Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are seen as a “celebrity casino,” but they could find use in socially meaningful ends such as charity and funding public goods. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin said this.
The most important scarce resource is legitimacy.https://t.co/vLCznqP1Lv
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) March 23, 2021
In a new post, “The most scarce resource is legitimacy,” Buterin noted that resources and public attention often go to what most people consider justified. People act in concert if others do the same, and this is tied to their personal interests.
The Ethereum co-founder believes that the market’s perception of NFTs continues to take shape.
“Which NFTs are attractive, and which aren’t — the same question of legitimacy. If everyone agrees that one token is more interesting than others, it will have greater value in the eyes of its holder. This will also apply to those who are willing to pay even higher prices for it,” added he.
Buterin noted that the influence of certain opinion leaders, such as Elon Musk, can be decisive.
The Ethereum co-founder welcomed Jack Dorsey’s decision to direct the $2.9 million from the NFT as the first tweet to charity. At the same time, he noted the danger of not unlocking the NFT’s potential for society if the focus remains on celebrity actions.
“Public Good is not in the aim of Elon Musk earning yet another $1 million, when the proceeds from NFT sales go directly to him (credit to the founder of Tesla refused this initiative). If non-fungible tokens become solely a casino for such individuals, there will be no positive outcome,” he explained.
Buterin proposed two options that could potentially establish NFT as a means of financing public goods, for example, the global fight against poverty, scientific research, open-source software development, and empowering communities.
The first involves creating a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). With collective approval by its participants, it could approve certain NFTs provided there are guarantees that a portion of the proceeds from sales goes to charitable aims.
The second involves including data about purchased non-fungible tokens in users’ social media profiles. In combination with the first method, this could ‘heighten attention on NFTs with social utility.’
Google searches for NFTs have approached the level of the ICO boom in 2017.
On March 22, the digital artist Beeple called the asset market a bubble.
ForkLog has gathered the views of several experts on the NFT market’s prospects in the material.
Subscribe to ForkLog’s channel on YouTube!