NFTs in the metaverse

Over the past two years, headline grabbing news about the astronomical sale prices fetched for newly minted “Non-Fungible Tokens” or “NFTs” from popular artists and content creators, has catapulted this new form of digital asset into the public consciousness across the globe. In March 2021 the digital artist Mike Winkelmann (known as ‘Beeple’) sold an NFT of his piece “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” for an astonishing $69 million! That sale, according to auction house Christies, positioned Beeple as “among the top three most valuable living artists” on the planet.

Public interest in NFTs has grown considerably since Christie’s auction of Beeple’s work, but so too has the debate about their purpose and utility. This third article considers the uses and purposes of NFTs, the role they could play in the metaverse and the legal risks and issues such use could raise.