NFTs were promoted as solving digital ownership and creator compensation while undermining platform capitalism

Evidence

NFTs promised to solve two nagging problems: how to establish ownership over digital files and how to compensate creators for future resales. Moreover, as The New York Times’ Zachary Small put it, “NFTs were about creating a decentralized society, where users traded digital artworks like money, and about bankrupting the toxic business model of social-media platforms that siphoned their personal data for profit.” Enthusiasts argued that NFTs and blockchain heralded a new version of the internet—a Web 3.0. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 721

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines what NFTs claimed to solve: digital ownership, creator resale royalties, and the decentralized Web 3.0 ideal.