'NFTs were supposed to protect artists, but they weren't.'

By using ' Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) ', the market for trading art works and video data as 'non-copyable digital works' is booming. Purchasing NFT content is like purchasing ownership of digital content, so for digital content creators who have been copying and sharing data without permission, NFT should have helped NFT. .. However, entrepreneur Anil Dash points out that 'NFTs were supposed to protect artists, but not.'

NFTs Were Supposed to Protect Artists. They Don't. --The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/nfts-werent-supposed-end-like/618488/

In May 2014, Dash will meet artist Kevin McCoy at Seven on Seven, an annual hackathon event in New York.

At that time, content creators such as artists and illustrators shared digital content on the Internet that was completely lacking in information such as ownership. As a result, Mr. Dash, who worked as an auction house and media consultant, began to think about ownership, sharing and management of digital data.

Dash, who met McCoy at Seven on Seven, will jointly develop a blockchain-backed system for ownership of the original digital art work. In addition, Mr. Dash and Mr. McCoy named this system 'monetized graphics', registered movie data in it, and Mr. Dash owns the movie for 4 dollars (about 440 yen) I bought the right. You can see Mr. Dash and Mr. McCoy announcing 'monetized graphics' in the following movie.

Seven on Seven 2014: Kevin McCoy & Anil Dash on Vimeo


Dash and McCoy haven't patented the idea for this system, and McCoy tried to popularize the system for several years, but it wasn't widely used. So, Dash said, 'The first demo we did may have been ahead of the curve, but it never succeeded.'

The 'monetized graphics' created by Mr. Dash and Mr. McCoy did not spread, but now, like 'monetized graphics', digital data is treated as 'non-copyable digital data' using blockchain. 'NFT' is attracting attention. The market for buying and selling digital data in NFT format has been attracting attention in recent years, and the market size is said to be as large as 1 billion dollars (about 110 billion dollars). In March 2021, NFT art was sold for a record high of $ 69 million (about 7.5 billion yen), and many people should have started to be interested in NFT.

One piece of NFT art will be sold for the highest price ever for 7.5 billion yen --GIGAZINE

by beeple

The original data of the NFT content comes with a unique certificate of ownership. Since this certificate is stamped on the blockchain, it cannot be tampered with, and it always proves who owns it. NFT content is sometimes described as 'like a serial number stamped on the data.'

The origins of NFTs and why they are considered to be a powerful tool to support artists are summarized in the following articles.

What is non-copyable digital data 'NFT' that has the potential to block the 'infinite duplication' capability of the Internet? --GIGAZINE

by beeple

Regarding the current state of NFT, Mr. Dash said, 'The idea behind NFT is still the same. Artists can manage their work, sell it more easily, and others cannot divert data without permission. McCoy and I hoped that this kind of technology could help content creators, especially in the arts, but nothing is going as expected. Our dream of empowering artists hasn't come true, and we've created an exaggeration for NFTs. ' Said it wasn't.

The NFT prototype 'monetized graphics' produced in the overnight hackathon had some flaws. One of the biggest drawbacks was the inability to store digital data directly on the blockchain. Since Dash and his colleagues created 'monetized graphics' in an overnight hackathon, they gave up storing the entire data in the blockchain and saved the address where the original data was stored and the compressed data on the blockchain. It explains.

However, this 'compromise' is also used in today's NFT content. Therefore, Mr. Dash points out that it is the 'link of NFT content' that is traded in the actual buying and selling of NFT content. 'Links exchanged for buying and selling NFT content are on the websites of startups that are likely to be terminated within a few years,' Dash said. It cites the dangers of buying and selling NFT content that has been made.

Software engineer Jonty Wareing also said, 'I was curious to find out where the NFT content that users purchased was referring to, and most of the time they were referring to IPFS gateways on the Internet run by startups. The URL contained in the NFT content points to the location of the JSON metadata file, not the location of the media, and refers to the actual digital data purchased from this JSON metadata file, so if the service If the provider goes bankrupt and the URL doesn't work, the NFT content will be worthless, 'he points out on Twitter.

Out of curiosity I dug into how NFT's actually reference the media you're 'buying' and my eyebrows are now orbiting the moon

— Jonty Wareing (@jonty) March 17, 2021

In addition, the situation where asset owners are paying attention to blockchain-based cryptocurrencies further exacerbates the current situation of digital content creators and NFT content, Dash said. Cryptocurrency trading apps are very popular, but because they are built on an almost closed economy, 'you can trade, but you can hardly cash out cryptocurrencies,' Dash said. Stated. As a result, wealthy individuals who own a large number of cryptocurrencies cannot buy real estate or luxury cars with cryptocurrencies, and are purchasing NFT content as the only means of consumption. Has created an exaggeration for NFTs, Dash said.

However, Dash said he didn't want to give up optimism about NFT content, and McCoy 'still believes' that blockchain technologies like NFT can help artists handle their work properly. ..