NFTs = Digital Property Rights

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are revolutionary

There are many reasons why.

But the main reason is because they allow us to own digital property.

Why is this important?

Because our prosperity depends on our ability to own property.

This is just as true in the digital world as it is in the physical world.

The more our world becomes digitized, the more our ability to prosper depends on our ability to own digital property.

So how do NFTs = digital property rights?

Let’s dig in.

Property Must be Scarce

We don’t own the oxygen we breathe.

No one does.

Oxygen is not scarce.

So it can’t be owned.

But we can own an oxygen tank.

Ownership is possible because oxygen tanks are scarce.

What about when you fill your oxygen tank with oxygen?

The oxygen in the tank is now scarce.

And because of this, you own both the tank and the oxygen it contains.

Digital Assets are Like Oxygen

Historically there was no way to add scarcity to digital assets.

When you buy a vinyl record, you own it.

This is because a vinyl record is scarce.

When you stream a song on Spotify, or buy a song on iTunes, you don’t own the digital instance of the song.

No one does.

The digital instance of the song is infinitely copyable.

It is not scarce.

So, like oxygen, it’s not possible to own it.

No Digital Property Rights = No Digital Prosperity

When you buy a vinyl record the record label owns the copyright to the song, and you own the record.

You can prosper from your vinyl record collection, by selling it to someone else.

When you buy a song on iTunes, the record label still owns the copyright.

But you own nothing.

Your ability to prosper from your music collection has been removed in the digital world.

And this isn’t just true for music, it’s true for most digital assets.

NFTs Make Digital Assets Scarce & Ownable

An NFT is a digital asset that has been signed on a blockchain.

By signing a digital asset on a blockchain we can make it verifiably scarce.

For example, an artist can now digitally sign a fixed number of digital copies of their song via the blockchain.

And their fans can now buy those digital copies.

If I buy the first digitally signed copy of a popular song, I can prove that I own that first copy, and that no one else does.

By adding scarcity to the digital copy, the same song that was not ownable before, is now ownable.

Who cares?

I don’t really give a shit if I own a digital copy of my favorite song or not.

As long as I can stream it, I’m good.

But I do want to be able to prosper in our increasingly digital world.

And without digital property rights, we’re all just serfs in internet land.

The problem is we lack digital property rights, not just for digital songs, but for almost everything in the digital world.

The solution is NFTs.

Thanks for reading.

Dave

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