Since 2014, when Kevin McCoy minted “Quantum (NASDAQ:QMCO),” the first-ever non-fungible token (NFT) to debut in the crypto art market, the demand for the virtual asset has skyrocketed. Not only has there been soaring interest in the NFT space for more than half a decade now, but people are also building cultural value around the innovation.
For some, NFTs are just another opportunity to invest, with the hope of receiving a substantial return on investment (ROI) in the long run. However, this is not the mindset for every NFT enthusiast, as some look beyond the wealth making aspect.
In an exclusive interview with DailyCoin, Pavel Bains, CEO and Co-founder of Bluzelle, a decentralized storage network for the creator economy with a core focus on NFTs, talked about the influence of native culture on NFT adoption. In his opinion, “NFTs have moved crypto in general into a new form of culture.”
In the interview, Bains, who is aware that NFTs have now become a core aspect of their project since the addition of file storage to the existing data storage facilities, makes it clear that he believes that NFTs are here to last.
As an analogy, Bains compared the ongoing NFT movement to rap culture in the early ‘90s, when rap and Hip Hop really took off and faced a lot of criticism. Bains explained that many people, including himself, were influenced by the movement.
“I grew up in Vancouver, went to school in the US as well, everything that formed myself and my friends; from the shorts we wore on the basketball court, to the shoes, was all HipHop influence,” Bains noted.
In the same way, crypto has consistently faced backlash, ever since its inception, which became worse still with the arrival of NFTs. Regardless, the world is beginning to make a U-turn and, gradually embracing the virtual economy for what it is.
Bains claims that, while the older generation is still struggling to accept this new reality, the younger demographic is acting as the driving force of crypto and NFT acceptance, which is a similar situation to the 1990s, when the younger generation was more receptive to rap and Hip Hop culture, while the older generations remained conservative.
“My only concern in crypto today is that it has become its own culture to a younger demographic, with the exact same similarities as Hip Hop, where now NFTs are simply establishing that this is something that will be for a category of people, like my kids who are 12-14. This is all they'll ever know,” Bains explained.
Non-Crypto-Native NFTs Won’t Take Off Well
NFTs are deeply rooted in crypto culture itself, so non-crypto-native NFTs may not scale equally as much as crypto-native NFTs. The difference between the two, according to Bains, is that crypto-native NFTs originated organically i.e, they are products of the earliest struggles of NFT creators.
Non-crypto-native NFTs, on the other hand, are considered to be “wannabe versions,” i.e, those simply trying to leverage the invention in some way or another. Bains specifically notes that, what will likely happen in the NFT verse is a situation in which everybody is trying to tap into the culture, but sadly, that may not be an effective strategy.
“One thing that I've finally figured out is that if Drake drops an NFT, his supporters will like it, and that will be fine. However, because it is not naturally from the crypto culture, it will not appreciate in price,” Bains thinks.
Bains, fully aware that NFTs are at a pivotal stage, believes that the invention may take a different form in the near future, given that the applications may cease to be what they are currently known for.
“If you look at the NFTs that are gaining traction, whether it's CryptoPunks or Bored Apes, they’re organically derived from the culture itself. So my 14-year-old daughter isn't going to care if an Arianna Grande NFT comes out in a few years; she'll be more interested in what emerged from the culture itself because she's a crypto native,” Bains exemplifies.
Regardless, Bains is more certain that crypto culture will undoubtedly become mainstream, implying that NFT will have its own place in the virtual economy’s future.
On The Flipside
- The NFT verse is still actively evolving, making it hard to predict what a sustainable future will look like for most creators.
- Because NFTs are still at an early stage of their lifecycle, Bluzelle will be subject to a lot of modifications, especially where NFTs are concerned.
Why You Should Care?
The success of NFTs, in the long run, will be determined by cultural values, rather than mass adoption, meaning that investors should pay more attention to crypto-native NFTs. Bluzelle, on the other hand, provides NFT-focussed businesses with a proprietary decentralized approach to ensure that the safety of their virtual asset is not compromised.
Watch the full interview here:
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