Although I've never bought an NFT, I know a lot about crypto and a fair amount about NFTs. (I've been gifted a few.)

I dislike books that are a collection of essays. It feels like a cash grab. The author is too lazy to write a coherent book.

Still, NFTs fascinate me, so I wanted to learn more.

The first problem with this book is that it's a collection of essays from 2020 to 2023.
The NFT space evolves FAST, so 2020 is only useful for historical purposes.
Bobby traces how NFTs were just profile photos and then (thanks to the Bored Apes) became a way to get utility.

Bobby's most fascinating observation is when he said that creating NFTs is like creating a company in reverse.
When you make NFTs, you get showered with money at the start (when you mint them), but then you're expected to deliver value forever. If you fail, you get angry customers and plummeting value. This seems like a broken model, and he fails to provide a solution.

I would have preferred a book that speculates on the future rather than focuses on the past.

Disclosure: I received an advanced copy from the publisher.

This review is based on an uncorrected advanced galley (ebook) provided by NetGalley in return for a review.

I read this book as someone who has heard about NFTs from the sidelines but has wondered whether they are a scam or are the future. After reading this primer from Bobby Hundreds, my conclusion is that they are neither.

Hundreds explains NFTs from his perch as someone who has created and sold two batches of NFTs over the last couple of years. While the subtitle refers to the years 2020-2023, the book ends in very early 2023 and one of the last chapters talks about things that are evolving up to (or perhaps beyond?) the writer's deadline. So things may have changed already.

What I gathered from the book is that NFTs are akin to Air Jordans, baseball cards, or Pokemon. They are collectables, which have little to no utility. (A pair of sneakers that will never be worn also have no utility.) You become part of a club of people who own a certain collectable. This may even be a formal group that someone like Hundreds and his company run, with exclusive meetings for those who can prove their ownership of his NFT and perhaps giveaways or exclusive merch only for owners. But beyond being able to signal ownership in that club, there's not much there. And while some are talking about how NFTs can be used for more utility, this is not much discussed in this book.

If you're a collector - whether because you want to be part of the club or because you think you can make (crypto) money by buying and reselling - this isn't a scam. But unless NFTs can find some broader utility, I see this as a fad, not the future.

NFTs Are A Scam/NFTs Are the Future looks at the history of NFTs and the possibilities of them in the future. I am definitely someone who doesn’t have the same optimism in NFTs as the author. Overall, I didn’t find his points very persuasive, but I’m sure people who share his enthusiasm will enjoy the book.

This book gives a lot of information about the history of NFTs and some opinions as to ways to make them work together with various communities. The authors tries to make them out as more than a money grab and not just another greedy get rich quick market. I did learn some useful information but unfortunately it seems that I learned more about his company and his products and his business community than I did about NFTs, themselves. If you’re thinking about getting into this phenomenon, the book is a decent read. It gives suitable advice and warnings. What it is not is a gentle introduction to the basics you need to get started,