts as a certificate of authenticity, akin to Sol LeWitt's signed certificates[1]. It's certainly possible to manage these with mere pen and paper, but in today's digital age there are benefits to using a digital certificate. And in the context of art certificates, there are benefits to using open source standards (ERC-721, i.e. NFT) that can span across many platforms and systems, rather than centralised standards that would typically be upheld by Sotheby's, Christie's, or the artist themselves. And, there are cases where "just crypto" will suffice, like a direct wallet-to-wallet transfer of USDC on a L2 for a physical work—and this is another way of paying artists that Google Play can and should be able to support in their apps. The fees and settlement times are often superior to traditional infra (even Wise). But this transaction comes with no provenance and transfer of ownership, which is one of the selling points of NFT. [1] https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/171166 https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/171166