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NFT misconception: JPEG aren't stored on the Blockchain

erickhun.com

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Re: NFT misconception: JPEG aren't stored on the Blockchain

#161
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most NFT projects are in fact stored on IPFS. You can put an IPFS URL in the tokenURI field.

However, if someone ever stops paying a 3rd party to actually pin the file in IPFS… poof Just because you put a file in IPFS doesn’t mean IPFS actually retains it

And there's about 0% chance that ipfs or the internet as we know it will still be operating as it is in 40 years.

Re: NFT misconception: JPEG aren't stored on the Blockchain

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the digital space, we have signed PDFs. So a comic book artist could easily generate 100 numbered PDFs, and sign them each. Anyone could verify it's authenticity using even Adobe Acrobat Reader, which has had this functionality for decades.

Yeah, but I can’t sell you the PDF because I can’t prove that I’m selling only to you. That makes the PDF useless to sell on. An example of something is the fact that I am a vim donor and a neovim initial backer. I really like that I’m in backers.md. If they would have handed out NFTs for backing, I would have loved that too.

NFTs aren't a novel solution to digital signatures.

They do leave a public audit trail in the blockchain/ledger, so potential buyers can know how many authorized copies of the asset there are (at least on a given NFT platform). That is generally an improvement over baseball cards (which may not have accurate manufacturer-supplied print counts).

Personally, the only value NFTs currently provide in addition to say PGP/GPG digital signatures are features similar to joining a country club. When you buy the right NFT, you can opt to schmooze with other owners of that class of asset (celebrities, sports stars, etc). I suspect governance or additional smart contract features will provide more benefits in the future, but they may also come with SEC/CFTC oversight so they may also come with more drawbacks.

Re: NFT misconception: JPEG aren't stored on the Blockchain

#163

I believe it really boils down to consensus. If enough entities in a community "accepts" some platform/publisher as valid, those collectibles created by those entities (which can easily be validated on the chain) will have subjective value. Just like money: it's a piece of paper but enough people/companies/governments legally accept it so that paper now has a value more than it's physical components. I can print mone…

Exactly if people don't value it , it has no value.

So it's fundamental to shill, promote and evangelise and maybe stretch the truth for NFTs for it to succeed.

To not do so endangers the hype and your own investment. If people don't believe it, it has no value.

Money was a token that has direct exchange value. You don't really need to promote it to give it value.

Re: NFT misconception: JPEG aren't stored on the Blockchain

#164

I hate to admit it but I’m still struggling to understand why people would pay so much for NFTs. I feel like I fully understand what they are and why most people want me to believe it has value but I still don’t agree. I’m waiting for my mind to change but it hasn’t happened yet. It’s frustrating because so many people I respect are leaving their high paying jobs to work in web3 startups around NFTs and I feel dumb f…

I don't think you're actually missing anything. I think those people are just insane.

Re: NFT misconception: JPEG aren't stored on the Blockchain

#165

I hate to admit it but I’m still struggling to understand why people would pay so much for NFTs. I feel like I fully understand what they are and why most people want me to believe it has value but I still don’t agree. I’m waiting for my mind to change but it hasn’t happened yet. It’s frustrating because so many people I respect are leaving their high paying jobs to work in web3 startups around NFTs and I feel dumb f…

The most plausible conspiracy theories I've heard is that the big sales ($1 million plus) are wash trades, ("sell" an object to a confederate for 500 ETH, then they transfer the money right back via another route) and some classic money laundering Now of course there's a mountain of clueless suckers kicking off a regular tulip mania-style bubble. I wonder how many more weeks it will last.

I'd be money on this actually being the case. This whole NFT craze is pure insanity.

Re: NFT misconception: JPEG aren't stored on the Blockchain

#166

>ERC-721 is the standard that dictates how one should create an NFT. Each ERC721 NFT must have a tokenURI field, that is an external link to a JSON file stored on an external server ... You can notice the image field, which is a link to an image. Not just a link, a link to a link! And when that server goes down next year, all those JSON files will vanish.

Does it also store a hash of the content? What if the content at the URI changes?

Re: NFT misconception: JPEG aren't stored on the Blockchain

#167
post #136

I hate to admit it but I’m still struggling to understand why people would pay so much for NFTs. I feel like I fully understand what they are and why most people want me to believe it has value but I still don’t agree. I’m waiting for my mind to change but it hasn’t happened yet. It’s frustrating because so many people I respect are leaving their high paying jobs to work in web3 startups around NFTs and I feel dumb f…

You don't hear about the bagholders stuck with their expensive receipts of their CryptoKitties being unsold for years, nor do you hear about the thousands of dollars of gas fees spend on approving and buying these NFTs. A lot of manipulation happens in the NFT markets which creates the illusion of a marketplace that has 'value' in NFTs that are downloadable. It is either for money laundering purposes, artificially cr…

The definition of value here is what someone is willing to pay for it. If no one is willing to pay much for a CryptoKitty now that was worth a lot in Dec 2017, that means the value has changed because the market has changed.

The parent says that they don't see the value in current NFTs. I tend to agree that I don't agree with their current values. But I also don't agree with the proven value (at public auctions) of baseball cards, original NES game cartridges, the vast majority of sports/concert memorabilia, most fine art, etc. But then again, value varies from person to person because we all make priority and value decisions about what we are willing to spend our scarce currency on. Some people are able to make vastly different choices about their NFT purchases because they have vastly different wealth than I do.

Also, CryptoKitties are an interesting choice because they total number of kitties grows as owners breed theirs. The number of CryptoKitties has grown a lot since Dec 2017. Most NFTs I have heard about have a limited run.

Re: NFT misconception: JPEG aren't stored on the Blockchain

#168
post #131
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Universe rewards creativity

> Universe rewards creativity What? That means nothing at all.

I read it as the spiritual idea that the universe is active in things like karma / prosperity gospel.

I don't agree with it and I suspect this type of thinking captures lots of fools, but I would grant that it does "mean something".

Re: NFT misconception: JPEG aren't stored on the Blockchain

#169
post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can also copy and set up your own land registry and say it's all yours. Yes, it's all a social convention, like all property. If enough people decide it's "real" then it is.

You can't copy and enjoy my property for free, you can copy and enjoy an NFT for free. If you were to get the new Land Registry enforced you would have to change the law, in which case the blockchain is no longer needed since the idea and enforcement of ownership is centralised with the government.

> You can't copy and enjoy my property for free, you can copy and enjoy an NFT for free.

Your wording here makes it seem like you confuse the NFT (the pointer to the content) with the content itself.

If your property is an authentic piece of fine art, it can be copied/forged. An NFT doesn't prevent unauthorized copying; it only asserts ownership of the official copy, similar to a receipt of the transaction (which must be publicly and immutably stored and displayed in public).

The "NFT" is not the property itself, hence copying is not of the NFT itself; it is a notary's public assertion that a transaction of the asserted property (URL) happened.

I agree that NFTs don't solve the issues you raise in your second sentence.

Re: NFT misconception: JPEG aren't stored on the Blockchain

#170

I hate to admit it but I’m still struggling to understand why people would pay so much for NFTs. I feel like I fully understand what they are and why most people want me to believe it has value but I still don’t agree. I’m waiting for my mind to change but it hasn’t happened yet. It’s frustrating because so many people I respect are leaving their high paying jobs to work in web3 startups around NFTs and I feel dumb f…

This is how I understand it: Baseball cards sell for millions of dollars. Do those cards provide ownership to anything or anyone? No. Are they signed by the original players? No. Do they give you any other benefit? No. It's just collector items that refers to something, and there is a limited amount of them. But that's basically it. Now you could argue that you can hold a card in your hand, and an NFT not. But that i…

With an NFT you own a token with a link to a resource, but the perception is that you own an actual artwork. Think is, the artwork (e.g. a jpg) can be copied an infinite amount of times. So the baseball card analogy falls short, at least as far as the posession of an actual item.
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