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Comment by nfw2 | Hacker News Reader

The article points out, sort of as an afterthought, that there is exclusivity in an abstract "bragging rights" way.

Isn't that the whole point of NFT's?

Not that I would buy one, but in the US (and many other countries), we worship our celebrities, and it's not surprising that someone would pay a lot of money to be considered in an exclusive "club" with them (and BAYC intentionally plays into this angle), at least as long as the celebrities continue to hype it.

Also, bragging rights is what makes lots of "luxury" things valuable. Most people on the streets wouldn't be able to tell a diamond from zirconium, or a rolex from a knockoff.

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> Isn't that the whole point of NFT's?

Not if you ask the pro-NFT people, because if that's all it was, the pyramid scheme wouldn't be strong enough. But that is the only actual real use case that makes some sort of sense to me, any others I've heard typically have easier, better or cheaper ways to solve using "traditional" tech, or, in some cases, aren't actually solved by NFT's in any meaningful way (eg NFT's aren't actually decentralized if the asset they represent is held by some centralized party and the ownership they confer is meaningless in many cases, eg if you buy an NFT claiming you own part of mars or a tweet or something you don't actually have legal rights over).

NFT's as a token to brag about is fine, but very few "ordinary" people will actually make money on this, so I'd still advise to ignore them. Bragging rights also have a high potential to become another forgotten fad.

Well, there is one more use case: money laundering.

I would ask them to think of it as art, collectibles like trading cards and sports cards coins; or even to remember the beanie babies...

Just that it is even more abstract, less physical and might be less persistent. At least those kept in relatively decent environment last. Not that there isn't chance to make money, but it is rather risky and they probably aren't on ground level...

Is "bragging" really the motivation?

Because I don't understand what they are bragging about here.

Are they bragging about being a member of a class that can discard $500000 like it's nothing? Rather than donate it to a philanthropic cause? That the beneficiaries of charitable causes are outside their area of concern? That's nothing to brag about.

Maybe it's more about getting attention than bragging?

It’s the same concept of people buying Rolexes

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