Our Stance on NFTs and Anonymity
Our Stance on NFTs and Anonymity
The cryptocurrency space has long operated under the premise that privacy is a right. This fundamental premise has instilled within the crypto and NFT communities a comfort with anonymity and pseudonymity that does not exist in regular life. Anonymity is the ability to operate or speak in a way that makes someone unidentifiable, whereas pseudonymity is the ability to operate or speak in a way that is identifiable, but with an identity that shields who a person actually is¹.
Participants engaging with NFT technology in any way are more or less guaranteed to need to interface with many anonymous and pseudonymous people on a regular basis, and the majority of these interactions will most likely be safe, amiable, and mutually beneficial. It is from this optimistic mindset that we are setting out from to describe our position.
Positive Examples of Anonymity
- End Users and Consumers
- Counter-Parties to Transactions that are Protected by the Protocol
- Community Members
- Auxillary Members of Projects
Positive Examples of Pseudonymity
- Artists, as the value derived from their work is delivered with the NFT being sold.
- Founders/Leaders of Projects, with established reputations in the NFT community.
- Community Members that want to participate in the NFT space, but don’t want their involvement to negatively impact their regular lives.
When Anonymity Should Be Avoided
- Founders/Leaders of Projects, particularly when its a new team and/or no non-anonymous collaborator on the project exists.
- Transactions not protected by the protocol.
- When selling NFTs for projects that derive value from promises not delivered with the NFT.
- If you are trying to build up a positive reputation, it will be much harder to do if you remain anonymous.
Does this mean that a project cannot be done anonymously? No! In our opinion, anonymity can be responsibly used when earned through past positive reputation building, or by partnering with a non-anonymous collaborator that can serve as a source of trust for the anonymous entity.
What is NFT Culture’s Official Stance on Anonymity/Pseudonymity?
As an organization that frequently deals with many people on many different content productions across our brand, we feel that we would not be as effective of an information source if we did not allow guests to preserve their own decisions to be anonymous or pseudonymous. Our company does not have the resources to privately vet our guests, and so we must officially advise our readers and viewers that we can’t confirm that our guests are who they say or don’t say that they are.
Our recommendation is to always factor in the approach to anonymity/pseudonymity in your decision as to whether you will consume work from an Artist or a Project. Carefully consider whether the artist or project falls under one of the “Positive” examples above or under one of the “Examples to Avoid”. We will do our best to clarify our own opinions, but it is always best to do your own research prior to making a purchase decision.
