One major cultural phenomenon that has occurred within the last few years is the appearance and proliferation of NFTs, or Non-Fungible Tokens. NFTs are pieces of digital data that are stored on the blockchain (essentially a computerized list of records that shows that one of its elements  is unique). 

NFTs have taken up common form in images, animations, 3D models, and many more formats. More recently, video games have been implementing NFTs, but this trend seems to be on the decline after mass complaints from fans. These NFTs are sold by their creator to others willing to buy using a variety of cryptocurrencies. But boiling down NFTs to their most essential form, they are speculative investments that owners hope will appreciate in value, and pass on to someone else. 

While this may seem relatively innocent, anyone who knows a little about NFTs knows the exorbitant price which they are sold for. The NFT ‘community’ is full of scams (one creator disappeared with $2.7 million of profits from NFT sales in late 2021) and there is evidence that NFTs are manipulated to be overvalued, and then when passed off to a real customer, the NFT will lose much of its valuation.

 Another illicit activity that NFTs have most likely integrated themselves into is money laundering. Have illegitimate money? Buy NFTs using cryptocurrency, then sell the NFT and there you have it, “clean” money. More worrisome, NFTs, since they essentially provide no real utility, are  negatively affecting climate change. 

This occurs because of the blockchain process, and the processing of cryptocurrencies in exchange for NFTs. An analogy for the impact that NFTs have on the environment that I think is apt involves a natural gas power plant, running all day, releasing CO2, but doesn’t generate electricity for anyone. While other things like cars emit greenhouse gasses, the argument runs that unlike NFTs, they at least provide some real and practical utility. In today’s reality, NFTs are a big thing, but I think that within a few years people will recognize the true nature of them, that these things are useless, and then they will move on to the next big thing.