People are willing to spend an incredible amount of money on digital pieces of artwork in order to own exclusive rights to them, in a perplexing new trend.

Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, have become a mainstay of the cryptocurrency world, providing a way for those with a lot of cash or cryptocurrency to "reinvest" it in what they claim is exclusive ownership over what is often little more than a cartoon image of an angry ape or a whale wearing a top hat.

In short, it's not so much about the artwork as it is about asserting ownership through the use of blockchain. What precisely do crypto enthusiasts get when they purchase an NFT? Aside from the frequently dubious resale value, it's a fairly difficult question to answer.

Some NFT collectors are irritated that vandals are right-clicking and selecting "save as" on their recently obtained digital products. After all, cloning an NFT is frequently as easy as that.
An investor recently confronted Twitter user SaeedDiCaprio.

According to a screenshot he tweeted of the interaction, the rando messaged him on Twitter, "You think it's hilarious to snap screenshots of people's NFTs, huh?" "Do you think property theft is a joke?" I'll let you in on a little secret: the blockchain does not lie. "I'm the owner."

DiCaprio dug a little deeper.

"I could make an entire NFT collection of screenshots of me right clicking and saving the image and sell it," he added in a subsequent tweet.

what’s preventing me from doing this? Literally nothing. I could make a whole NFT collection of screenshots of me right clicking and saving the image and sell it 🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/J1i4Ft4BpL
— Hurt CoPain (@SaeedDiCaprio) November 4, 2021

It's an admittedly amusing debate that highlights how bizarre — and ludicrous — the NFT movement is. It is trivial to replicate NFT artwork and distribute it elsewhere. Depending on the site selling the NFTs, even the blockchain isn't always able to back up claims of legitimate ownership.

But that isn't really the purpose.

"Even if you save it, it's still my property," the irritated user added in their message. "You're upset because you don't own the art that I do." "Get rid of that screenshot."

The artwork in question, named "Lazy Lions #348," is part of an OpenSea collection, and bids have already topped $5,000 at the time of writing.
According to Vice, SaeedDiCaprio's mindset is being referred to as "right-clicker mentality" in some circles. It's a term developed by NFT collector and creator Midwit Milhouse, who complained about someone cheaply replicating gold-coated steaks online at the time.

Milhouse claims it was a homebrewed version of a steak popularized by online star Salt Bae, who was selling the creation for $2,000 at his London restaurant.

"Sure, you can manufacture your own gold-coated steak for 65GBP, but you won't have the satisfaction, flex, clout that comes with eating at Salt Bae's restaurant," Milhouse tweeted last month.

"The value isn't in the price of the steak," Milhouse contended. "The flex is everything."
Right clicker mindset is a term that gets right to the heart of the problem. In reality, it's been taken to parody the entire concept of ownership for the sake of ownership, as is frequently the case with NFTs.

Despite the uproar, the tokens are still fetching high prices, which invites all manner of antics. Recently, an NFT developer stole approximately $2.7 million from an NFT project's money.

In such a case, NFT collectors have basically little recourse. NFTs, like cryptocurrencies, are traded in a regulatory vacuum. It's the Wild West, and the only law that applies is "buyer beware."

NFTs are an ostentatious display of current wealth: collectors hope to invest their money while simultaneously signaling their position by purchasing a simple JPG.
But that doesn't mean anything to individuals who aren't part of such circles. The mocking, whether justified or not, will most certainly continue as long as NFTs are traded.

Overall, fully embracing the concept of value in the context of NFTs necessitates some serious mental gymnastics. It's no surprise that many people aren't buying it.

Follow us on Google News