> The sobering reality [...] is that the economics have simply stopped making sense.<p>When did it start to make sense in the first place? That is, in the real world, outside of the startup/vesting world?<p>What is the verifiable, growing or stable, predictable market for it?<p>It appeals more to the builders, the solution providers [1] that is, the new middlemen, than to the artists/creators or their audiences or even the existing middlemen.<p>Any paper/physical certificate holds even more value to end-users than a numerical one (because it fits in the real world).<p>There's no deployed user/fan realistic experience that is particularly attached to NFTs that couldn't be made without NFTs.<p>A distributed database that burns processing and energy like mad provides no interest when the brand value relies on being the "centralised portal" to said database. Or, it provides an incentive for new marketplaces: that is, new middlemen.<p>[1] including the chips makers, that since then, have found another market for their products: AI.