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Ian: Hey, everyone, you are listening to “Coffee with Gringos.” I'm Ian Kennedy.
Paige: And I'm Paige. Sutherland.
Ian: And today we're going to take an attempt at explaining something that is taking the world by storm. And when I say we're going to take a crack at it, we're going to take an attempt, we're going to do our best to explain it, but it's something that we're trying to learn ourselves so please bear with us. We're going to try our best but we're going to explain NFT's which stands for non-fungible token. So, this is essentially a unique digital art piece or unique digital code that represents some sort of digital item that you can own. So, it could be digital art, it could be music, it could be memes. It could be basically anything digital that we see in the world now and it's almost like a new form of art. So, we're going to be explaining that as best we can and as always, make sure to go online and check out that audio guide and transcript at www.dynamicenglish.cl. So, like I tried to explain here in the upfront, a non-fungible token is basically something that you can buy as an art piece and it's something that you basically own in the digital world, so, essentially, these pieces of artwork or these memes or whatever is being sold in this sort of a medium. It's totally unique. It has a non-interchangeable unit of data. So, it's almost like you have a digital ledger that gives you the ownership, all the rights to using it. And these are basically collectible digital assets and they hold value just like physical art that you would hang on your wall does. It's sort of a new way of showing whoever you want, that you own this digital art. So, there's somewhat similar to cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin and Ethereum in that it can only be exchanged for something on the blockchain which is essentially a place where all the ownership and all the encrypted analytics and information of all of these pieces exists. And so, it's really strange to think about because like I said, it can be original copy, it can be photography, it can be art, music, videos, tweets, memes—you can basically make it out of anything. And it's weird though, because as you're not going to hang it up on your wall. You're just going to have it I guess, on your computer or on your phone or wherever you store your cloud, right. And so, it's kind of like the new art collector’s world, I guess you could say. Like I said, we're trying to explain this a bit more. But Paige, is this like Greek to you? Or do you understand some of this?
Paige: I mean, I really don't quite understand it because like you said, I think that was such a good point is when it comes to art, there can be a physical presence, you can have it in your house, you can hang it, you can display it. But with these digital tokens, they're just on your computer. You don't get quite the driver in investing millions of dollars and a piece of art that just sits on your computer. Rich people can make an iPad they can hang on the wall where it's like art. I don't quite get someone who spends millions of dollars on these digital arts, what they're going to do with it. And the fact that like you said, a tweet—someone tweets something which is not in my mind. I mean are obviously so broad and arts, whatever you mean but, in my mind, a tweet isn’t art. It’s just something someone said. It took five seconds and the fact that you would make millions of dollars off that and someone would just want ownership of that is bonkers to me. But people are doing it, people are paying millions of dollars for tweets, right? I mean, it's again, crazy to think about it in that way.
Ian: Right? And we're in this new digital world, but it's hard to sit there and say, okay, what do I actually own myself in this digital world? And we're starting to see this more in non-fungible tokens as ways of almost the new collector's world as well. It's almost like, I don't want to compare necessarily to collecting like baseball cards or Pokémon cards or things like this, but it’s kind of is. You're displaying something that you quote-unquote, “own” just more in a digital form here. And it's crazy because it has taken off so crazy that analysts of JP Morgan said that the total market cap—capitalization—is close to $7 billion USD and it's going to keep growing and they say the growth of this market is going to be just going up and up as we go more into this digital world. And I'm going to put out a couple figures here that definitely shocked me but I think will probably shock our audience listening is the top five most expensive NFTs that were bought in 2021 in US dollars. So, we have one of them, the most expensive it was called Pak’s “The Merge”. It was $91.8 million USD. The others were $69.3 million USD, $28.9 million USD, $11.75 million USD, $7.67 million USD. So, all of these are above $5 million USD, just in the year 2021. So clearly there is the market demand for it. People are willing to pay insane amounts of money for basically just little pieces of digital art and, I don't know if there's going to be capabilities in the future to maybe make it more presentable in your home or there are going to be more benefits to it but I just can't really wrap my head around paying that much for something that's just going to sit on your screen.
Paige: That is not where you need to start, tweet now some things and get in on this business.
Ian: I think Coffee with Gringos, let's go let's get some coffee with NFTs out there. I think that's an idea new revenue stream for us.
Paige: Hey, Ian. Did you know besides the podcast, Dynamic English offers one-on-one classes with native teachers from all over the world?
Ian: Really? But isn't it just a bunch of grammar lessons?
Paige: Nope, it's completely discussion-based and focuses on topics the student is interested in.
Ian: That's amazing. But what if I'm not living in Chile?
Paige: No problem. Dynamic does online classes. You can be living anywhere.
Ian: Great, but I'm a little intimidated to take the class alone. Can I join with a friend?
Paige: Of course. Dynamic offers group classes of up to four. Plus, for the next month, Coffee with Gringos listeners get 10% off individual or group classes. So go online to www.dynamicenglish.cl and mention that you are a listener and get your discount.
Ian: Well, I'm sold. Sign me up.
Ian: It's amazing that this has caught on so much and we're shocked when people buy expensive paintings but at least if you buy a Picasso, you know it was painted by Picasso himself, it's got some sort of charm to it. There's not a lot of history or real charm to these NF T's. I feel like maybe that's just me personally, but it just seems like it's hard for me to feel like that I could catch on to it or it would be something that would become popular but, obviously, I'm wrong because we see the figures and we see how much it's growing. So, there's definitely something to it.
Paige: Yeah, I think when it comes to digital art, there's definitely value that artists are getting paid for their work but when it comes to spending millions of dollars on a tweet, I think that's where I get lost a little and the idea that everything on the internet is out there and downloadable and shareable and like you said, you can take a screenshot of things. How do you really know you're spending all this money and really owning it, where it feels like, everyone kind of has access to these things? I mean, like a tweet, you're like, this is the original, it's like well, I saw this tweet on my phone and screenshotted it so I have it too.
Ian: Yeah, again, it's one of those weird things where I compare it to being a collector or a memorabilia kind of person because really, I guess you're just paying to say you technically have the rights to what that original thing is. But yeah, like we've said, you can screenshot anything nowadays that's on a screen so, you could claim that it's yours when somebody can have basically the same piece of art without paying all that money. But I think you brought up some really good points. I think it's a great way for, especially artists, musicians, people like this to find a way to make more money and support themselves. They don't have to rely on other mediums and this is a way to directly get to the consumer and it's in a way, it's a transaction that is also good and benefits both of them. So, there are also NFTs that are not millions of dollars. You can pay just a couple of dollars for certain NF T's or whatever price you're willing to pay or whatever price they're willing to sell and it's totally fair and it's a win for everybody. So, there's definitely good and bad to it and the bad I would say, I don't even truly understand. So again, this is something that is ever evolving. It's this new industry, this new thing in our digital world and just like we've had to navigate things before, we're going to have to navigate this as it goes along as well. But like cryptocurrency, this is another thing that I just don't feel like is really in my wheelhouse, especially yet, so I myself will not be diving into the NFT world. I won't be buying any NF T's necessarily but if anybody wants to buy some NF Ts that Paige and I are going to create, please contact us. What about you, Paige? Are you going to dive in headfirst into the NFT world and start buying up all this art or do you think you're going to wait a little bit and see how it pans out?
Paige: Yeah, I do not have the money to buy NFTs so that's hard no for me. But even if I did, like you said, I think there's probably a common phrase in business of “don't invest in something you don't understand.” So, I've read so many articles, I'm reading an article right now about “NF Ts for Dummies” and I still don't get it, so I would not invest in this because I don't get it and also same with Bitcoin. I mean, Bitcoin has been around for a while, in my mind, I've never used it or never really been exposed to it much and so that hasn't really kicked off, I would say mainstream and so will NF T's? I don't know. I feel like it's hard to say if this is just something that will come and go very quickly or something that's here to stay. I would be curious to see how that shakes out.
Ian: Yeah, we'll find out.
Paige: It'll be crazy to think ten or twenty years from now, we go to a museum and all you're looking at are screens of digital art. I kind of hope that isn't the case, because that feels like we're on screens so much as we are now but maybe that is the future. I don't know. I think that could very likely happen.
Ian: So, we'll just have to see how all this goes and, like we mentioned at the top of the podcast, we just tried our best to explain it this is ever evolving. I'm sure we got many things wrong. So please bear with us, and do a little bit of research yourself as well and try to get try to get ahead on this whole game. So, as always, listeners, thanks so much for tuning in and again, make sure to go online and check out that audio guide and transcript at www.dynamicenglish.cl. As always, thanks for listening.
Paige: We'll see you next time.
Paige: “Coffee with Gringos” was brought to you by Dynamic English, where you can learn English simply by using it. If you're interested in taking classes or just want to learn more, go to our website at dynamicenglish.cl. Thanks for listening.
Key Vocabulary, Phrases & Slang:
1. to take the world by storm (idiom): to become quickly successful or popular.
a. NFTs have taken the world by storm in the past couple of years.
2. to bear with (someone) (phrasal verb): to be understanding and patient.
a. This is a new subject, so please bear with us.
3. bonkers (adjective, slang): crazy, ridiculous, unbelievable.
a. It is so bonkers that people pay millions of dollars for digital art.
4. to take off (phrasal verb): to become quickly successful or popular.
a. Digital art has taken off quickly in recent years.
5. to wrap one’s head around (something) (idiom): to understand or comprehend.
a. I can’t wrap my head around how expensive it is!
6. to catch on (phrasal verb): to become popular.
a. Is this going to catch on like cryptocurrency?
7. screenshot (noun): an image displayed on a digital screen.
a. It is so easy to take a screenshot of anything digital nowadays.
8. in one’s wheelhouse (idiom): one’s area of interest or expertise.
a. This topic is definitely not in my wheelhouse.
9. to pan out (phrasal verb): to end up, conclude.
a. It will be interesting to see how the world of NFTs pans out.
10. to shake out (phrasal verb): to eventually happen.
a. Let’s see how all of this shakes out.