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Comment by bostonpete | Hacker News Reader

Except those sorts of collectibles drive much of their value from their limited supply.

The entire point of NFTs is that you can attach a verifiably limited supply to a set of collectables. Just like with their real world counterparts, you can have knock-offs and reproductions that people collect, but the owner of the actual original one knows they have something of a limited set.

When beanie babies have limited supply, it's because the factory has to manufacture other goods for their next contract.

When imaginary cryptohashes have limited supply, it's kind of pointless, or at least there is nothing good for the buyer or society.

There are plenty of products where scarcity is intentionally created, though. Disney DVDs are a prime example.

paintings might be limited in supply, but trading cards are easily mass produced.

They are easily mass produced, but the companies still limit the supply specifically so there is value for collectors

But the same dynamic exists with NFTs. The issuers can limit supply to ensure value for collectors.

Physical goods have a counterfeiting risk. Is it possible to use NFTs to prevent counterfeiting by verifying that a product is genuine? If not then they really have no use. Physical goods need verification but digital goods can be replicated perfectly. A "bootleg" is just as good as the original so no verification is needed.

Yes. That is precisely one of their best uses.

I'm a dev at pruf.io and this is one of the many things our platform is designed to do.

>Physical goods need verification but digital goods can be replicated perfectly. A "bootleg" is just as good as the original so no verification is needed.

The same can be applied to physical goods as well. Why do people pay millions for the original painting, even though they could probably get a replica that's identical to the naked eye for much less? Clearly they're interested in more than it being "as good as the original".

They’re both still subject to entropy and the rules of the physical universe in a way that digital isn’t.

How is digital not affected by physics ? It's all relying on electricity and thermodynamics to begin with.

Furthermore digital assets undergo similar attrition to physical goods through people losing access to their goods. The BTC block chain is notorious for its forgotten wallets.

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