So i’m really sorry everyone, I have to take it back. it isn’t the case that crypto, blockchain, and NFTs are completely useless technology whose only purpose is to take cash from rubes and give it to crooks. It turns out there is a genuine use case!
You are probably familiar with the concept of “reality TV”. Now as I understand it, it’s a genre that creates completely artificial fantasies and manipulates people into thinking its reality. Which is a pretty good metaphor for the world we live in!
One reality show is called 90 Day Fiancé. The idea, according to Wikipedia, is that an engaged couple get a visa that lets a foreign partner stay in the US for 90 days, within which period they have to get married. Whatever.
One of the … stars? participants? performers? … not sure, but anyway one of the participants, Stephanie Matto, wanted to parlay her fame into a career. Makes sense. And she managed to do so by becoming a fartrepreneur.
What, you may wonder, is a “fartrepreneur”? Well, she farts in a jar and sells it to people over to internet. Apparently there are discerning gentlemen—maybe ladies too!—with cash to spare and the inclination to enjoy said farts.
It’s just supply and demand, right? She has something that people want, and they are willing to pay for it, and no-one’s getting hurt. Fine!
Unfortunately, however, the lucrative nature of the business promoted Ms Matto to increase her productivity the only way she knew how: a diet of fart-friendly foods. Her path led to ever-greater extremes of diet, until a day of reckoning arrived and she ended up in hospital. Don’t worry, she’s okay! But the doctors recommended a more balanced diet, putting an end to her industrial scale fart-production.
So far, this is a salutary lesson in capitalism, its opportunities and its costs. She had a good thing, but got caught up in greed, and ending up hurting herself. Time, perhaps, to consider a more healthy and meaningful career.
But wait! Not so fast! She has figured out how to pivot to NFTs. Now she creates NFT tokens of her fart jars and sells them. Problem solved! No need to actually fart in a jar, with all the attendant health risks. She can simply sell an entry in a spreadsheet that virtually represents a fart in a jar.
You can’t actually smell the farts, of course, so what is the point? Her slogan: Imagine the smell! Yes, that’s right, buy the NFT, and indulge in the imaginary smell of farts!
What do you pay for the unique digital representation of an imaginary fart smell? A mere 0.05 ETH, which is about $US 180 in real money. A bargain at half the price.
Just in case you were wondering, all this is real. You can buy your NFT here. Enjoy!