NFT’s and their environmental impact

In May, Spring announced our partnership with Bondly, allowing creators to explore the possibilities of creating, minting and selling NFT’s. The question is: are NFTs harmful to the environment?

Short answer: Sometimes. There are blockchain companies finding solutions for excessive energy consumption and offsetting kgC02 emissions associated with the minting of NFT’s. Taking steps towards significantly reducing damage to the environment, Bondly has teamed up with a company who mint NFT’s responsibly. Meet Polygon: a blockchain using just 0.002% of the energy that other blockchains use. 

First, let’s start with the basics: 

What is an NFT?

Just like digital products, NFTs can be anything. However, there are some differences. NFT stands for non-fungible token. With NFTs, digital products can be “tokenized” to create a digital certificate of ownership that can be bought and sold.

Non-fungible token: a unit of data stored on a digital ledger, called a blockchain, that certifies a digital asset to be unique and therefore not interchangeable.

What are the benefits of launching NFTs for creators?

• NFTs allow you to make sure that you get paid a percentage (or royalty) every time your NFT is sold or changes hands. That means, if your work increases in value, you’ll see some of that benefit.
• No one can copy an NFT. This gives you absolute ownership of your work. For example, anyone can buy a Banksy print, but only one person can own the original. The artist can still retain the copyright and reproduction rights of an NFT, just like with physical artwork.
• Fans can financially support creators like you. Buying an NFT gives fans basic usage rights, like being able to post the image online. 

The environmental picture: Polygon VS other blockchains

Since most NFTs use the same blockchain technology as some energy-siphoning cryptocurrencies, they also end up using a lot of electricity as a result. Bondly has recently teamed up with Polygon to integrate eco-friendly NFT minting and are setting up a fund to offset their carbon footprint. One NFT with Polygon uses x3 less energy than streaming a video online for 1 hour. 

Granted, they’re new and the conversation around NFT’s can get complicated. NFT’s not your thing? There’s always a digital product. There are pros and cons to launching both digital products and NFTs. 

We want to offer creators the opportunity to select their creative medium from a wide range of products, both physical and digital—including eco-friendly options.

Keep posted for more.