Editor's note

Issue 392  May 2021

Subscriber edition

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Am I out of touch? No, it is the NFTs that are wrong

The time has finally come and I have begun to sound like my forefathers: there is a piece of technology that I just do not get.

The non-fungible token (NFT) train is here, and everyone is on board. Except for me. I am still at the station reading my book, drinking a coffee and wondering why we turn up to this exact same train station every four months expecting a vehicle with the solution to everything.

At first it seemed to be another rescue wagon for the music industry, as artists such as Kings of Leon released an album on NFT. A myriad of bands have tried new methods of album release to try and fix everything: U2 forced its album on your phone; Nine Inch Nails released one song on a USB drive, in a toilet in Lisbon, with clues to where the next song was; Prince just gave out his 2010 album, 20Ten, free with newspapers across Europe.

However, we are covering it in this issue. Will NFTs enhance art trading and the art world? Is it going to revamp wealth management forever? All of this is covered.

Blockchain and cryptocurrency had this level of excitement behind them as well. We will see if NFT actually turns into something. This is not by any means to say that blockchain or crypto are failed experiments, but they are yet to live up to their potential.

Patrick Brusnahan,
Editor