The beauty of any civilisation is its people. Without other people, we are individuals clamoring our way through the world just trying to survive. In a civilisation, we specialise, we find ways to contribute and further our standing in society and, if we’re lucky, progress the frontier of humanity as well. So, to understand anything that takes place in society, it’s important to understand the people that drive the activity. Technology and Finance can become crowded with statistics, numbers and obscure jargon - but it’s important to remember that it’s always people that drive radical change - in these industries just as in any others- and NFTs are no different.
Being such a nascent and software driven technology, NFTs are as you might expect, an investment with a market of young investors. A recent market analysis by security.org revealed that those “18 to 44 were twice as likely to have bought an NFT compared to the general population.” According to the survey, ownership of these assets seems to be focused on a niche group of millennial men with a particular interest in digital assets. NFTs however are created by a wide range of people: artists, programmers, musicians, athletes, gamers - the beauty of these assets is that hypothetically there is opportunity for everyone. And while it is a platform available for all to access, success seems to continue to be reserved mostly for established entities.
Some technologies exist to improve our lives with efficiency, convenience and power. And even when their application and use is so obvious, the public can often take some convincing before they become mainstream. Essential technologies like computers and automobiles once needed serious marketing and lobbying before they reached anywhere near the popularity and staple existence they have in modern civilisation. So for something like NFTs, which many people currently struggle to comprehend, it is no surprise that it is not just innovation that is driving its growth, but an onslaught of ‘celebrity’ endorsement. And in the age of social media, it’s not enough to just be a celebrity - to make change, some of society’s elite must change tact to become ‘influencers.’
Near the front of the NFT charge are the influencers who have recently gotten stuck into developing businesses and organisations directly creating and supporting NFTs. Investor Mark Cuban best known from his appearances on Shark Tank and as the owner of the Dallas Mavericks is an avid supporter of NFTs, creating such organisations as Lazy.com and atnft.com to show off NFTs and foster the NFT community. Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter and Square, established ‘valuables by cent,’ to sell the very first ‘tweet’ for about 1630 ETH, approximately valued at $2.9m USD at the time of publishing. SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk created his own NFT, a song about NFTs. He offered to sell a tweet as an NFT, receiving bids north of 1 million USD. This rapidfire release of NFTs by leaders in tech is responsible for a lot of the recent explosion of intrigue in NFTs. These are tech businessmen using new technology to grow new business.
Alongside these technology magnates is a massive cloud of celebrities and influencers from the entertainment industry capitalising on the recent interest in NFTs. Musicians, Actors, Television personalities and more are emerging droves to release NFTs. US Family Feud host Steve Harvey has become somewhat of a spokesperson for Solana NFTs, and with a simple photo change on his twitter, the price of Solana reached an all time high. Youtubers KSI and Jake Paul who command a startlingly large, young online audience are vocal about their long position on NFTs. Snoop Dogg, Calvin Harris, Kings of Leon and Flume are a handful of the many musicians creating and selling NFTs to promote themselves or their music. Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Kate Moss and Emily Ratajkowski lead a strong force of female NFT creators cashing in on the NFT rush.
On equal footing with them are a wave of athletes also creating NFTs. A particularly fruitful venture is Autograph.io, co-founded by NFL Quarterback Tom Brady. The Autograph.io cast includes such iconic athletes as Tiger Woods, Tony Hawk, Naomi Osaka, Simone Biles and Usain Bolt to name a few. Recently, the team also added the ‘SAW’ movie franchise to its number, offering fans a chance to purchase NFTs based on traps from the horror series. Recent entrant to the NBA LaMelo Ball has had a lot of success in the space following his rookie year in the league, and NBA player Spencer Dinwiddie, known in the crypto space for tokenising a portion of his professional basketball contract, has also helped to popularise the new ‘CryptoSneaker’ movement. Several of the world champion US Women’s Football (Soccer) Team have minted and sold NFTs, demonstrating growth for female athletes in the NFT space.
Finally, it’s not just popular individuals who are creating and promoting NFTs - businesses are getting in on the action too. Taco Bell and Pringle are two big brands that have released their own line of NFTs. The point of this extended, arbitrary list of NFT creators and proprietors? To show that NFTs can be used by and for anything and anyone. There’s not a huge barrier for entry in terms of buying and selling NFTs. Likely, the hardest part is creating them, which will be addressed in a subsequent article. NFTs can and do cover all facets of human society, although they are yet to reach a point of mainstream adoption.
So if they’re so popular, why are NFTs not more pervasive in day to day life? Well, according to the aforementioned study by security.org, it’s because most people simply don’t know what NFTs are. About half of the US population is unaware of what NFTs are, and an additional 15% think they are ‘another form of cryptocurrency like Bitcoin.’ Even for those that understand the ins and outs and complexities of NFTs, their current state and their trajectory for the future, only a few with the time and disposable/ investable income actually partake in the market. The good thing about such a vast variety of individuals and businesses throwing themselves into the NFT space is that it, unlike many other technologies in finance, presents a fairly user-friendly environment for newcomers to enter the space. While it is a space predominantly occupied by the young and the male, those around the NFT space are making a concerted effort for it to be much more accessible to all, such that it is akin to - if not easier than- other online ecommerce experience. Whether those of other demographics have any interest in NFTs is another matter.
