NFTs, Explained

a16z Podcast

Given all the activity and interest recently around crypto and web3, as well as in upcoming holidays and art events, we’re re-running our episode all about NFTs (from March 2021) -- where we covered everything you need or want to know about NFTs. You can also find a curated list of resources to learn all about NFTs at future.com/nftcanon. That list, and this episode, has something for everyone -- from artists and creators and other builders to big companies and institutions or just anyone seeking to understand or even explain to others NFTs.

Here, we’ve cut through the noise around NFTs to share the signal, covering everything from:

• what NFTs are and the underlying crypto big picture, before we dig into specifically what forms they take;
• common myths and misconceptions -- from confusing overlaps with other concepts to addressing commentary like it’s “just a JPG” or that it’s just hype
• to the question of energy use, also covering briefly how NFTs work
• providing a quick overview of the players/ ecosystem
• and throughout, covering various applications too.

Joining host Sonal Chokshi are Jesse Walden, now of Variant Fund, and formerly co-founder of Mediachain Labs, which was acquired by Spotify; and Linda Xie, now of Scalar Capital, and formerly an early product manager at Coinbase. As a reminder, NONE of the following should be taken as investment advice, for more important information please see a16z.com/disclosures.

[If you’re also interested in DAOs (which we touch on briefly in this episode), we just recently published a list of readings -- in the vein of our famous crypto canon resource, then NFT canon, and now DAO canon -- all about DAOs. It’s for anyone seeking to understand, build, and otherwise get involved with these “decentralized autonomous organizations” -- which represent the future of community, coordination, work, and much more… so we’ve curated resources on this list for people at different levels of interest, from dipping one’s toes in to going deep. You can find that at future.com/daocanon.]
This episode was originally released in March 2021: https://future.a16z.com/podcasts/nfts-explainer/