#Nft energy consumption code#

Have a look at the video below to see an expert describing what NFTs are and why they’re so popular. Can you imagine paying millions of dollars for a bar code? Then again, perhaps this is the apotheosis of Warhol’s soup can strategies - attributing value to that which seems the most banal.“ “ It’s hard not to see this as a case of digital tulip fever.

Yet their copy has no special qualities aside from its NFT, so under the hood of the hype, the frenzy is about the token, in which there is now a booming secondary market. “ Perhaps the rights NFT collectors most highly value are bragging rights: They can say they “own” a work. “One difference with an NFT is that the exact image it links to is probably available online for anyone to enjoy as much as the collector who’s paid thousands of dollars for a token.” Margaret Wertheim highlights this in the first really useful article I found on the topic back in May: I say ‘appears to be’ because I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. The ownership of the unique digital token appears to be the attraction for the NFT collector rather than any tangible object.

#Nft energy consumption code#

The string of computer code is described as a unique digital token minted on a blockchain.īelieve it or not, you don’t even have to own an artwork to create an NFT associated with it. That’s right - if you purchase an NFT, you’re not buying the artwork itself, you’re buying a string of computer code associated with it. Just as with any trade, they can lose money too.Īfter rubbing your eyes, take a moment to re-read that last paragraph again. People can buy and sell these unique digital tokens and make money from them. In the simplest of terms, an NFT is a unique digital token associated with an artwork. Which brings me onto a pertinent question: WHAT IS AN NFT? It can even be handed down through the generations, a permanent memento of that chap who travelled to every lifeboat station. When people buy one of my prints they have a beautiful, tangible object to hang on the wall and enjoy day-after-day for years to come. Limited edition prints are a prime example of that.

NFTs may be a relatively new way to create currency from art but artificial mechanisms to generate perceived value certainly aren’t a novel concept.Īs we know, photography is a highly reproducible medium so we’ve always needed to think of ways to create additional value so that people will feel more attracted to buying our work, in turn helping us pay the bills and continue to make new photographs. I’ve rolled my eyes at NFTs from the outset because I simply haven’t been able to get a handle on their attraction, a sentiment that’s persisted even after absorbing so many articles and videos over recent months. It’s already made some folk into millionaires - the wildest of riches seem tangible again in the toughest of times.Īnd that’s got to be good for artists and the art world, right? Right? Then a new technology by the name of NFT strolled into town, apparently offering a whole new way to bring value to our treasured efforts. After all, these are tough times for artists with many of the traditional income-generating mechanisms pulled from under our feet in March 2020.

NFTs - Non-Fungible Tokens - are perhaps the hottest topic in the art world at the moment, a new way to earn money from art which has exploded onto the scene during the pandemic as creators scrabble to earn a crust. The dark ramifications for this relatively new technology run far deeper than I ever imagined but I’ll come to that later. The deeper I delve, the more the layers unravel before my eyes. I’ve got myself into a right ol’ rabbit hole with this topic over the last few months, particularly in the last 24 hours.