# currently thinking: nfts strengths & weakness By [jcw](https://paragraph.com/@jovin) · 2021-11-29 --- [Based on a thread](https://twitter.com/ArlanWasHere/status/1434606881792610306?s=20) from a couple of days ago, I wanted to write out my thoughts on NFTs as they related to 3 topics (Access, Ownership, Environment). I think NFTs are not inherently good or bad and suffer from many of the same issues that other forms of rare items suffer from. Access ------ Who has the ability to participate? **Strengths** * **NFTs benefit from day one global accessibility.** There are little to no geographic borders. * **Digital native.** This asset is intangible and anyone with access to a smartphone can participate. * **Limited gatekeeping.** Almost anyone can just join a Discord server and participate in the community. * **No creator can’t create.** I have not seen a creator being blocked from creating. **Weaknesses** * **Limited analog access.** One could argue that being digital makes it less accessible. I think tech moves in a direction where almost everyone can come online in some capacity. * **English centric.** Have not seen much focus on language access besides English. This could be my own limited worldview. * **Accessibility.** Have not seen much work done for the disabled. How can we expose creativity to those that may not have previously been able to engage in analog creativity? * **Easy exposure to phishing schemes.** I don’t think we have mastered security for the layperson and this can become a big issue as the value and the value stored gets larger. Ownership --------- Who owns what? How does one own something that is intangible? **Strengths** * **Ownership is not limited to just the wealthy.** It seems like if you are making your bets right then you can amass wealth/ownership with minimal upstart capital. * **Creators can own their own art and get recurring royalties.** This helps perpetuate the splitting of revenue. * **Don’t lose massive percentages to middle players like galleries.** This obviously won’t hold true forever, but currently, I think they can be somewhat disintermediated. * \*\*There is an opportunity for more owners. \*\*Everyone can own small fractional pieces and this expands the opportunity to solve the weaknesses. More minds solving more problems. * **Creators can participate in secondary sales.** The asset becomes an annuity. **Weaknesses** * **The crypto literate owns more.** It seems like those that are diving deeper are aggregating more. I am not certain this is more than any other industry, but I think it is more in our face since it is digital. * **Poor owner experience.** I have not really seen compelling management of the assets you own. I am not going to my wallet every day. Environment ----------- **Strengths** * **Lack of physical manufacturing.** I feel like we are not thinking of the positive externalities of not manufacturing physical products. There is massive energy consumption to get things delivered right to you. * **No transportation costs.** This relates to the above, transportation does not exist and neither do the negative externalities that come with that. * **I think everyone in NFTs knows that the environmental impact is large.** There are multiple protocols looking to solve this i.e. [Solana](https://solana.com/), [Cardano](https://cardano.org/), and [Algorand](https://www.algorand.com/). **Weaknesses** * **Energy wasted.** We are still minting and we are not waiting and this energy is a sunk cost. * **No tax for consumption**. I feel like we should be taxing energy consumption across the board not just for NFTs --- *Originally published on [jcw](https://paragraph.com/@jovin/currently-thinking-nfts-strengths-weakness)*