Opinion: 95% of NFTs may be “worthless.” But the technology is unstoppable

Rolling Stone riled the NFT community last week after it published a piece claiming that 95% of NFTs are “totally worthless.” Unsurprisingly, NFT fans were not pleased. Legendary crypto artist XCOPY and other collectors posted images of their most prized NFTs and joked that they were “largely worthless,” the point being that many NFTs are extremely valuable today. 

Is Rolling Stone right? 🤔

The pushback was fun. But the thing is, Rolling Stone isn’t far off the mark. NFT trading volumes are down and prices have plummeted. Many NFT collections are trading close to zero. 

“Rolling Stone has conflated a subsect of today’s market with NFTs as a whole.”

The issue is that Rolling Stone has conflated a subsect of today’s market with NFTs as a whole. Specifically, I think it’s focusing on the so-called avatar PFP collections that dominated 2021. Yes, many of these are “worthless.” But NFTs are not just PFPs. 

The Monument Game by Sam Spratt, one of the most important digital art releases of recent years (Source: Sam Spratt)

The digital art revolution 🖼

For anyone watching closely, it’s clear that this technology is ushering in a digital art revolution. Artists like Sam Spratt, Alpha Centauri Kid, Tyler Hobbs, Grant Yun, and — yes — XCOPY are using the blockchain to mint their work, make a living, and nurture their own communities. In many cases, the fans participate in the work’s creation. 

“The digital art movement could be as important to art history as the Renaissance.”

This movement is just in its early stages. But if it continues on the same trajectory, it could be as important to art history as the Renaissance. The most prized digital art NFTs command high sums; that’s because collectors know they could become important artefacts in the future. 

Future NFT applications 🔮

But digital art is just one application for NFTs. Rolling Stone is also missing this point. NFTs are a nascent technology with many use cases. To dismiss the whole space as “worthless” is to miss the big picture. So I’m looking forward to the future. And token.com will definitely be part of the revolution.

Learn more about token.com here

Please note: Investing in cryptoassets is risky. Due to the volatile nature of the cryptocurrency market, investors run the risk of losing their funds when they make an investment. Returns from cryptoasset investing are not guaranteed, therefore users should always be aware of the risks.