Ethereum's co-founder fears that the NFT space risks becoming 'a casino that largely benefits already wealthy celebrities.'
Non-fungible tokens are primarily in the realm of celebrities, big-name companies and those with very deep pockets, but Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin thinks that should change.
In Buterin’s latest blog post, The Most Important Scarce Resource is Legitimacy, he unpacks how the craze for NFTs can be used as a force for good — raising huge sums for artists, charities and good causes.
With the popularity of NFTs soaring over in recent months, Buterin commented on their ability to bring in vast amounts of money, but noted that they shouldn’t be seen as a “casino that largely benefits already wealthy celebrities.”
Instead, he believes there could be a missed opportunity — and if people act collectively, the resources could be directed towards charitable causes which often suffer funding difficulties.
'Little Value in Helping Musk Earn Another Million'
“There are many situations in life that demand coordinated behavior: if you act in a certain way alone, you are likely to get nowhere (or worse), but if everyone acts together a desired result can be achieved,” Buterin wrote.
After a flurry of excitement was seen around Elon Musk potentially selling one of his tweets, Buterin argued that “there is little social value in helping Elon Musk earn yet another $1 million.”
And while Musk didn’t go on to sell his tweet, the very fact that there was so much interest proved Buterin’s point that public perceptions deem which NFT is worth the money.
If NFT enthusiasts were to redirect their attention away from celebrity NFTs and instead support those of good causes, such as the Grumpy Cat NFT that raised $70,000 for a cat shelter, the industry could be a significant boost to a number of overlooked social causes.
“If everyone agrees that one NFT is interesting and another NFT is lame, then people will strongly prefer buying the first, because it would have both higher value for bragging rights and personal pride in holding it, and because it could be resold for more because everyone else is thinking in the same way.”
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