NFTs are a funhouse mirror reflecting the flaws and asymmetries of the current art market. In their distortions, they highlight an array of unresolved problems, ranging from legal to conceptual to ethical. And amid the carnivalesque hype of cryptocurrency, NFTs may crystallize some of these issues in a way that prevents truly radical alternatives — for art and for culture as a whole — from being imagined and built.

NFTs are a funhouse mirror reflecting the flaws and asymmetries of the current art market. In their distortions, they highlight an array of unresolved problems, ranging from legal to conceptual to ethical. And amid the carnivalesque hype of cryptocurrency, NFTs may crystallize some of these issues in a way that prevents truly radical alternatives — for art and for culture as a whole — from being imagined and built.