May 18, 2021 · 21m · a16z
The Future of NFTs
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
Hosted by Ariana Simpson, this a16z fireside chat features Chris Dixon and Dan Boneh exploring how NFTs and blockchain technology enable true digital ownership, programmable creator economics, and financial composability across Web3.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. How this is scored →
The host as informed peer 3.3 Guest teaching 5.3 Guest disagreement 0.0 The host pushing back 0.0
speaking balance: gold is the host, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 17:53 Chris calling out Twitter FUD on storage
In a completely collaborative panel, Chris offers the most contrarian stance by directly dismissing online critics pushing viral Twitter FUD regarding NFT storage limits.
Hardest push from the host ▶ 11:55 Arianna framing DeFi composability constraintsRather than asking an open-ended question, Arianna asserts a strong framework around permissionless DeFi stack composability and prompts the guests to address it.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 6:50 Dan detailing Hal Finney and ERC-721 standardization historyDan provides a masterclass on historical crypto context, educating the panel on Hal Finney's 1993 crypto card post and the multi-year standardization of ERC-721.
The host holds their own ▶ 11:55 Arianna explaining permissionless DeFi stack composabilityArianna demonstrates her deep sector domain knowledge by detailing how permissionless stacks enable arbitrage and open integration in DeFi.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | The host as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | The host pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Important Legal and Financial Disclosures | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Arianna opens the panel with a broad introductory question asking Chris Dixon to define NFTs. Chris provides a thorough primer on user ownership vs old web platform models and creator economics while the host listlessly moderates. | |
| Blockchain Permanence and Mainstream NFT Growth | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 | Arianna asks why NFTs are exploding now despite not being a new idea. Dan Boneh educates the audience on blockchain permanence outlasting centuries, Hal Finney's 1993 prediction, and the 2018 ERC-721 standard confluence. | |
| Programmable Ownership and Metaverse Utility | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Arianna demonstrates good baseline knowledge by citing secondary sale transfer fee structures. Chris expands on metaverse utility, portable digital goods, and embedding verbs alongside nouns in smart contracts. | |
| NFT Composability and DeFi Ecosystem Integration | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | Arianna presents an informed technical prompt linking DeFi composability to NFT architectures. Dan details wrapping ERC-721 in ERC-20 tokens, borrowing against NFTs as collateral, and derivative index funds. | |
| Audience Q&A: Quantum Computing and Immutability | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Arianna intentionally curates a technical audience question on quantum computing threats to dispel crypto FUD. Dan and Chris explain quantum-resistant signature algorithms. | |
| Audience Q&A: Decentralized Storage Infrastructure | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Arianna poses an audience question about decentralized permanent storage. Chris and Dan breakdown Filecoin/Arweave infrastructure and the existential risks of centralized server points of failure. |
Statements from this episode (11)
Dixon predicts services will let users utilize NFTs across virtual worlds
“And I think increasingly what we'll see is we'll see more and more services that let you do cool things with them. So maybe you take your crypto punk into a game or you take, you know, a piece of art into the central land, or you do.”
Dixon: Web3 re-architects the internet to prioritize users over platforms
“And, I think another way to think about it is we're sort of re-architecting, hopefully, If this all works to re architecting the web to be a user and object kind of first, and then the applications created around it, as opposed to what the web has been so far,…”
Dixon: NFTs enable creators to build viable businesses selling to super-fans
“For the creators, what NFTs, NFTs let them do is, is have business models that are much more like the offline models, but they can actually sell things directly to their fans. And a relatively small set of kind of super enthusiastic fans can provide a great bu…”
Boneh predicts Bitcoin and Ethereum data will survive until year 3000
“So I think that the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains are going to be with humanity now forever, you know, in the year 3000, you know, the era of Futurama, we're still going to be looking at the Ethereum and Bitcoin blockchains. Maybe they won't be called that,…”
Boneh notes Hal Finney envisioned crypto trading cards in 1993
“Even in 1993, Hal Finney wrote a blog post, believe it or not, in 1993, Wrote a blog post about crypto trading cards, right?”
Dixon: Secondary NFT royalties will significantly improve creator economics
“The idea that a creator, you know, will, can participate in the economics, not just initial sale, but in the fall sales, right? Which would be, I think a big you know, kind of improvement for a lot of creator economics.”
Boneh notes companies are enabling borrowing against NFTs as collateral
“If you own an NFT, you can borrow against that NFT as collateral. Basically, you can mortgage your NFT, and already we're seeing some companies doing that.”
Boneh predicts the widespread emergence of fractional NFT ownership
“So that's pretty interesting, and I think we're going to be seeing things like fractional ownership of NFTs.”
Boneh predicts an aftermarket for composable NFT enhancements will emerge
“We're going to see enhancements to NFTs, so you can buy an NFT, and then there could be an aftermarket for enhancing it, like this image that you have, your background image, Ariana.”
Boneh: Blockchains will adopt quantum-resistant signatures before quantum threats emerge
“Quantum computers are ever built. Yes, they will be able to affect the signature algorithm that's used for securing assets on blockchains today, but not to worry. We have other signature algorithms that are actually quantum resistance. So even if you have a qu…”
Dixon: NFT metadata storage on decentralized networks is a coordination challenge
“So the metadata can be stored. I think ideally it was stored on a decentralized storage platform which are essentially blockchains that are optimized for that use case. And that could be Filecoin or Arweave or a bunch of others. Those blockchains exist. They'r…”