On Monday, former England footballer Michael Owen announced that he will launch his own NFT project. It was announced in March that the TV pundit was looking to create his first limited edition NFT collection alongside technology company, Oceidon Corporation.
On Twitter, the TV pundit tweeted: "My Twitter Space is about to go live, to discuss my NFT project. Despite the critics, my NFTs will be the first ever that can't lose their initial value".
The tweet has garnered a lot of response from followers, with some saying that they had also invested in NFTs in the past, while others were quick to criticise the footballer for his decision. But some of us may be wondering, what is an NFT? And can it be stopped form losing its initial value, as Mr Owen said?
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Firstly, NFT stands for 'non-fungible token', which means it's unique and can't be replaced with anything else. For example, a bitcoin is fungible in the fact that if you trade one for another bitcoin - you'll have exactly the same thing. But something that is non-fungible is one-of-a-kind.
NFTs, which have been around since 2017, are electronic identifiers that verify the existence and the ownership of a digital collectible - this could be a piece of art, music, video-games or even a meme. They are all digital but the artist or the one that created the piece still retains the copyright of the piece.
Artists and musicians have made millions through NFTs, for example Canadian singer Grimes has sold $6 million worth of digital art as NFTs, while an American digital artist called Beeple sold their work for a staggering $69 million. Although they are designed to give you something that can't be copied, reports suggest that any digital files - including NFTs can be copied.
It is not clear what Michael Owen means by his NFTs not losing their initial value. The average price of digital artworks being sold has fallen dramatically in recent months with some reports suggesting that the bubble is bursting. According to market tracker nonfungible, the average price on an NFT is now below $2,000 (US) from $6,800 in January. Inflation, the war in Ukraine and increased regulatory scrutiny have all been blamed.
The artworks may be unique but it is hard to see how any work can be immune from the market pressures that shape art prices.
