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NFT Hype and Sustainability

The instant growth of the NFT market has also raised concern over the sustainability and its environmental imprint.

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Non-Fungible Tokens aka NFT is the hottest new trend when it comes to the playful and lifestyle scene of Blockchain. NFT is essentially Cryptocurrency that runs on Blockchain and it allows ownership of a digital asset through a certification that is recognized by imprinting the digital certificate across multiple distributed ledgers.

NFTs so far

What started as an alternative platform for the recognition of digital assets that are tradeable and resellable across intersecting exchanges, NFT’s popularity exploded instantly when it ventured into the collectible and gamification experience. From then, crypto enthusiasts, hobbyists and even new ones to the trade got into the NFT hype through buying NFT backed items such as NBA Media on Top Shot, digital art and other gamified platforms.

Digital assets have a history of being forgotten and deleted once a platform’s servers ends its service lifetime. This is true to online games where players can achieve or own adventure themed gear for their online avatars. But with NFT, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency and Digital Asset Exchanges are here for a very long time and aren’t in danger of shutting-down after a 5-8 year service lifecycle. The piece of hot NFT property you own today, could be worth thousands in the future. It didn’t take long for the NBA Top Shot items to have skyrocketed in value. A collector who spent $180,000 on NFT NBA now boasts of a collection worth millions in the digital market.

Going beyond the hype, NFT use cases can also have greater value beyond the collection experience as we will explore in the following use cases.

Preservation of Indigenous Art and Society

With NFT, artists are able to explore new ways of profit aside from commissions and contracts. Artists are able to sell their best works through cryptocurrency and through a digital certificate of ownership, the would-be buyers are instantly verified and ratified across the distributed ledger exchange network.

We can apply that use case with the Indigenous Artist and Indigenous Art and Cultural Preservation. An Indigenous Artist can produce a digital art and its profit through bidding or purchase in an exchange platform. Using Blockchain’s consensus mechanism, a percentage of the profit can be credited to the preservation efforts and community development funding of the indigenous community. The mechanism and support structure allows Indigenous artists to showcase the spirit or heritage of their art, attain digital identity in the increasing awareness of NFT and help sustain efforts to preserve, enrich and support the sustainable development of their communities.

Issuance of Limited Mint for Charity

Over the years, charity events and fan sponsorship were a potent combination in fundraising that was dedicated to the many non-profit organizations and their respective causes that they serve. Banking in on the hype train of NFT, people like Jack Dorsey got their first tweet tokenized for $2.9 million and donated it to charity. Other mint properties can explore the same avenue as a support structure for their charity and outreach:

  • Limited Edition badges or coins for charity – buyers and their name can be minted into the limited edition digital items dedicated for charity
  • Digital Armbands – Even the smallest purchase of NFT mint can net a donor with a digital certificate or badge for their support on charity, that can be displayable on their smart devices.
  • Coins for Charity – Using the principle of coin and exchange, charities can issue limited edition coins up for purchase. These coins and their designated value can be utilized for fundraising instead of cash.

Sustainability

The instant growth of the NFT market has also raised concern over the sustainability and its environmental imprint. Data centres and servers all consume electricity and the power requirement and consumption in maintaining these data architectures to support the existence of Cryptocurrency on Blockchain is taxing to the environment. There’s a growing movement on data centres to be powered by renewable energy with Google going green, followed by Microsoft and Red Hat.

In support of the green movement for a nature-friendly and sustainable NFT industry, resources such as Clean-NFT Developers is a free and open resource that associates sustainable practices for NFT. There’s also a movement called Green NFTs where green bounty – the act of rewarding sustainable artists on green NFTs is a collective effort to promote awareness and self-compliance for the greater and greener good of the environment.

The issues of carbon footprint on NFT is a shared issue in regards of maintaining data centres and their energy consumption. It is an industry-wide challenge to go green, be efficient and adapt renewable sources of energy to power data centres.

NFT are here to stay as its profit-driven and collection appeal is similar to the valuation of collectibles as they age to vintage and classic. Digital assets can and will also benefit from the passage of time as their prestige condition is not subject to physical wear and tear. The registry of ownership embedded into their digital certification journey is a collective story unto itself. As NFT grows, it will eventually branch into a support mechanism for charity, non-profit support and societal foundation projects.

This article is published on BitPinas: NFT Hype and Sustainability

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