Beyond the bubble: will NFTs and digital proof of ownership empower creative industry entrepreneurs?

Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) are blockchain-enabled cryptographic assets that represent proof-of-ownership for digital objects. The use of NFTs has been pioneered by creative industry entrepreneurs who have sought to generate new revenue streams and modes of stakeholder engagement. Despite rapid growth in popularity, concerns have been raised around the legal ownership of NFT assets and the prevalence of speculation and fraud associated with NFT trading. In this rapid response article, we explore the value of NFTs for creative industry entrepreneurs. First, we examine the novel digital affordances of the technology; second, we analyse NFTs through the prism of the recent Initial Coin Offering (ICO) boom and bust; and finally, we take a longer-term historical perspective to consider how past speculative waves inform the present NFT economy. While we identify some potentially valuable artistic and financial opportunities for creative industry entrepreneurs, we conclude that NFTs should be approached with caution.