What are NFTs? 🪃

Short, practical drops on culture and technology. 🚀

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More Web3 stuff 🙌

Web3 needs great creators and curators because it feels inaccessible. It’s big. It’s messy. It moves very fast.

My message to you is this: it is entirely accessible to you. You can (and should) participate and if you’re reading this letter, I already know you can learn anything, full-stop. There is no greater pleasure in life than feeling truly capable.

As always, I’ll be short and practical. 🤝

What does 'NFT' mean? 👇

An NFT is a Non-Fungible Token.

The dollars in your bank account right now are fungible: your favourite coffee house doesn’t care which dollars you give them, they all represent the same value.

Now let’s say the barista looks up and is surprised to see that it’s the 🐐 Tom Brady ordering coffee. In a moment of sheer excitement, they may want Tom to autograph the paper bill he used to pay for his coffee. THAT dollar is now non-fungible. It’s unique. It’s an original. It’s 1-of-1.

Okay got it, so what's a token? 🙏

A token is something that represents something else. Plain and simple. A token does something in the world. It has utility. It’s a symbol.

Let's put it all together 🤝

A Non-Fungible Token (NFT) is a digital asset whose ownership is tracked on a blockchain.

Easy! 🚀(@alexisohanian and @TZhongg have an excellent podcast on this.) 👇

Wait, if it's digital, how do you know it's the original? 🔑

Ah, now you’re getting to the rub. Well done! 😉

The best way to understand the question, is to understand one of the problems that NFTs solve. Let’s look at the traditional art market. Mona Lisa has value only if she is the original. How do we know we’re looking at the original? Since Leonardo’s brush left the canvas, Mona has had a chain of custody. Literally paper files that show who the owner is, at what period of time, forever, up until the time she found herself where she rests today, in the Louvre in Paris (visit the Louvre in the Metaverse!).

That chain of custody is the ledger of truth. At any point in time we can authenticate the buyer and the seller of the original piece. THIS my friends, is what an NFT is to the internet. It is the digital chain of custody and the ledger is a blockchain.

Okay, well now I need to understand blockchains. 🤯

Yes, yes you do! Keep reading and sharing the Boomerang Letter. We will get there!

How can something digital be valuable? 🔥

This is a fascinating question and one that evolves by the day. In fact, it’s exactly the right question. Keep reading this letter and look for an upcoming post called ‘What is Valuable?’ We’ll look at Greg Isenberg‘s work with CryptoCollege (of which I am a proud alumni!)

Gratitude 🙏

PS: If you’re irrevocably intrigued by NFTs, like I am, world-renowned photographer Mark Hemmings and I have a long-form piece in the Winter edition of James Mullinger‘s The Maritime Edit.

Hint: we may have done the first major photography based NFT transaction in the region. I’m grateful for all of you this morning. Thank you for making whatever it is you’re making. 🙌

See you on the path.

- MG