Photo courtesy of Liz Knueven
Non-fungible tokens — called NFTs for short — are pieces of digital art or other "goods" taking the internet by storm.
This February, an NFT of Nyan Cat, a Pop-Tart/cat hybrid who is famous on YouTube, sold for nearly $600,000. Similarly, the Bad Luck Brian meme sold for $36,000 in March.
Some NFTs are being resold for several times their initial cost, and some investors are beginning to see these tokens as a way to make some cash. Other investors are putting down hundreds of thousands of dollars on one digital piece.
While that's certainly not in my budget, I do think NFTs are worth buying. I don't think of them as an investment, but I've never been opposed to spending money on things that bring me pure joy.
If I could, I'd own a Vine in a heartbeat. (Vine was a short-video app that existed from 2012 to 2016 — like TikTok before TikTok.)
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Specifically, I want this classic Vine, in which someone pours water on a sleeping person. I quote it probably every day. It would bring me immeasurable joy to own. After this hellscape of a year, that's all I really want my money to do.
As an investment, I don't think NFTs have a real place, and I can't imagine spending $1,000 or more on something digital, even this Vine, though I do believe it is priceless. But, after growing up and coming of age online, I'd be thrilled to buy a tiny piece of the internet I love.
NFTs inherently support things I love, and that's how I try to spend my moneyMy philosophy on spending has always been quite simple: Put your money where your mouth is when you have extra. Spend on the things that match your values.
To that extent, I've always been fascinated by the art trade and art history. I think NFTs (and yes, by extention, memes) will become a part of that culture.
As a former art school kid, I know how hard it is to make a living on art alone. NFTs are being proposed as a solution, with some even matching and exceeding values of items sold at the big, traditional art auctions like Christie's and Sotheby's.
The art trade for years has been more about status than actually loving art and spreading wealth to its creators. NFTs are shaking that up, and I absolutely love that. When creating an NFT, there's an option for creators to receive a royalty each time it's sold. That could be great news for the creative community.
I'd buy an NFT for me, not as an investmentI have accounts for investing. An NFT doesn't belong there. But that doesn't mean an NFT wouldn't be an investment in my own happiness.
I think about NFTs the same way I think about owning a designer handbag. I'd buy it because I want to have it and use it. Take my Telfar bag for example — I bought it because I like the designer's work and want to see the brand flourish. I bought it because it brings me joy. And I bought it when I could truly afford to not have the money instead. I'll never sell it for a profit, and I know that. But I was still willing to buy despite that.
After a hellish year, I've shifted any extra spending towards things that bring me joy. While I don't think I could justify more than $100 or $200, I think it'd be worth every penny if it meant I got to own my favorite Vine. I want to put it on one of those early 2000s digital photo frames on my wall and play it on loop. I just want it to bring me joy.
To me, owning an NFT of one of my favorite pieces of internet memorabilia would be fun, and that's worth it.
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