DAS 2021: Owning an NFT is Like Owning a ‘Piece of Innovation’

Skeptics question why someone would pay a large sum of money for what appears to be a cartoon, but Ikigai Founder Travis Kling described holding the asset similar to “owning a layer of innovation.”

article-image

Blockworks exclusive art by Axel Rangel

share

key takeaways

  • Bitwise’s Matt Hougan said NFTs can expand beyond JPEGs of “digital rocks”. NFTs can revolutionize digital property rights
  • Ikigai’s Kling believes that NFTs are “highly unlikely to go away” and will be a “major part of everybody’s life”

Digital Asset Summit 2021, New York City — The non-fungible tokens (NFT) craze has taken the world by storm. In recent months, certain NFTs have sold for $69 million, along with their marketplaces such as OpenSea reporting monthly trading volumes of over $3 billion.

Skeptics question why someone would pay a large sum of money for what appears to be a digitized image, but Ikigai Asset Management Founder Travis Kling described holding the asset similar to “owning a layer of innovation” during a panel at the Digital Asset Summit Tuesday. 

“If you’re heading in that direction, where people are spending more and more time in the digital world, then you’re going to start somewhere [and that’s with NFTs],” Kling said.

Panel at Digital Asset Summit 2021
From left: Travis Kling, Ikigai; David Grider, Grayscale; Matt Hougan, Bitwise; Blockworks Digital Asset Summit 2021: Source: Photo by Mike Lawrence

In the session, featuring Horizon Kinetics’ Peter Doyle and Grayscale’s David Grider, panelists touched on the future of the asset class as well, discussing its potential capabilities. 

Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer of Bitwise Asset Management, said NFTs are far more than just “digital rocks”. They can revolutionize digital property rights. “As goofy as [paying] $3 million for a digital rock may seem, these are just the first instantiation of digital property rights,” he said. 

Although NFT use cases are most commonly associated with the arts and entertainment industries, the same framework can transfer to healthcare as well. Using NFTs via a decentralized ledger and blockchain networks, holders can track health data like pharmaceutical drugs and blood donations, making tracking medical records potentially faster and more efficient. 

“[NFTs] are the beginning of something that I think is highly unlikely to go away. In the future, I believe it’s going to be a major part of everybody’s life,” Kling said.


Are you a UK or EU reader that can’t get enough investor-focused content on digital assets?Join us in London on November 15th and 16th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) London. Use code ARTICLE for £75 off your ticket. Buy it now.


Tags

Upcoming Events

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Pack your bags, anon — we’re heading west! Join us in the beautiful Salt Lake City for the third installment of Permissionless. Come for the alpha, stay for the fresh air. Permissionless III promises unforgettable panels, killer networking opportunities, and mountains […]

MON - WED, MARCH 18 - 20, 2024

Crypto’s premier institutional conference returns to London in March 2024. The DAS: London Experience:  Attend expert-led panel discussions and fireside chats  Hear the latest developments regarding the crypto and digital asset regulatory environment directly from policymakers and experts   Grow your network […]

recent research

Pyth Cover.jpg

Research

Pyth is a low latency pull-based oracle. In a future that looks increasingly high frequency, with various alt L1s and L2s that have significantly shorter block times than Ethereum, and an explosion of “high-frequency” protocols such as oracle or CLOB perp DEXs, Pyth’s low latency oracle product looks much better positioned to capture a significant amount of market share in comparison to competitors.

article-image

Can an ERC-20 token fix science? Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong hopes so

article-image

Roughly $65 billion worth of assets remain on Binance after the exchange agreed to pay, forfeit $4.3 billion Tuesday, Nansen data shows

article-image

The HTX exchange has been hit by a security breach, similar to the recent Poloniex hack

article-image

We have the answers for the usual barrage of questions stuffed with preconceived judgments about Web3, crypto and blockchain

article-image

NFT data will be integrated into CoinGecko APIs in second quarter of 2024, having bought Zash for an undisclosed sum

article-image

Binance and its former CEO have pleaded guilty to federal charges of over $4.3 billion