THE DIRTY SIDE OF NFTs

We’ve all heard about NFT before, but do we really know what it is?

Well, according to Google it’s a „non-fungible token – a unique, digital data unit based on blockchain architecture that protocol users can trade with each other, representing a wide variety of tangible and intangible items, such as sports trading cards, virtual real estate or virtual works of art”.

NFT can take many forms. It can be a JPG photo, GIF, movie, or text file. It must have a digital record, which is a declaration or certification that a given file exists only in one copy. That the investor who decides to buy will be its sole owner. Each token has a unique value, is not equal to another NFT token, and cannot be copied. So they began to be used as proof of authenticity. NFT, as a digital resource that represents graphic art, music, film, game items, virtual avatars and video game skins, even tweets, has been around since 2014, but is currently experiencing its renaissance as it becomes more and more popular a way to buy and sell digital art. Essentially, NFTs are like physical collectibles, just digital.

The NFT exchanges are a place where art collectors, investors, and players in the cryptocurrency market connect. In recent years, non-fungible tokens have been dynamically increasing their value. So the group of people who want to earn on them is growing. Now, you may ask how much is NFT? It depends, of course, some of them achieve astronomical prices, mainly due to their collector’s value. The consensus of a collector’s non-fungible token is built by: the market, brand, and their rarity.

Probably many of you are wondering which NFT is the most expensive? It turns out that Pak’s 'The Merge’ is the most expensive NFT. The Merge officially became the most expensive NFT ever sold on December 2, 2021, with almost 30,000 collectors pitching together for a total cost of $91.8m.

However, NFTs also have a less beautiful and less exposed to the public, side.  It is worth mentioning the controversy and the dark side of the non-convertible NFT token exchanges, which are highly harmful to the environment. It is mainly about the frightening consumption of electricity, and hence – a large carbon footprint. Growing demand and deals only lead to increased CO2 emissions. Modern capitalist wealth-generating techniques, such as NFT, further aggravate the problem of global warming, rising temperatures, extinction of species, etc. Statements about the harmfulness of blockchain technology are thus gaining momentum. For now, however, this does not affect the decline in the popularity of the NFT, although its future is difficult to assess.

If you want to expand your knowledge about the impact on the environment that NFT has, then check out this video: