Can AI give NFTs a second spring?
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The NFT market shrank sharply after the 2021 boom: it was worth nearly $40 billion at the time, and has now fallen by as much as 97% from its peak, with global sales this year of less than $2 billion. Two scholars offer different judgments on whether this market can recover. INSEAD professor Ben Charoenwong believes NFTs will retreat to a niche collectibles market. University of St. Gallen professor Andrea Barbon, by contrast, is optimistic about two new directions: tokenizing physical assets such as real estate and luxury watches for trading, and using NFTs to give AI agents a verifiable unique identity in order to improve AI safety. These are the two professors' judgments, not market outcomes that have already materialized.
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- Hacker News AICould AI give NFTs a second chance?
NFTs are worth up to 97% less than at their January 2022 peak, with global sales this year under $2 billion, and INSEAD's Ben Charoenwong expects them to persist only as a niche collectible market. Andrea Barbon of the University of St Gallen sees possible futures in tokenizing real-world assets and in giving AI agents unique, verifiable NFT identities, as well as letting creators tokenize work to track AI training use. The article cites the Bored Ape Yacht Club, including Justin Bieber's purchase that fell roughly 99% in value, as emblematic of the decline.
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