What are non-fungible tokens (NFTs)? It seems like a simple question that should have a simple answer. As we outlined in our guide, an NFT is a unique unit of data on a blockchain that can be linked to digital and physical objects to provide immutable proof of ownership.
But that’s just the literal definition of the technology. To really understand NFTs, we need to go beyond that; we need to understand the true meaning of NFTs and their use.
Are they vehicles that allow us to support creators and circulate songs, photos, images, and other artworks? Are they digital assets that let creators (finally) retain control of their IP and earn profits? The answer will depend on who you ask. But, one thing remains certain: NFTs are about much more than just money or art.
The fact of the matter is that the NFT community has become more than a digitally-native group of investors or art collectors. The NFT space is comprised of these, yes, but it also includes far, far more. It includes investors, art collectors, artists, developers, entrepreneurs, and others. These people have come together to form what can be considered a true subculture. And through NFTs, culture is being created and recreated in real-time. What’s more, this culture has far-reaching effects that extend across the intersection of art, tech, and finance.
But to truly understand NFTs and where we are today, we must first understand their origins.
In the beginning, the possibilities presented by non-fungibility via NFTs excited many. People realized that if NFTs were tied to a piece of digital art — a song, poem, image, event ticket, etc. — they could be bought and sold like cryptocurrencies. With NFTs, digital items can be transformed into collectibles that live on the blockchain, allowing individuals to truly own digital items for the first time in history.
Towards the end of 2020, the NFT space was still in its infancy. However, things were rapidly changing. A global pandemic had bolstered the crypto market, while increased interest in decentralized finance in the summer of 2020 helped many investors accrue major profits. Crucially, the NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway had just started to take off.
Around this time, many crypto-artists started gaining a following, and several began to make a sustainable living off of their art for the first time in their lives.
In this early stage, the NFT space didn’t yet feel like an investing group. No one was in it for day trading. At this time, every member seemed to understand the meaning of NFTs. This community, built around blockchain technology, was a niche internet subculture where people traded tips, memes, humor, and created their own slang. It was, in every sense, a true community.
Then things changed
Although nonfungible tokens have existed (in one form or another) since the 2010s, it wasn’t until 2020 — three years after CryptoPunks burst onto the scene — that NFTs became a prominent facet of the blockchain ecosystem. Yet the NFT community didn’t truly come into form till the end of DeFi summer.
Toward the fall of 2020, many investors had made significant gains in DeFi, and were regularly discussing finance and blockchain-related matters via Clubhouse and Twitter. The nature of NFTs as valuable digital assets started to shine through as musicians and artists began to understand the concept of nonfungibility.
This inevitably led to events like Slime Sunday and 3LAU’s landmark collaboration, Beeple’s $6 million CROSSROAD sale, and more, helping drive serious interest and traffic to Nifty Gateway for the first time. This, in turn, proliferated outward to other NFT marketplaces and even social media platforms, as NFT collectors endeavored to find like-minded users.
But the NFT space is quite different now than it was when major players like Alotta Money, Beeple, and XCOPY began minting their first tokens. It’s changed far beyond what anyone could’ve anticipated when NFTs first gained pop culture notoriety in 2021.
But, like with every new technology, there’s a dark side. As the community scaled, scams flourished, disheartening many, and PFP projects saturated the market. It feels almost as if there’s a disconnect between the artists and developers that power the NFT ecosystem and the collectors and enthusiasts that help fund it. But in the right circles — of which there are many — love and support are still fantastically abundant.
Alotta Money: a microcosm of the NFT space
The legacy of pioneering crypto artist Alotta Money serves as a poignant reminder of the humanity shared by all within the metaverse.
Widely celebrated for his signature collage-styled works and popular four-eyed character, Alotta Money was considered a top-tier crypto artist — with his pieces frequently traded on Nifty Gateway long before Beeple and Pak helped transform NFTs into a cultural phenomenon. When large-scale collectible projects began flooding the market, Alotta Money creations like “Saint Nakamoto” and “ETH Boy” served as a testament to the value of 1/1 crypto-art pieces.
When reports first came in that the influential French creator had passed away in March of 2022, only days before his 50th birthday, an outpouring of grief was felt to the furthest corners of the Web3 space.
Alotta Money was an artistic trailblazer, a crucial member of the original crypto-art community, and beloved by many. He was someone who seemed to understand the true meaning of NFTs. To commemorate him, the NFT space would do well to remember the friendship and sense of togetherness that first inspired many to start affectionately swapping acronymous niceties like “GM” and “WAGMI” in the first place.
While most undoubtedly came into this space for the art, they have stayed for the people and the culture. But beyond even shared values, NFTs offer more than kinship, and can change lives — and the world, too.
The true meaning of NFTs
After war broke out in Ukraine, members of the Web3 community banded together in record time and, in a few short days, raised millions to support victims of a war that (in many cases) was halfway around the world.
Even before the Ukrainian humanitarian crisis, many people in the NFT space were attempting to move the needle on the climate debate. Nifty Gateway even went so far as to address blockchain’s potential environmental impact by committing to offset NFT footprints in hopes of creating a net positive climate impact.
Other creators used NFTs as a way to fund tree planting and to raise awareness about important social issues. And as major advancements continue to be made in the NFT space, the very concept of identity, as it pertains to the internet and real life, is beginning to change — thanks to blockchain technology.
Yes, the NFT community is an incubator for innovation in art, technology, community-building, and philanthropy. Over time, NFTs have fostered a massive, vibrant community centered around more than money or art. The space has become a place where lives can and do change and where people — more often than not — seem to want to look out for each other.