NFT: Lack of ethics, scam, speculation ... The dark side of the token

"The only thing we wanted to do was make sure that artists could earn money and have control of their work.But nothing went as planned, "said Anil Dash, one of the Fathers of the NFT, in the American magazine The Atlantic, last April.According to him, its technology, which allows you to sell and buy digital objects decentralized, has little to do with its ideal.Originally, it was a question of reacting to the gigantic power of reproduction of artistic works allowed by the web.A wave that states have vainly tried to stem, especially with the Hadopi system in France.

Entrepreneur Anil Dash and his colleague Kevin McCoy therefore imagined a digital property certificate, attached to an intangible and unique work, which makes it possible to monetize it.It is by using this technique that the first SMS in history could be sold by a French auction house at the end of last year.A trivial message: "Merry Christmas", sold 107,000 euros.

Drifts

Far from its initial objective, this invention has become a huge speculation machine.NFTs are indeed buying in cryptocurrencies, the value of which has experienced dazzling growth.And as cryptocurrency holders cannot directly buy yachts with their virtual currency, they tend to buy NFT.The art market thus entered a deep revolution last year.In 2021, nearly $ 41 billion was spent in NFT, according to Chainalysis, a cryptocurrency analysis group.Is almost as much as the global market of classical art.Some see it as a promise of the future.Others are worried about this speculative fever, which is accompanied by spectacular drifts.

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In recent days, an AP -HP surgeon (Public Assistance - Paris hospitals) has tried to sell the radio of one of the victims of the November 13 attacks in the form of an NFT.On the medical image, a ball is housed in a forearm.The whole was put up for sale on a NFT auction site, accompanied by some explanations provided by the surgeon on the context in which this radio was carried out.According to the victim's lawyer, these comments can identify the victim.The case, revealed by Mediapart, sparked an uproar at the AP-HP.The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation reports BFMTV this Tuesday, January 25 for "violation of professional secrecy", the investigations were entrusted to the delinquency repression brigade (BRDP).

The law poses limits

The case asks obvious ethical questions, especially since, theoretically, everything seems to be able to be transformed into NFT and therefore sold.The sale of such an intangible property can be made from a seller to a buyer, without an intervention of a third party, which amounts to resting on the consciousness of the two parties.However, "it is not legal to sell anything as a NFT.All rights attached to property find it to be applied, as is the dignity of the person, "said lawyer Vincent Varet, specialist in intellectual property and technologies, interviewed by Marianne.According to this lawyer, if no specific regulations currently concern these NFTs, the law still sets limits.

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The seller therefore remains responsible for his object on the legal level.Which is not necessarily the case of hosts.In this case, the radio of the victim of the attacks was offered for sale on the American site Opensea, which does not have the obligation to verify whether the content it hosts is legal or not."Since 2000, European law has given lightened responsibility to hosts.We consider that they only store content in a passive way.They therefore have no obligation to control the lawfulness of the content.They only have the obligation to delete the content, if they are reported to them as illegal.This could change in the coming months with the adoption of the DSA, a large European regulation which could give additional obligations to hosts, "said lawyer Vincent Varet.

Crooks and pigeons

In recent weeks, legal proceedings have multiplied in terms of NFT.The luxury group Hermès has just started prosecution in New York against an artist who created NFT, representing fur bags, very inspired by Birkin, the famous brand bag.Hermès believes that this is a flight of his property.The artist takes refuge behind artistic creation and defends herself from being a speculator.These bags, which have no physical existence, are sold several thousand dollars.

Beyond that, the fever that surrounds these tokens attracts more and more crooks who benefit from this non-regulated sector.They hack the portfolios of certain owners or simply sell products that do not exist.Thus, last October, an anonymous developer who had proposed to invest in the creation of a video game disappeared overnight, taking the equivalent of $ 2.7 million, says Motherboard.

Energy mismanagement

Finally, the NFT also sin by their ecological footprint.To be authenticated, each exchange must be verified by other network users, called minors.This is the principle of blockchain, on which the NFT system rests.For this, the computers of minors must resolve very complex and above all very energy consuming formulas.

Each year, the creation and expenditure of bitcoins, which are based on the same system, consume more electricity than Finland, according to a study by the University of Cambridge.A very polluting mismanagement that certain entrepreneurs try to limit by inventing new techniques less energy consuming techniques.

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