NFT: Is It A Scam?
- Olympus News
- Mar 3, 2022
- 2 min read
By: Jason Delfigo Jusuf
NFT, short for “non-fungible token”, is a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain. They are usually associated with digital files such as photos, videos and audios, ranging from pictures of apes to 8-bit heads, the possibilities are endless. So what’s the craze with them? Why are so many people on Twitter fighting to their deaths because of this?
First of all, NFTs are used for trading and selling. As each NFT is unique, they each have different values. The currency used is ethereum, 1 ethereum is roughly $3000 in USD or Rp 43,000,000.00 (43 juta). Buyers are given a public certificate of authenticity or proof of ownership to show that they own that particular NFT.
So why is there so much hate for it? First of all (and worst of a
ll), NFT purchases and sales use a gargantuan amount of energy. An average NFT has a comb
ined energy use of 340 kWh and 211 KgCO2 emissions. A single NFT uses up about more than a month’s worth of a resident’s total electric power consumption. And that’s excluding the CO2 emissions, 211kgCO2 is equivalent to driving for 1000 k
m, or flying for 2 hours.
Secondly, NFT has a lot of issues with artists. There have been numerous cases where the work of artists have been stolen and sold to others without their permission. Plagiarism is rampant in the NFT community as pursuing legal action is difficult due to the anonymity provided.
Thirdly and most importantly towards people interested in joining the NFT market, NFTs are very similar to a scam. The ponzi scheme to be exact. So what’s a ponzi scheme? A ponzi scheme is a form of fraud where old investors are given money obtained from new investors. Meaning that their source of income is by having new investors invest in the business. So why is this bad exactly? Other than exploiting people for their money and tricking them into investing in something that most probably will not give them a return, it relies on more people joining in to get money. Now, what happens if everyone joins? There will be no one left to get money from.
There are a few other reasons why people dislike it but these 3 are the biggest ones. So what do you think? Do you think that there are any benefits to NFTs? Or do you think that it is all just a scam? So next time you engage in a debate on Twitter about NFTs, remember to save your breath and carry on with your lives.
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