Prospecting non-fungible tokens in the digital economy: Stakeholders and ecosystem, risk and opportunity

Abstract

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a highly nascent and emerging phenomenon revolutionizing how digital assets are traded. NFTs embody immutable rights to unique digital assets such as digital art and collectibles and are represented as digital tokens that can be traded across marketplaces utilizing blockchain technologies. NFTs engender new ways to organize, consume, move, program, and store digital information and have experienced a rapid rise in various adaptations across art, sports, broadcasting, content creation, and tech-crypto businesses. In this article, we define NFTs and look at how they fit with blockchain and cryptocurrencies, how they are used by various industries, and the opportunities and risks they present. Our key contribution is a conceptual map of an initial NFT ecosystem. In doing so, we provide relational mapping between and among key stakeholders: content creators, core and related technical and business intermediaries, consumers, investors, and speculators. We also highlight implications for managers and tie them to conceptual exploration and exploitation frameworks.