Nifty Gateway and the Significance of NFTs with Griffin Cock Foster

NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) use blockchain technology to make digital items authentic and scarce, allowing the collection of decentralized digital assets for the first time in history. Nifty Gateway is the premier marketplace for such NFTs and it was co-founded by brothers Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster. Today Griffin joins us on the show to have a conversation about Nifty Gateway and the significance of NFTs. Griffin talks about how he and his brother got interested in NFTs after graduating from college and started building the codebase for an early version of the platform. From there, we take a deep dive into how NFTs work, what makes them different from other digital artworks, and what this means for gaming companies, artists, and people who own intellectual property more broadly. Griffin speaks about how the blockchain works and how it allows cryptocurrencies to have value. He explains how the thinking in this space evolved to the point where people began to imagine that digital assets did not have to be interchangeable but could be non-fungible too. This means that people could make digital items authentic for the first time ever. The art industry and collectible culture, in general, is powered by concepts like scarcity and authenticity, so our conversation moves to explore the parallels and differences between platforms like Nifty Gateway and the real-world art marketplace. In the last part of our conversation, we get into some of the hurdles that Griffin and his brother are facing as the platform continues to scale at a rapid pace. To hear more about NFTs and the different industries this technology will revolutionize and spawn, be sure to tune in.

Key Points From This Episode:

  • The definition of NFTs, how they work, and their significance.
  • How NFTs use blockchain to make digital items scarce thus collectible.
  • How Griffin and his brother got interested in NFTs and built an early Nifty Gateway.
  • What differentiates an NFT from a jpeg and makes it unique and authentic.
  • How questions of authenticity give NFTs their value and why NFTs can’t be forged.
  • Why the initial phase where an artist declares their NFT is the most vulnerable.
  • Which kinds of businesses will be able to monetize NFT technology best.
  • Barriers of minting cost and scalability and how Nifty Gateway is overcoming them.
  • The difference between NFTs and scarce digital assets stored on local databases.
  • Drivers to the adoption of decentralized digital systems.
  • Griffin’s favorite NFT and stories about giving away now-valuable and famous NFTs.
  • How addictive buying NFTs is and what this means for the future of Nifty Gateway.
  • The speed at which Nifty Gateway has had to scale and why it still breaks often.
  • How to learn more about Nifty Gateway and get into NFTs in general.

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