BBC Learnings · Section 3

Why are people collecting NFTs

People collect all kinds of things for a hobby, from stamps and coins to comics and football stickers.

Level: B1 · 85 sentences

Transcript

  1. People collect all kinds of things for a hobby,
  2. from stamps and coins to comics and football stickers.
  3. Do you collect anything, Sam?
  4. I used to have a big collection of Pokemon cards,
  5. but I have no idea where they are now.
  6. Well, maybe you should start looking for them
  7. because all kinds of collectibles that's objects that people want to collect
  8. are selling for big money on the internet.
  9. It's all part of a new tech craze called non-fungible tokens, or NFTs for short.
  10. Non-fungible tokens? Basically, NFTs are unique,
  11. one-of-a-kind items that can be bought and sold like any physical object,
  12. but only exist in the digital world.
  13. Tokens can be thought of as certificates of ownership for these virtual possessions.
  14. OK. I understand the token part, but what does non-fungible mean?
  15. If something is fungible, it can be interchanged, like money, for example.
  16. With money you can swap a £10 note for two £5 notes and it will have the same value.
  17. Ah, so something non-fungible cannot be interchanged with something else.
  18. Is that because it has special features that make it unique?
  19. Exactly. Imagine something totally unique like the Mona Lisa.
  20. You can take a photo of the painting or buy a copy of it.
  21. but there will only ever be the one original painting.
  22. I can see that the Mona Lisa is one-of-a-kind and extremely valuable,
  23. but it's not for sale on the internet!
  24. True, but lots of other things are, from signed celebrity artwork to virtual football cards.
  25. NFTs are like autographed photos.
  26. Collectors want something no one else has,
  27. even though there's nothing physical they actually own and keep.
  28. And the value of NFTs is going up and up?
  29. Massively. A digital sticker of French footballer Kylian Mbappe recently sold for £25,000.
  30. which reminds me of my quiz question, Sam.
  31. In June 2021,
  32. Sir Tim Berners-Lee sold the original source code he
  33. used to invent the World Wide Web as an NFT
  34. at a charity auction.
  35. The sale started at $1,000, but how much did the source code eventually sell for?
  36. Was it A, $5.4,000, B, $5.4 million, or C, $5.4 billion?
  37. If you're asking me how much the internet sold for, I'd say C, $5.4 billion.
  38. OK, Sam, we'll find out later if that's right.
  39. So Tim Berners-Lee famously never made any money from the World Wide Web,
  40. insisting that his invention should be free for everyone.
  41. But the world of NFTs is controversial.
  42. And not everyone thinks Sir Tim should be getting involved.
  43. That's certainly the view of Shona Ghosh, technology editor at the Insider website,
  44. as she told BBC World Service programme Tech Tent.
  45. I think there's a balance to be struck between exploring new technologies and Sir Tim Berners-Lee is an amazing figure.
  46. But NFTs are a wild west.
  47. Not everything associated with NFTs are rogue,
  48. but these so-called digital collectibles are going for lots of money.
  49. Internet NFTs are very new and there are no rules controlling what can be sold and for how much,
  50. so Shona describes them as a wild west.
  51. The wild west means a situation where people can do whatever they want because there are no laws or controls,
  52. like the early history of the western part of the United States.
  53. She also calls some things about NFTs rogue,
  54. behaving differently from what's normal or expected,
  55. often in a way that causes damage.
  56. Love them or hate them, there are strong opinions on both sides of the NFT debate,
  57. as Rory Catlin-Jones, presenter of the BBC World Service's Tech Tent, explains.
  58. To some, NFTs are a brilliant innovation which is promised to put a value on those digital artefacts.
  59. To others, they're little more than a dubious pyramid scheme
  60. with a damaging impact on the environment
  61. because of the way the tokens are created.
  62. Some people are suspicious of the large amounts of money collectors are willing to pay.
  63. comparing NFTs to pyramid schemes business tricks or scams where money is obtained dishonestly.
  64. But for others,
  65. NFTs are a legitimate and useful way to put a price on rare digital artefacts items such as images,
  66. videos and music that are produced and stored as electronic versions.
  67. Items like, for example, the original source code for the internet.
  68. So how much money did Sir Tim Berners-Lee raise for charity when he sold it off, Neil?
  69. In my quiz question,
  70. I asked Sam how much the NFT for the original internet source code sold for at auction.
  71. And I said C, $5.4 billion.
  72. You were wrong.
  73. In fact, it was less, $5.4 million, but still far too expensive for me to collect.
  74. Now I'm wondering how much my Pokemon card collection would sell for.
  75. If only I could find it.
  76. Well, while you look for your collection, Sam,
  77. let's recap the vocabulary from this programme all about NFTs,
  78. which are digital artefacts or items that are produced and stored as electronic versions.
  79. NFTs are virtual collectibles desirable objects that people search for and collect.
  80. And they are non-fungible,
  81. meaning they have special and unique characteristics that cannot be interchanged with anything else.
  82. If something is rogue,
  83. it behaves in a different way from what's normal or expected, often causing damage.
  84. The Wild West describes a chaotic situation without laws or controls.
  85. And finally, a pyramid scheme is a business scam where money is gained dishonestly.