Does spare money exist and what should you spend it on? Buy NFT on the marketplace? But what is an NFT, and how valuable will it be in the long-term?
Well, NFTs are non–fungible (single) tokens, which, like many others, are issued mainly on the Ethereum blockchain through smart contracts. Their exclusivity is their most valuable feature.
Imagine that there is one single token among all subway tokens that reflects all the salt of the earth mined in the entire subway history. By looking at this token, you can feel as if you are touching eternity, let the vibration of tunneling machines pass through you, be in awe of megatons of waste rock thrown to the surface to lay an endless tunnel that gives people the joy of the most predictable transportation between points A and B.
However, it is important to understand that this token is not endowed with any superpower - it does not give you the right to ride the subway for free, no one is obliged to give up a seat to the token's owner or offer him a private train car. The whole power of the token is in your recognition and evaluation of its meaning (if there is one at all). If so, then you are quite capable of paying as much as you can for this token to make it yours. Its price will depend on your financial means, just as the price of all "beauty" in this world.
Now let's assess the risks of such ownership. If we consider the subway a kind of blockchain, then, of course, it will exist for several more generations. In this sense you are securely protected. But what if life's circumstances force you to part with the token? Will you be ready to do it selflessly, or will you want to earn money on it, as its creator did before you? Then you’ll have to find a connoisseur of beauty with similar tastes. He may turn out to be a fan of other blockchains, but, let's say, you’ll use a cross-blockchain marketplace, where a subway token can get along perfectly with the smell of the sea, the last breath of a samurai and the footprint of a yeti. It is also possible that by this time your token will lose some of its attractiveness to the newfangled space tourist tokens issued on more modern blockchains, and then to the Martian subway tokens.
Technological progress is gradually reducing the value of old blockchains. But what if the eternal is in question? Take Leonardo’s Mona Lisa NFT — what are its prospects? Won't there come a time when you’ll have to explain not who Leonardo is (no way), but what NFT is (highly likely)? And everyone around will shrug and say, "Ah, that useless digital stuff..."
Do blockchains have a lifetime and does it add value to them? The Bitcoin blockchain will definitely exist until 2140, since it has a utility function - Bitcoin emission. A lot has already been said about limited emissions, and much indicates that it’s the key to system viability and the growth of its value. A "Golden Bitcoin" released on such a blockchain asan NFT (let's say Bitcoin Script offered us this opportunity) would have definitely survived until 2140, and there also would have been a lot of talk about its cross-rate to the main asset over the entire time.
Are there similar chances for the "Golden Ether"? How much more viable does the Ethereum blockchain look, taking into account the rather unnatural generation of the first block, the blockchain rollback after the DAO hack, and many other facts and quotes that suggest the possibility of manual project management? What will happen if Vitalik Buterin's life paradigm changes - and he’s still oh-so-young? What happens if he turns into another Zuckerberg and starts working for the Government? Or, on the contrary, into a lone hacker, who opposes the imperfection of the digital world and the greed of the users who are concerned only about the rates, rather than the benefits of technology?
The ability to manually influence project development is both a strength and a weakness. It’s a strength in the moment, but a weakness in the long-term. That’s why the Bitcoin blockchain seems to be much more stable than any of the PoS blockchains, towards which Ethereum is moving, also by the will of its creator. If the will changes, the goals will change as well.
Bitcoin is based on Bitcoin mining power, or hashrate. Hashrate is an indicator of miners' willingness to invest money in the system for a long time. Hashrate is a far more significant indicator of blockchain value than the relevant cryptocurrency rate.
As of 08/11/2022, the Bitcoin hashrate has exceeded 208 exahesh/s, and the hashrate of Ether — 930 terahesh/s. The Bitcoin hashrate is over 200,000-times greater than the Ether hashrate.
As we make such comparisons and ask many questions, we have to admit that the subject of NFT inevitably recedes into the background and now seems extremely short-lived. It is very likely that in the near future, NFTs will exist as mere digital copies of documents used as evidence of something. The NFT value as a "spirit of art" carrier will decrease exponentially and will be reduced to the utilitarian value of the copy itself.
The most valuable asset of the crypto industry today and in the next hundred years is the Bitcoin hashrate, which is becoming an increasingly attractive investment. Blockchain technology will continue to throw inhype opportunities to admire the expanding horizons, but hype always carries the risks of rapid disappointment. Maybe the "Golden token" is more suitable as an object of admiration, but a piece of the tunneling machine power is far more preferable as a means of enrichment.
Minto offers Bitcoin hashrate in the form of BTCMT tokens, because Bitcoin hashrate is something that really works and brings daily profit!
