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Financial instruments for investing and growing one’s money have always been limited to stocks, real estate, cash, and gold, to name a few. Such instruments collectively are known as Asset Classes, a group of financial instruments with similar characteristics and behaviour in the market. However, with technological advances comes new means of investing. And non-fungible tokens, built on the blockchain backbone, have emerged as one of the latest hot asset classes. But is NFT for everyone?
During a panel discussion on ‘NFT is an asset class’ at the Web3 and Tech and Innovation Summit 2023 held by Entrepreneur India, industry leaders shared their thoughts on the tool as an asset class.
Digital collectables are one of the most notable forms of NFTs. For an NFT to qualify as an asset class, it needs to do more than just act as a digital collectible. “Asset has a value to it, and many of the NFTs have to have a value, which is not a digital form. If the asset doesn’t have a value, then it is of no point buying that NFT, according to me. Now, how that value comes in? The value can come through any kind of utility behind that particular NFT, or it can have multiple use cases,” shares Bhavesh Thakkar, CEO and Co-founder, DIMO, XDSea NFT Marketplace, DIMO studio & RoRo Wallet.
Two of the key use cases exist in the form of phygital benefits and unlocking content. NFTs popularly have several utility values in the segments such as art and collectibles, sports memorabilia, events, gaming, and virtual real estate. Buying an NFT should not be just based on the digital aspect, but also on the other offerings.
But is buying an NFT for thousands of dollars worth it? “If you have a Bored Ape Yacht Club (NFT), that is the power of community we are trying to fetch. Now imagine you are flying in the Emirates, and you have a special club preference because you have BAYC. You are elite now, and that is what you are being paid for. This is actually a new form of loyalty programs, gatekeeping, and clubbing and meeting people,” shares Pushkar Vohra, CEO of Pandora Finance. Vijay Dhanasekaran, Founder and Chief Blockchain Consultant, Blocknetics echoes the feeling and shares, “I think it’s all about the exclusivity you get.”
While NFTs are a hot topic globally, their long-term relevancy will depend on their wide phygital offerings and not just their existence on a blockchain.
