Q&A: What’s the deal with NFTs?

Notes from Chris

Episode 1532

We will bring Failure Friday back next week. For today, I have a timely listener question. Have you heard of Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs? I have received so many questions about this topic over the past two weeks.

NFTs are digital art made on a blockchain and sold as originals. “Non-fungible” means that something is unique and can’t be replaced with something else.

The NBA has made $200 million dollars from selling highlight reel videos. You could buy a video of Lebron James dunking a basketball. You could buy an original music track from Grimes, or an autographed tweet from Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter.

Just in case you aren’t missing the most amazing and unbelievable detail to this: all of these items are available for free online. The sale of NFTs is for the original version of something that exists in innumerable and unlimited duplicatable copies.

Seth Godin hates them—he said in a recent blog post that NFTs are a “dangerous trap” for creators and that we should walk away.

So what’s going on? Is it a bubble? Can you make digital art and sell the originals for millions of dollars?

"Hey Chris, this is Daniel I’ve been listening to the show for about 2 years now. Thanks for all the helpful advice. Speaking of advice, what's happening with NFTs? I keep seeing all these stories about people paying millions of dollars for digital art that already exists online for free.

It sounds crazy, but we've had several years of other craziness, including cryptocurrencies, Gamestop, and Tesla's stock price—and I just heard that Zoom is worth more than every U.S. airline. So maybe it's a bubble, but that also means an opportunity, right? How can side hustlers get in on the NFT market? Can I sell my art this way if I'm not Banksy and don't have an NBA highlight reel like Lebron James? Looking forward to your thoughts."

Listen to today's episode to learn more...

 

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SEE ALSO:

• Retired Couple Sells Digital Art Prints Online: A retired husband-and-wife team make a shift from handmade art to digital art prints. They now sell more than 100 prints each month.
• Graphic Designer Paints a Picture Worth $8,000/Month: This designer is the picture of success with a side hustle that draws in a full-time income.
• Designer Illustrates Success with Personalized Wedding Products: A graphic designer in New York City taps into the wedding e-commerce market and turns her side hustle into full-time work bringing in multiple six-figures.

Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,