NFT: Non Fungible Tokens,
for Fungible Metaverses

What on earth is a token?

you might think. And if fungible means exchangeable, why don’t we use just that? Marketing paths are inscrutable, and branding matters to make you feel that a new product is created. It wouldn’t have been the same to call it Non exchangeable Digital Items, we all know that. Even with terrestrial words in mind, the concept itself is ambiguous and complicated, and that is the way it needs to be to hold presumptions and possibilities. It is like the empty vase effect: you meet a good looking someone and you fill them with your most desired characteristics in a person to make it work for you, and as long as the other person maintains themselves cryptic and mysterious, it will do the trick.  

Digital artists needed a way to monetize their work, and this new model just seemed perfect. Blockchain technology would allow the creation of a digital signature through an “unbreakable” code on every product, and the artist could benefit in a percentage for every sale transaction of their NFT. It seemed just fair after many years fighting for their spot in the art industry.

But, what happens when this model is taken by chain production companies that create NFTs by thousands each month?

We just come back to point zero.

Translating our analogical universe into the multiverse, with multinationals taking control without any regulation, is the same old capitalist far west that we all know. An arranged popularity contest of sponsors and brands, with resources to make a product widespread.

Thousands of NFTs from production are created everyday, and sponsored by celebrities, the so-called ambassadors, like the popular Paris Hilton’s NFT monkey, the most expensive NFT in Yacht Club collection. Anyone could think that this fine drawing of a monkey (minute 3:54 on the video) is not worth 2.7 million dollars, but it is in the minute that Paris shows up in a primetime late night show and sells it to the world. The miracle is done, and everything that was wrong in analogical art, finds its way within the metaverse.

But, what is Metaverse anyway? 

Metaverse is whatever you want it to be. A non-defined bunch of digital options, called digital worlds, which are not connected, although a big part of the speculation around it is the belief that investing in a digital square meter of a private platform, is like buying the actual land on earth. 

 I remember how I once wanted to buy a star for my grandfather. I wanted to give him a certificate saying that one star in his beloved and vast real universe was his. But, of course, there was not a single company that could actually sell me an official certificate of this, they were all scams, as you can figure by now, because stars do not belong to anyone, as the ones and zeros of our dearest binary system do not.

What does this mean? Undoubtedly, there is not a Metaverse, and there will never be. There is a Multi – Metaverse maze, each one ruled by the same old companies that we already know:  Meta (Facebook), Google, or whatever company Elon Musk is running now. If it were not so, it would be a direct contradiction against their decentralized spirit, wouldn’t it?

What are we doing but betting with a new coin in the Stock market? It is so good to have non regulated crypto currency that young generations can use, instructed by young Youtubers, and the dream of getting rich by chance or destiny, like the lottery illusion used so far. 

This is already invented, tobacco companies invest millions of dollars to approach the young public without the world knowing. They know that its survival depends on it. And young generations are growing with speculation culture as part of their daily lives. 

And then, what is the benefit of Digital Transformation? 

Well, we could fairly say: everything else. Behind the wall of humanity’s bad spirits, there is a new trend finally investing in technology. Metaverse can be used for good ends, as delocalization is the key of culture democratization. Creating virtual museums, as well as opening private galleries worldwide, these are the ultimate learning tools for entire populations with fewer resources. And a powerful marketing claim for cultural and tourist institutions that needed a new strategy to stay alive. 

Independent digital artists will need to keep navigation into the unknown of these big platforms, and although this is far from being fair, they will have a valid spot in this new multi-metaverse.

Bubble or not in the Stock market, development of technology, as nature, finds its way to establish a new methodology in every aspect of our lives and businesses. We just need to distinguish what is truly beneficial for humanity, and how we can navigate the rest, because Metaverse might transform over time, even end in just another digital option for entertainment and companies, but it is here to stay.