2022 EDSIG Proceedings: Abstract Presentation

Non-Fungible Token Ethics: A Research Framework

Zakkary Hozella
Penn State University

Jennifer Breese
Pennsylvania State University

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are becoming of increasing popularity along with cryptocurrency. NFT’s have been described as art by many scholars, however at its most basic unit NFT’s are data representing a copywrite for a data asset on a blockchain. NFTs will be generally defined as a decentralized and unique piece of data that can be sold and traded using Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). DLT is essentially a specialized database that allows NFTs to be stored. With this increased popularity comes the creation of online marketplaces and crime. The purpose of this proposed research framework through the use if both ethnography and quantitative mixed methods is to understand the occurrence rate of copyrighted items being illegally sold, the value of NFTs, and potential solutions to the underlying copyright issues. Participants actively involved in the NFT community through selling various items in the online marketplace will be sought after in a snowball methodology. This ethnographic study of the NFT marketplace communities will be followed by a survey sent to members of the identified community and a detailed analysis of the demographics and opinions of these members will be performed.

Wednesday at 2:00 pm