Beyond the craze: depicting the NFTs’ cultural and market ecosystem

This working paper is aimed at reconstructing the trajectory of NFTs’ circuits and the socio-cultural value attached to them in each of the transitions through which they progress from design to marketization and circulation. As there is little pre-existing knowledge about NFTs, our work has a discovery-oriented nature, therefore we are developing an exploratory qualitative research design that is aimed at investigating in-depth the anatomy of NFTs and the lived experiences associated with them in the socio-technical contexts where they are situated. Our effort is to depict the socio-cultural and the market ecosystem mobilized by NFTs and the evolving nature of the emotional, social, cultural and financial labor that constitutes them since their inception throughout their life trajectory. The focus is on the interactional nature of the meanings and values which emerge in the conversations, the negotiations, the transformations and the exploitations that are the result of the ‘participatory internet culture’ in which NFTs are rooted (Jenkins et al., 2016). More specifically our research design is based on two main parallel phases: 1. Developing a collection of NFT actors’ biographies; 2. Following NFTs’ relational, market, and consumption dynamics in context. We are currently conducting depth-interviews to explore the variety of identities, perspectives, motivations, stories, practices, and projects to get a deep understanding of the world of NFTs from the subjects’ point of view, uncover their NFT-related lived experiences, and unfold their meanings (Kvale and Brinkmann, 2009). We are recruiting our participants according to the principles of theoretical and snowball sampling to develop a wide coverage of the phenomenon by including a diversified range of perspectives that are both significant and prototypical NFT experiences, as well as different among one another, so as to develop a deeper understanding of our research object (Morse et al. 2009). We are now in the process of collecting biographies of creators, owners, buyers’ motivations, negotiation and innovation dynamics, shifts in value, circuits of exchange and users’ experiences and participatory work (Kozinets et al., 2008). Our project is in its early stage and so far, we have collected 5 interviews (artist and creator, collector, gamer, social media professional, manufacturer brand). However, our sample will be expanded until data saturation is achieved (Morse et al. 2009). Additionally, considering the digital essence of NFTs, our interviews will be complemented by a netnographic investigation (Kozinets, 2020; Kozinets & Gambetti, 2021) to follow the circulation of NFTs and the relational, market, and consumption trajectories activated by those NFTs. We are relying on archival analysis of news, forums, and sites about NFTs to both identify the key subjects/identities to be involved in our interviews as well as the contexts (i.e. cosmetics, sport footwear, jewelry, etc.) and the specific NFTs to be shadowed in our netnography. At this initial stage of our work, our preliminary findings point at NFTs as an ever-molding digital object, which holds many polarizing tensions and oppositional meanings in the lived experience of the subjects involved in its creation and exchanges. NFTs are perceived either as static pieces of collections, whose fruition is limited by the feeling of absence (of a context, of the senses, of the interaction with people) or as a dynamic nerve center of doings and practices, which embed the NFTs in multiple circuits of passions, dialogues, and exchanges. NFTs are also either accused to foster the loss of authenticity of the creative work or they are valued as the triumph of transparency and integrity thanks to the technology on which they are generated (i.e. Blockchain). Overall the relational and market value and the potential of NFTs emerge from two of its features: first, its scarcity which is the driving force that fuels the velocity and the acceleration of NFTs’ circulation dynamics; second, what we call here the “emulate&augment” capacity of NFTs, meaning that individuals who engage with NFTs do not necessary need to know how they technically work as far as they perfectly copy and imitate relational, consumption, and markets dynamics, which are already known and can be expanded and augmented in the digital and metaverse realms, where NFTs dwell. Due this emergent nuanced, gradual, and technical essence, we are approaching NFTs by adopting a complete neophyte’s eye, therefore we expect to collect numerous interviews as the list of the key actors involved in the NFT world is continuously expanding (i.e. platforms, critics, modelers, traders, information gatekeepers, promoters, etc.) as we engage with our interviewees and fieldwork. Our findings will offer a depth cultural investigation that will map the socio-cultural and market practices that sustain NFT circulations. This working project will contribute to understating of the different forms of value mobilized by creative, unique, consumer-generated digital assets. In terms of practical implications, our work will provide insights for brands to evaluate if and how to invest in the design, creation and/or promotion of NTF experiences. As for the originality of our work, so far research on NFTs has been very limited, also due to the novelty of this digital asset. This paper represents a first ambitious effort to offer a comprehensive mapping of NFTs development trajectory that is focused on providing a comprehensive and dynamic socio-cultural configuration of NFT market actors’ experiences.