Peters & Peters

Digital art and non-fungible tokens (NFTs): the way of the future or just another scam? Keith Oliver and Caroline Timoney discuss in The Fintech Times

The potential for returns that outstrip traditional investments has long drawn armchair investors to cryptocurrencies, some of whom will no doubt have been reassured by market developments such as the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce’s Statement that cryptocurrencies are indeed property (a position now supported by case law). However, many investors continue to show a significant lack of understanding as to precisely what a cryptocurrency is, so it’s no wonder that fraud in this area abounds. But just as investors start to come to grips with the subtle differences between DEX and Dogecoin, along comes a new alluring product in the form of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs).

Operating on the Ethereum blockchain, but not in themselves Ether, NFTs are a novel variety of digital assets. Unlike fungible tokens, such as Bitcoin or Ether which can be exchanged like-for-like and for other products of the same value, NFTs are inherently one-of-a-kind. They have no corporeal or product equivalent but are certificates to prove ownership of digital assets, in particular of digital works of art. Read more.