From non fungible tokens to metaverse: blockchain based inclusive innovation in arts

Abstract

ABSTRACT The principal research question addressed by this paper is about how and why blockchain based digital technologies and the metaverse ought to be viewed as inclusive innovations. It is stated that Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) crafted from Ethereum blockchains enable upcoming and established artists to prove their credentials and ownership over their works and reach their products to a wider community of buyers both in the real world as well as in the Metaverse. All the same, NFT auction platforms by innovatively fractionating digital versions of artwork and auctioning the fractions to a large community of small buyers, ensure that marginalized sections of buyers of arts works get ownership over quality art works. Given the nascent nature of the innovation, the paper adopts a conceptual approach to understand the implications of NFTs and metaverse in democratizing art institutions through the mechanism of distributed economic systems which are inclusive, authentic and empowering.