Unit 3 · Level 4 · NFTs beyond jpegs
What you actually own
An NFT (non-fungible token) is a unique token on a blockchain. For most NFT art, the chain doesn't store the image at all: it stores a record saying 'this token, owned by this wallet, points to this artwork'. What you're really buying is provenance: a public, tamper-resistant history of who owned what, since when.
Free to play. No ads, no token, no account needed to start.
What you get asked
For most NFTs, what does the blockchain actually store?
The image usually lives elsewhere; the chain holds the ownership record. That record, the provenance, is the actual product.
Fungible means interchangeable. An NFT is ___-fungible: one of a kind.
Any €10 note swaps for any other; token #4527 doesn't swap for #4528. Uniqueness is the entire point.
Match the concept to its everyday twin
The art world has needed provenance for centuries. Blockchains just made the paper trail public and hard to forge.
Someone right-click-saves your NFT's image. What do they NOT get?
Copies of the image are infinite and free; the ownership record is singular. Whether that record is worth money is a separate question entirely.
Buying an NFT usually does NOT include the artwork's copyright. So what do you own?
Unless the license says otherwise, you own the token, not the intellectual property. Know exactly what the receipt covers before you pay for it. 🐜
The rest of this unit
Provenance, mania, market tricks, and the uses that might survive.