• Valmond@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    NFT was the worst “tech” crap I have ever even heard about, like pure 100% total full scam. Kind of impressed that anyone could be so stupid they’d fall for it.

    • IrateAnteater@sh.itjust.works
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      8 days ago

      The whole NFT/crypto currency thing is so incredibly frustrating. Like, being able to verify that a given file is unique could be very useful. Instead, we simply used the technology for scamming people.

      • Sibshops@lemm.ee
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        8 days ago

        I don’t think NFTs can do that either. Collections are copied to another contract address all the time. There isn’t a way to verify if there isn’t another copy of an NFT on the blockchain.

        • killeronthecorner@lemmy.world
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          8 days ago

          I didn’t know this and it’s absolutely hilarious. Literally totally undermines the use of Blockchain to begin with.

        • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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          7 days ago

          Copying the info on another contract doesn’t mean it’s fungible, to verify ownership you would need the NFT and to check that it’s associated to the right contract.

          Let’s say digital game ownership was confirmed via NFT, the launcher wouldn’t recognize the “same” NFT if it wasn’t linked to the right contract.

          • Sibshops@lemm.ee
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            7 days ago

            But you would need a centralized authority to say which one is the “right contract”. If a centralized authority is necessary in this case, then there is less benefit of using NFTs. It’s no longer a decentralized.

            • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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              7 days ago

              Yes and no, with the whole blockchain being public it’s pretty easy to figure out which contract is the original one.

              • Sibshops@lemm.ee
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                7 days ago

                Lets say you don’t have a central authority declaring one is official. How would you search the entire blockchain to verify you have the original NFT?

                • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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                  7 days ago

                  The NFT is useful with a central authority though, it’s used to confirm the ownership of digital goods ex: if it’s associated to digital games then the distributor knows which contract is the original since they created it in the first place…

                  Sure for bored apes pictures you copy the code and you go on a random websites and it can tell you the result of the mix of features based on the code, but on the original website it wouldn’t work.

                  • Sibshops@lemm.ee
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                    6 days ago

                    Exactly, and that’s the key issue. If we need a central authority, whether it’s a game distributor, marketplace, or platform to recognize and validate the “official” contract, then we’re back to a trust model similar to traditional databases.

                    Take your example of game ownership. If the launcher only accepts NFTs from a specific contract, that launcher is acting as the central authority. At that point, the launcher can just manage ownership records in its own database. NFTs only add complexity without eliminating the need for trust in a central entity.

                    And as we’ve seen with Magic Eden, even trusted platforms can make mistakes, leading to confusion or scams. So centralization is still required to resolve identity/authenticity, I don’t believe NFTs offer any meaningful advantage over a traditional database.

                    https://cointelegraph.com/news/magic-eden-to-refund-users-after-25-fake-nfts-sold-due-to-exploit

        • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          There isn’t a way to verify if there isn’t another copy of an NFT on the blockchain.

          Incorrect. An NFT is tied to a particular token number at a particular address.

          The URI the NFT points to may not be unique but NFT is unique.

          • Sibshops@lemm.ee
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            7 days ago

            The NFT is only unique within the contract address. The whole contract can be trivially copied to another contract address and the whole collection can be cloned. It’s why opensea has checkmarks for “verified” collections. There are a unofficial BoredApe collections which are copies of the original one.

              • Sibshops@lemm.ee
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                7 days ago

                Completely agree, but the guy I responding to thinks the monkey jpeg is unique across the whole blockchain, when that isn’t true. The monkey jpeg can be copied. There’s no uniqueness enforced in a blockchain.

                  • Sibshops@lemm.ee
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                    6 days ago

                    Right, it’s a link to the JPEG. Either way, the point still stands, there’s no mechanism in the blockchain to prevent duplicate content or enforce uniqueness of what the NFT points to. The NFT token is unique within its contract, sure, but that doesn’t stop someone from deploying a near-identical contract with the same media and metadata. That’s the issue, the blockchain doesn’t know or care if the same JPEG is being reused in other collections.

        • Decq@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          I’m not defending other cryptocoins or anything, they might be a ponzy scheme or some other form. But in the end they at least only pretended to be that, a valuta. Which they are, even though they aren’t really used much like that. NFT’s on the otherhand promised things that were always just pure technical bullshit. And you had to be a complete idiot not to see it. So call it a double scam.

        • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          A large majority of “real” money is digital, like 80% non-m1 m2. The only real difference between crypto and USD is that the crypto is a public multiple ledger system that allows you to be your own bank.

          • Eatspancakes84@lemmy.world
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            7 days ago

            What do you mean with being your own bank? Can you receive deposits from customers? Are you allowed to lend a portion of the deposists onwards for business loans/mortgages? If not, you are not your “own bank”.

            I think you mean that you can use it as a deposit for money, similar to, say, an old sock.

            • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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              6 days ago

              Banks have multiple ledgers to keep track of who owns what and where it all came from. They also use ancient fortran/cobol written IBM owned software to manage all bank to bank transactions, which is the barrier for entry.

              Blockchain is literally a multiple ledger system. That is all it is. The protocol to send and recieve funds is open for all.

              Locally stored BTC is when you’re the bank. For all the good and bad that comes with it.

              • Eatspancakes84@lemmy.world
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                6 days ago

                That sounds super cool and stuff, but it has nothing to do with the essence of banking. Banks are businesses that take deposits for safekeeping and that provide credit. Banks in fact outdate Fortran by a 1000 years or so.

        • uienia@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          Because the pyramid scheme is still going strong with them, exactly because new victims are continually falling for them. NFTs lost their hype so quickly that the flow of new victims basically completely stopped, and so the bottom went out of them much faster.

        • desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          7 days ago

          because there are some buisness that accept some crypto, mostly grey or black market ones, but respectable companies none the less.

      • yarr@feddit.nl
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        7 days ago

        I think a big part of the problem with NFT is that they are so abstract people don’t understand what they can and cannot do. Effectively, with NFT, you have people that hold a copy of a Spiderman comic in hand and believe they own all forms of spiderman.

        Essentially, when you boil it down, you can turn this into “it’s provable that individual X has possession of NFT identifier x,y,z”. It’s kind of like how you can have the deed to a piece of property in your desk, but that doesn’t prevent 15 people from squatting on it.

        It’s so abstract you can use it to fleece people. Even after 2 years of hype, people STILL do not understand them properly.

        • uienia@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          Essentially, when you boil it down, you can turn this into “it’s provable that individual X has possession of NFT identifier x,y,z”. It’s kind of like how you can have the deed to a piece of property in your desk, but that doesn’t prevent 15 people from squatting on it.

          It isn’t even that. It’s is identifying which drawer in your desk the deed is placed, but there is no guarantee that the drawer contains the deed.

          • yarr@feddit.nl
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            7 days ago

            Now imagine trying to explain all this to the unwashed masses… it’s no wonder the explanation they got was “buy this, it’s going to the mooooon!!!”

      • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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        7 days ago

        But it’s totally legit brah, it’s just like trading cards but on a computer bro, you can make jay pegs totally unique bro, nobody else in the world can have the same image as you brah, it proves you’re the only owner of it bro, trust me bro it’s super secure and technological bruh

      • merc@sh.itjust.works
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        7 days ago

        You don’t need an NFT to see that a file is unique. All that requires is a hash function. Many download sites provide signed cryptographic hashes so that you know that the file you’ve downloaded is the one that they released. None of that requires blockchains or crypto.

    • MSBBritain@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      NFTs could have been great, if they had been used FOR the consumer, and not to scam them.

      Best thing I can think of is to verify licenses for digital products/games. Buy a game, verify you own it like you would with a CD using an NFT, and then you can sell it again when you’re done.

      Do this with serious stuff like AAA Games or Professional Software (think like borrowing a copy of Photoshop from an online library for a few days while you work on a project!) instead of monkey pictures and you could have the best of both worlds for buying physical vs buying online.

      However, that might make corporations less money and completely upend modern licencing models, so no one was willing to do it.

      • Sibshops@lemm.ee
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        7 days ago

        I think there’s a technical hurdle here. There’s no reliable way to enforce unique access to an NFT. Anyone with access to the wallet’s private key (or seed phrase) can use the NFT, meaning two or more people could easily share a game or software license just by sharing credentials. That kind of undermines the licensing control in a system like this.

        • real_squids@sopuli.xyz
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          7 days ago

          two or more people could easily share a game or software license just by sharing credentials

          So like disks? Before everything started checking hwids. Just like the comment said, it would make corporations less money so they wouldn’t do it.

          • Transtronaut@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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            7 days ago

            Well, that’s the point. In order for that system to work as described, you would need some kind of centralized authority to validate and enforce it. Once you’ve introduced that piece, there’s no point using NFTs anymore - you can just use any kind of simpler and more efficient key/authentication mechanism.

            So even if the corporations wanted to use such a system (which, to your point, they do not), it still wouldn’t make sense to use NFTs for it.

          • Sibshops@lemm.ee
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            7 days ago

            It’s easier to share on a blockchain. I can send the license to a new wallet then have the wallet sign a smart contract which could automatically drain it of any gas if anyone adds it.

            Now I can give out the secret pass phrase and lots of people can play the game without having to give anyone my login credentials.

      • uienia@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        There is nothing you mentioned which couldn’t already be done, and is in fact already being done, faster and more reliably by existing technology.

        Also that was not even what NFTs was about, because you didn’t even buy the digital artwork and NFTs would never be able to include it. So it would be supremely useless for the thing you are talking about.

      • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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        7 days ago

        The issue is this doesn’t solve a problem that isn’t already solved. One of the big arguments I always heard was an example using skins from games that can be transfered to other games. We can already do that! Just look at the Steam marketplace for an example. You just need the server infrastructure to do it. Sure, NFTs could make it so the company doesn’t control the market, but what benefit do they get for using NFTs and distributing the software then?

        99.9% of the use cases were solutions looking for a problem. I could see a use for something like deeds or other documents, but that’s about it.

        • MSBBritain@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          Yeah, Sort of.

          Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a huge fan of NFTs and do think there’s easier ways, but I would agree that taking market control away from the companies owning it would kind of be the point (but I do think you can probably still do this concept without any NFTs).

          Sure, steam could allow game trading right now with no need for NFTs whatsoever, but the point would be that I can trade a game I bought through Xbox, to someone on Steam, and then go buy something on the Epic store with the money.

          And all of it without some crazy fee from the involved platforms.

          But that also would probably still require government intervention to force companies to accept this. Because, again, none of the companies would actually want this. NTF or not that doesn’t change.

          • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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            7 days ago

            Yeah, it only works if they agree to honor it, which they have no obligation to do. If the government wants to step in and force them to, there’s still no need for NFTs. There could just be a central authority that the government controls that handles it. Why would NFTs need to be involved? NFTs are only as useful as the weakest point in the chain. As soon as whatever authority (the government, Steam, whatever) stops working or stops honoring it then it’s useless.

      • merc@sh.itjust.works
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        7 days ago

        Best thing I can think of is to verify licenses for digital products/games. Buy a game, verify you own it like you would with a CD using an NFT, and then you can sell it again when you’re done.

        You could do that today without NFTs or anything blockchainish if the game companies wanted it. The hurdle isn’t technological, it’s monetary. There’s no reason that a game company would want to allow you to resell your game.

      • altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        7 days ago

        If said Photoshop had a nft licensing service, it could’ve stayed online for longer. Legit old versions of Adobe software that had one-time purchase licenses can’t be activated anymore due to servers being brought down. And that’s how they want it while pushing subscriptions for 10+ years.

        • uienia@lemmy.world
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          7 days ago

          The exact same thing would have happened with an NFT licensing service. They would still link to obsolete servers. The problem is not a problem which NFT would solve, the problem is the problem of obsolete servers, which are very easy for adobe to fix without any useless NFT technology, if they really wanted to (but of course they don’t)

          • altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            7 days ago

            Trying to find any application for NFT, I came to the conclusion that it would work IF you and me could be the servers there, having a copy of blockchain and verifying validity of keys until we get bored and quit that. It would target one particular issue - cantralized validation on Adobe side. It’d be inefficient and all, but it may deny them some power over usage of their legitly purchased product.

            • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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              7 days ago

              Sure, but what do they get for using that system and giving up control? If they don’t agree to use it then it’s an illegal copy and you might as well pirate it.

    • DogWater@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      The technology is not a scam. The tech was used to make scam products.

      NFTs can be useful as tickets, vouchers, certificates of authenticity, proof of ownership of something that is actually real (not a jpeg), etc.

      • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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        7 days ago

        But where specifically does it help to not have approved central servers?

        Wouldn’t entertainment venues rather retain full control? How would we get out from under Ticketmaster’s monopoly? If the government can just seize property, then why would we ask anyone else who owns a plot of land?

        • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          7 days ago

          Wouldn’t entertainment venues rather retain full control?

          Pretty sure ticketmaster has all the control.

          How would we get out from under Ticketmaster’s monopoly?

          Using a decentralized and open network (aka NFTs).

          If the government can just seize property, then why would we ask anyone else who owns a plot of land?

          It’s not about using NFTs to seize land. It’s more that governments are terrible at keeping records. Moving proof of ownership to an open and decentralized network could be an improvement.

          FWIW I think capitalism with destroy the planet with or without NFTs. But it’s fairly obtuse to deny that NFTs could disintermediate a variety of centralized cartels.

          • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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            7 days ago

            How would we get out from under Ticketmaster’s monopoly?

            Using a decentralized and open network (aka NFTs).

            Sorry to be obtuse, but could you break this down some more? How does the replacement being decentralized and open help against TM’s anti-competitive practices?

      • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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        7 days ago

        NFT’s are a scam. Blockchain less so but still has no use.

        NFTs were nothing but an URL saved in a decentralized database, linking to a centralized server.

        • SparroHawc@lemm.ee
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          7 days ago

          That implementation of NFTs was a total scam, yes. There are some cool potential applications for NFTs … but mostly it was a solution looking for a problem. Even situations where it could be useful - like tracking ownership of things like concert tickets - weren’t going to fly, because the companies don’t want to relinquish control of the second-hand marketplace. They don’t get their cut that way.