Logophile
I like words. I like to learn new words. I like to dust off old words. I like to use usual words in unusual ways. I like phrases, colloquialisms, and acronyms. I love the acrid smell of a well-played euphemism in the morning. I love the sweet aroma of affectionate phrases in unexpected places.
I like words. They make me a jolly good fellow.
I like words, they help me unwind and sometimes they make me feel mellow.
(My regrets to Tom T. Hall.)
I hate ignorance. I especially hate it in myself, which explains the level of self-loathing often demonstrated in this space. If I feel ignorant on a subject ( and I feel it because I am), then I want to rectify it, even if it is over my head, which hangs pretty low, so that possibility exists at all times.
Nonfungible
Thus, you can understand why, as I was occupying my rightful throne early of a morning, I was looking up information on the NFT. I wanted to understand why the heck a digital picture of an ape warranted a yacht club and why on earth it was worth any more than any Internet pic I have right-clicked and pilfered to use in a post here or there.
What in the Sam Hill is an NFT, Gene?
Thanks for asking. It is an acronym for the phrase “Nonfungible Token.â€
What the f… heck is fungible, Gene?
This is the part that bothered me most, being a logophile (a lover of words).
Before my research from the throne, I could not have given you any answer other than something I deduced or flat made up. Now I can and here it is…
being something (such as money or a commodity) of such a nature that one part or quantity may be replaced by another equal part or quantity in paying a debt or settling an account.
Merriam Webster Online Dictionary
What Is Fungibility?
Fungibility is the ability of a good or asset to be interchanged with other individual goods or assets of the same type. Fungible assets simplify the exchange and trade processes, as fungibility implies equal value between the assets.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
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Fungibility is the ability of a good or asset to be readily interchanged for another of like kind.
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Like goods and assets that are not interchangeable, such as owned cars and houses, are non-fungible.
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Money is a prime example of something fungible, where a $1 bill is easily convertible into four quarters or ten dimes, etc.
Invesopedia.com
I still don’t know what an NFT is, though, Gene!
Calm down!
Definition
NFTs (or “non-fungible tokensâ€) are a special kind of cryptoasset in which each token is unique — as opposed to “fungible†assets like Bitcoin and dollar bills, which are all worth exactly the same amount. Because every NFT is unique, they can be used to authenticate ownership of digital assets like artworks, recordings, and virtual real estate or pets.
Coinbase.com
Stop laughing. People are serious about this. It involves Penguins and Apes. And other stupid sh…
In February 2021, a 10-second video by an artist named Beeple sold online for $6.6 million. Around the same time, Christie’s announced that it would be selling a collage of 5,000 “all-digital†works by the Wisconsin-based artist, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann. It was put on a virtual auction block with a starting price of $100 — and on March 11 it sold for a staggering $69 million.
Beyond the high prices, there was one other fact that observers found fascinating. In exchange for their money, collectors who buy Beeples don’t receive any physical manifestation of the artwork. Not even a framed print. What they do get is an increasingly popular kind of cryptoasset called an NFT — short for non-fungible token.
Each Beeple piece is paired with a unique NFT — a token attesting that each owner’s version is the real one. “We are in a very unknown territory,†Christie’s contemporary art specialist Noah Davis told Reuters. “In the first 10 minutes of bidding we had more than a hundred bids from 21 bidders and we were at a million dollars.â€
sic
So that is your basic introduction to NFT.
Gangster
Now, on to the OG of the NFT.
Do you know the term OG? It stands for “Original Gangster.†It is hip-hop slang as best I can tell.
WHAT DOES OG MEAN?
OG is a slang term for someone who’s incredibly exceptional, authentic, or “old-school.†It can be earnestly used for a legend like Michael Jordan or more ironically, like for that friend who can unwrap a Starburst with their mouth.
dictionary.com
Old school. The first of its kind. One-of-a-kind. Exceptional.
You and I…we are the OG of the NFT.
You are non-fungible. There has never been an exact you before you and there will never be an exact you after. You precede, exceed, and will succeed the Bored Ape Yacht Club. Yes, you will.
Grace
You are a nonfungible token of grace. Why would you sell yourself short by ignoring your value? You know how value is determined, right? It is market-driven. A thing is worth whatever someone will pay. What does that say about you?
For God so loved the world (that is you and me) that he gave his only begotten son…
John 3:16
You devalue yourself when you ignore grace.
You also devalue yourself when you try to be something you are not or try to be someone else. God made you you and in the spiritual blockchain, there is no other you and never will be. You are nonfungible. You are His greatest investment. He put everything He had into you!
Live like the OG you are, not by thumping your chest or beating your own drum but by accepting your value and by valuing what it is that made you valuable in the first place. God and His grace. Jesus Christ and His sacrifice.
You do you, but for His glory, you nonfungible token, you.