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THE DSPCA HAS backed out of a recently announced non-fungible token (NFT) fundraising campaign after facing criticism over the environmental impact of the blockchain-based creations.
The animal charity last week launched its campaign to sell “reimagined viral dog memes” as NFTs – The NwoofFT project – with each one costing some 0.02 Ethereum (about €54).
“The NwoofFT project was presented to the DSPCA as a fundraising experiment by tapping into a new community of dog lovers,” the DSPCA tweeted this afternoon in response to criticism.
“As a charity our supporters are important to us & have taken on board concerns raised over the impact of NFT’s have decided to step away from this project.”
The project, in collaboration with creative agency Rothco, started off with 11 NFTs for sale, with initial plans to drop further ‘litters’.
NFTs are “one-of-a-kind” digital assets that can be bought and sold like any other item, but which have no tangible form. They vary in price from a few euro to tens of thousands of euro, depending on the asset.
NFTs are supported by Ethereum — an alternative to BitCoin — and their value is held in that cryptocurrency. Transaction information is stored within the Ethereum blockchain, which makes it impossible to forge copies of the token.
A sale does not necessarily involve the transfer of the object depicted by the token. NFTs of famous paintings have been sold, for example, but the buyer does not receive the painting. What changes hands is a certificate of ownership of the NFT, registered on the blockchain. The certificate must be kept safe in a digital wallet, which can take various forms.
However, every interaction with the blockchain involves fees to pay for “mining” – the hugely energy-intensive computer calculations needed to verify each transaction.
The NwoofFT project’s NFTs are bought and sold on the specialised platform OpenSea, the best known of the marketplaces.
The project’s website said it launched on OpenSea “because it has been the standard barrier for the NFT marketplace with the largest audience”.
It acknowledged the energy-intensive process behind the crypto fundraising, saying that other currencies and options that are less impactful on the environment were being explored.
A spokesperson for the project said they would not be commenting at this time.
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The world has gone mad.
@Boyne Sharky: Entirely.
@Boyne Sharky: the mind boggles alright.
@Boyne Sharky: Barking.
@Boyne Sharky: try keep up people…be a shame for anyone to be left behind :)
I don’t understand a word of this article. My head hurts, I am wondering what planet is this and if I time travelled.
@Barney r: same!!!
@Barney r: I think it’s the same as selling the Emperor’s new clothes.
So you buy something that doesn’t exist, with a currency that you can’t see or touch……mmmmhhhh
My Head hurts so buy NFT Enjin shares Folks
The blockchain will be violated or corrupted in some fashion, and soon, and the financial impact globally will be both unexpected and devastating in its scale. It will most likely be carried out by a State actor like China, who want to end the ceding of State control to externals elements as well as end the consumption of energy which is rising exponentially as the complexity of the computing power needed to keep mining increases. At that point, all that data, which is agreed among peers to have value, but really doesn’t have any intrinsic value, evaporates like a fart in the wind. And the millions who have put everything real the have into the imaginary basket, are suddenly worth zero. It will devastate.
What in Tarnation is going on?
Ok you convinced me !.I am staying away from this stuff….
have your say