Research from Kaspersky into non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has highlighted a degree of misunderstanding amongst British consumers as to what they actually are – 54% say they have never heard of NFTs and of those that have, nearly half (49%) agree and strongly agree that NFTs are used to scam people.
However, for all the speculation and market-cap decline throughout 2022, nearly 1-in-5 Brits (21%) believe that NFTs will become more important when more widely applied, whereas 36% think they will present a new, progressive way of trading.
Celebrity Endorsement
Apart from numerous celebrities jumping on the bandwagon – from Paris Hilton to Justin Bieber NFTs have sparked a new trend in the art world, redefining the concept of what it means to own artwork. Damien Hirst was amongst the first British artists to curate a NFT collection and last month he proceeded to publicly burn (yes, in the literal sense) 1,000 corresponding real, physical works of art for those NFT owners wanting to keep the digital version.
According to a recent paper, Sophie Goossens and Nick Breen, partners at Reed Smith, a leading British law firm specialised in IP, claimed that “an NFT does not confer a monopoly over a work, nor does it permit its holder to decide how the work will be used, distributed or shown. By the once-enjoyed monopoly of an art collector being displaced from that exercised over the object itself to that exercised over a certificate, it is our entire understanding of the concept of ownership that may be changing”.
Buy, buy, buy
Despite 87% of Brits have never purchased an NFT, 42% stated they would actually like to be the sole owners of something they created (or published) online, with a further 69% admitting they would have a problem with someone else using what had been created for commercial or other purposes.
David Emm, Principal Security Researcher, Global Research and Analysis Team, Kaspersky, stated: “NFTs are relatively in their infant state and just like any other new technology it’s perhaps unsurprising to see debate about the impact they're likely to have in the future. Although the concept of owning the digital copy of an item – or a native digital item that doesn’t exist in the real world – may seem alien for some, the important thing to remember is the function the NFT plays for the user and the associated value that it’s given to it at a particular time. In any case, we encourage those users wanting to explore the world of NFTs to do that cautiously, by vetting the artist or author and carrying out the necessary due diligence to avoid falling victims of rag-pulls or pump/dump schemes”.
