Over the last year and a half, there has been a type of digital image that has surged by popular demand known as NFTs, which stands for non-fungible tokens. They’re unique in the sense that they can be traded for a profit. They utilize “blockchain” technology so the data for the picture will always remain special as you cannot replicate it.

Yeah, I know it’s confusing so think of it as a token that says you own this original piece of the artwork, but it’s digital. In some people’s eyes, it can be seen as an investment but that’s far from the truth.

With the world being ever more reliant on technology when it comes to advancements and innovations, it only makes sense for the money side of things to follow in those footsteps.

It, however, came at the cost of their integrity and oversight of the world. The last couple of years of the groundwork of NFTs allowed the defamation of art as a whole.

Rather than keeping the piece as a remembrance, many individuals buy and sell the piece at a price more exceptional than the original price.

The view to receive from NFTs is that of a typical money laundering scheme that many people in high ranks of power buy as a scapegoat from their crimes.

It presents a general risk when it comes to transferring crypto currency, with the added problem of criminals taking advantage of this system.

“Criminal actors can hack into user accounts on NFT marketplaces and transfer NFTs to their own accounts,” said Isabella Chase from RUSI. “After transferring the NFTs, the hacker can quickly sell the stolen tokens and attempt to launder the proceeds.”

It showcases this system of “Know Your Customer,”  a system emplaced to recognize that you’re the owner of a specific piece that rather than implementing any sense of security, especially when it comes to cryptocurrency, which in this day and age can determine if you have an early retirement.

The amount of energy cryptocurrency produces is such as Ethereum and Bitcoin being the most popular ones, even raising energy hikes higher than countries like Argentina, Yugoslavia, Romania, and so on.

“That would essentially mean that Ethereum’s electricity consumption will literally over a day or overnight drop to almost zero,” said Michael Rauchs, a researcher from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance.

Ethererum is a cryptocurrency that is common to use for buying NFTs but as said many NFTs’ consumptions of power are exponential which leads to environmental issues. It is presented as an ecological nightmare pyramid scheme and for good reason.

To buy any NFT of the blockchain you’ll need a bunch of cryptocurrencies to buy a piece and to show proof-of-work. Over the years the process of buying them has become a burden on this planet.

“Bitcoin ‘mining’ already generates 38 million tons of CO2 per year, more than the carbon footprint of Slovakia,” Ben Korn from brightly said.

The amount of sheer carbon dioxide being released is worrying as climate change still is prevalent, adding this onto the pile is unnecessary as it is seen as NFTs putting a detriment on the planet.

Technology can present itself to improve the lives of many. With NFTs, however, it introduces a pandora’s box of many impressionable individuals who seek the highs of winning big but sooner end up at the bottom of the ditch killing the planet while doing so.