The title of this post might ring true with you or maybe it won't because you know a bit about NFTs and their possibilities.
I am writing this post largely because there's this chorus of mainstream media voices and personas that have no clue about NFTs, blockchain tech or crypto for that matter (Yeah, there ARE other tokens besides ETH and BTC!).
So are NFTs really useless JPEGS? Can you just copy them?
No they're actually tremendously useful. NFT's are extremely versatile, depending on the mainnet you are using for minting them. They have applications in virtually every industry and are a freaking nuclear bomb for artists, musicians, actors, writers and virtually any other craft. The applications are already partially explored but they're the tip of the iceberg!
No, you cannot copy NFTs. You can plagiarize, which is a crime in many parts of the world. But the blockchain technology supporting the minting of NFTs is transparent: you can look on the blockchain for records that are immutable, that is, unchangeable. If the mainnet you used to mint NFTs is truly decentralized, then that transaction used to mint your supply of 10,000 max 'silly giraffes' will forever display the contract identifier that belongs to you and you alone, whilst you are the owner of the wallet used to transact. Secondly, the identifiers that belong to those 10,000 pieces are unique and even if someone chose to make a new contract, that contract would not be the same original one. The copy cat would have entirely new identifiers and would never be as valued -- from a cursory glance people would know you're not the real collection, the real brand that minted those Bored Apes Yacht Club.
Here are a few more uses that are already 'discovered' or becoming more familiar to the new web that is surfacing -- all thanks to NFTs and blockchain tech:
- Medical NFTs (transfer of knowledge, locked data, unique id)
- Patent storage NFTs (military uses already)
- NFTs as paychecks (perceived value store and transfer)
- NFTs as voting/governance networks keys - having an NFT gives you a say just like a board room executive. These DAO protocols (decentralized autonomous organizations) vary in structure and enforcement, some better than others and highly dependent on initial structuring in code and participant cohesion and group harmony.
5)NFTs as galleries or persona DNA on the web
6)NFTs as replicas of real world items like houses, a title granting the holder ownership and accepted in court (already or coming soon!)
7)AI technology - I am no expert but as I understand there is ongoing research into making AI utilize NFTs for various purposes, autonomously without human interaction.
8)NFTs are dynamic, and I really need to underline that. NFTs are dynamic in a 'universal' sense. They can have changeable attributes and interactions pretty much without limitation(according to their contracts and other issues), if programmed to connect or signal other parts of the web, games, people, and other nfts. - NFTs can share royalties. Enuff said.
- NFTs can also be turned into shares.... I mean, this is earth shaking stuff your JPEGs will never be able to do. Jobs are about to change entirely! Employment? NFTs will likely be keys used by 'employers' if we'll even call them that.
- NFTs can move across networks more easily every day as developers create ways to transfer them from wallet to wallet (different blockchains). The more versatile they are, the less boundaries to them, the more utility is unlocked!
12)Permanent knowledge storage - this is a rather boring point but is already very much in use. NFTs that store Tweets forever. Decentralized. ....Do you hear the tyrannical governments who want censorship everywhere crying yet? - Yeah text NFTs are a thing, you bloggers out there. Write (on ETH) lets you mint your blog post and even share royalties across the holders of parts of your blog post. Poets? Novelists? You're welcome!
- Rentals of real world items and virtual items are possible with NFTs.
Now, hopefully, you can easily see just how 'useless' these silly 'JPEGs' are.