These NFTs are essentially a means of commodifying digital assets on the internet, such as photos, videos or social media posts, by using blockchain technology to mark them as unique. If a certain digital asset – say, a prominent tweet – is certified as an original, unique asset with an NFT, it can be bought and sold like an antique or a piece of art.
What quickly became apparent in our discussion was that, across industries, we are only at the beginning of understanding the potential transformations coming our way.
Given this state of flux, a longer lens can offer useful perspective. In particular, a specific period in European history comes to mind, characterised by what could be argued to be a comparable marriage between art patronage and new modes of accounting and transaction. During the Renaissance in Italy, the Medici family developed what is now standard practice in present-day book-keeping, the double entry. This is a system for tracking debits and credits against each