When I first heard of the term NFT, I thought it was cryptocurrency terminology representing the usual trading terms. Being uninterested as a cryptocurrency newbie, I said I would find out its meaning in the future when I learned to trade. It was not until recently that I learned NFTs are non-fungible tokens of art. Therefore, NFTs offer a new way to preserve culture: Yat Siu.
What are NFTs?
Non-fungible tokens are any form of digital assets that represent real-world items, such as art, music, videos, and games. NFTs constitute non-interchangeable and a unique set of data stored in blockchain. The creation of NFTs occurs through a process called minting. Some sites offer free minting but charge during the sale of the NFT.
Culture Preservation using NFTs
Art helps to preserve culture throughout generations. Original masterpieces of art are in the form of hard copy, which is a precarious way to store art in these modern times. Rare art pieces like Mona Lisa have a high risk of corruption, especially in the social media era with many memes.
Therefore, NFTs allow for the preservation of original pieces of artwork. NFT enables only a single copy generation through minting, making it difficult to replicate the art. The art pieces, therefore, exist as originals, just like in real life, but digitally. Anyone who needs the art can purchase it. NFTs also allow auctioning art pieces and selling to the highest bidder, just like in real life.
Yat Siu on NFTS as a Form to Preserve Culture
Yat Siu is the chairman and co-founder of an NFT game developer, Animoca Brands. Siu believes that culture goes beyond profit and monetary value because human beings have always looked for new ways to store culture throughout history.
According to Siu, the definition of art is that art stores culture. He gives an example of his daughter, who strives to get an autograph of a favorite band not to sell it for monetary value but to preserve culture.
He advises newbies not to get into NFTs for monetary value but simply because they value art. Selling is not bad, but it should not surpass the desire to appreciate art because data is key to preserving data. The Hong-Kong based tech entrepreneur says that it is the top form of preserving history.
Siu notes that many paintings do not sell for much. However, people get the paintings because it is like owning culture. A teenager sticking their favorite band poster engages in culture and does not want to miss the trend. He also says that the good thing with NFTs is that it does not stem from grounds of scarcity, but the inspiration of art.
Future of NFTs
The truth is that non-fungible tokens preserve culture. Some copy original pieces of art into a series of modified art pieces, something that encourages users to get an in-depth understanding of the original piece. NFTs are here to stay; all who do not like NFTS should get on board soon.