Renowned tech magnate and one of the world’s wealthiest individuals, Elon Musk, has castigated Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), describing them as mere “URLs to JPEG images” that are “not even on the blockchain.”
During a conversation on the popular podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Musk argued that NFTs should, at the very least, be encoded on the blockchain to ensure their longevity. He pointed out that if the entity hosting the image goes out of business, the image would be lost, highlighting a vulnerability in the current NFT framework.
Musk’s remarks have ignited a discussion within the cryptocurrency community, which had already been harboring some reservations about NFTs. In response to his comments, several NFT advocates have contended that the essence of NFTs lies in the tokenization of the underlying image, which inherently holds its value.
Interestingly, while Musk has been critical of NFTs, he has inadvertently praised a recent phenomenon known as “Ordinals.” These Bitcoin NFTs, often referred to as Ordinals, encompass image or text inscriptions that are encoded and securely stored on the Bitcoin blockchain, aligning with Musk’s preference for blockchain-based solutions.
It’s worth noting that Musk’s criticisms may not apply universally to all NFT projects, especially those built on the Ethereum network. For instance, Larva Labs transitioned its Cryptopunks NFTs onto the blockchain in August 2021, after initially residing off-chain for the first four years of their existence.
Musk’s skepticism toward NFTs is not unprecedented, as he has previously taken a light-hearted approach to the subject by sharing NFT-related memes. Nevertheless, his latest critique emphasizes the ongoing debate surrounding the utility and longevity of NFTs in the evolving landscape of digital assets.
