NFTs aren’t just digital art — they’re also farts, weddings rings, songs and even porn

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NFTs aren’t just digital art — they’re also farts, weddings rings, songs and even porn
  • Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are the newest trend in the crypto world. Everyone from Twitter founder Jack Dorsey to Elon Musk is making an indulgence.
  • They go beyond digital art with people selling farts, exchanging wedding rings, and launching albums as NFTs.
  • Here are some of the weirdest and strangest thing being sold online as the trend of NFTs becomes more mainstream.
The wonderfully wacky world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) isn’t just digital art. People are selling fart sounds, exchanging NFT wedding rings, buying up virtual kittens and finding ways to make porn last forever.

These items — that wouldn’t seem like they were worth much in the real world — are fetching hundreds and millions of dollars online.

What are NFTs?
NFTs are a cousin of bitcoin. Bitcoins are fungible. One bitcoin can be traded for another, and you’d still have the exact same thing.

NFTs, on the other hand, are non-fungible as the name implies. Each NFT is unique, which means that no two NFTs are identical. Therefore, one NFT can’t simply be exchanged for another. The only thing that all NFTs have in common is that they’re digital. They operate in the bit-space world.

The concept of NFTs may seem strange to begin with, but it only gets stranger when people find things other than traditional art to sell for profit:
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$500 for fart noises

$500 for fart noises
Pexels

When the lockdown started in March last year, a Brooklyn filmmaker and his four friends needed something to pass the time. And, one of the first thoughts that crossed their minds was sending audio recordings of their farts to one another through a WhatsApp group chat.

One year later, the filmmaker — Alex Ramírez-Mallis — decided to auction 52 minutes of audio flatulence as an NFT called ‘One Calendar Year of Recorded Farts’, later selling it for a whopping $500.

Individual fart recordings are available too from anywhere between 0.005 to 0.05 Ethereum apiece, which is approximately $10 to $100 a pop.

If you think that’s ridiculous, you should know that Ramirez-Mallis would not disagree with you. Yet, there are many others following the same endeavour online.

Why exchange rings where you can exchange NFTs?

Why exchange rings where you can exchange NFTs?
@rgoldilox on Twitter

Everyone wants their wedding ring to be unique, and what’s more unique than an NFT? In comparison to conventional wedding rings that lose value with wear and tear, an NFT is expected to increase in value over time.

At least that’s what a couple from California, Rebecca Rose and Peter Kacherginsky, believe. They got married in March earlier this year and exchanged virtual rings on their smartphone.

Unlike physical objects, blockchain is forever, according to the happy couple. And, the virtual rings now exist on blockchain "for all to see as proof of our commitment to each other," Rose said in a Tweet.

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Wherever there is a new and emerging technology, there is porn

Wherever there is a new and emerging technology, there is porn
@crypt0natrix NFT on Twitter

‘Making Vlad My Bitch’ — an image of a woman dragging Robinhood CEO Valdimir Tenev — is being sold on the cryptocurrency marketplace Rarible for 1 Ethereum — that’s a little over $1,772.

It was created by a dominatrix and artist called Cryptonatrix, who has also created other pieces like the one seen above. She’s only one of many in the adult entertainment industry catching onto the theme of not-safe-for-work (NSFW) NFTs. In fact, Pornvisory launched its own NFTs as early as October last year.

Not only do they bring in big money, but they’re also a new way for porn to distribute itself at a time when censorship on social media is at an all-time high.

The cat meme that sold for half a million dollars

The cat meme that sold for half a million dollars
YouTube video screenshot

Nyan Cat meme has been around since 2011. And its creator, Chris Toress, sold the NFT version for $580,000 in February, earlier this year.

The meme originated on YouTube and quickly became an internet sensation. It currently has over 200 million views on Google’s video streaming platform.

Throughout the three and half minute sequence, the cat — which has a Pop-tart for torso — does little more than fly through space, leaving a rainbow trail in its wake. Yet, it went viral in 2011 — and its current value is pegged at half a million dollars.

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​Kings of Leon plans to be the first band to release an entire album as an NFT

​Kings of Leon plans to be the first band to release an entire album as an NFT
Kings of Leon

The band Kings of Leon — known for songs like Use Somebody, The Bucket, and Sex on Fire — has plans to release its next album called When You See Yourself as an NFT on April 9.

The normal version of the album will be released on the usual platforms — Spotify, iTunes, Apple Music, Amazon — but three types of NFT versions will only be available on YellowHeart.

The first type of token, priced at $50, includes enhanced media, which the Rolling Stone magazine describes as ‘a kind of like an alternate, moving album cover’ along with as well as a digital download of the music, and limited-edition vinyl.

The second type of token is a ‘golden ticket’. There will only be 18 of these. Each token offers perks like front-row seats for life at every Kings of Leon concert, and a VIP experience at every tour including a personal driver and time-slotted to hang out with the band before a show.

The final option is a set of six unique-looking tokens that are standard NFTs with elaborate audiovisual art.

Over time, all of these NFTs are expected to increase in value.

The first-ever NFTs were free, but now they’re is gracing the prestigious Christie's auction house hoping to sell for $7 million

The first-ever NFTs were free, but now they’re is gracing the prestigious Christie's auction house hoping to sell for $7 million
Christie's

Even though excitement around NFTs surged in late 2020 and early 2021, they’re officially been around since at least 2017.

There were some NFT-like projects before then — like Quantum by Kevin McCoy — but the launch of CryptoPunks by Larvalabs was the first time anyone thought to generate unique lines of code that would translate into 10,000 characters where no two were alike.

At the time, the aim wasn’t profit. All of these ‘punks’ were generated and claimed for free when the project launched four years ago. Now, nine of them are going to be up for sale at the Christie’s auction house in May. This is the same auction house that sold Beeple’s ‘Everydays: The First 5000 Days’ for a record-breaking $69 million.

Based on past sales, Christie’s estimates that the CyberPunks collection may sell for an estimated $7 million to $8 million.

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