The notions of ownership of NFTs in virtual economy of metaverse as presented by Mark Zuckerberg

Abstract

When Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook's shift to Meta last year, it was a surprising move in the technology world. With possibilities to virtually connect all facets of life, including work, play, learning, and more, Zuckerberg's metaverse promises a true sense of presence in a virtual environment. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will play a vital part in the metaverse by serving as legal records of digital ownership to validate virtual goods and services. The ownership of virtual objects in the form of NFTs is unlike prior digital and virtual items due to their enhanced legality and exclusivity. The research used textual analysis to examine how Twitter users make sense of NFT ownership by assessing their views, fears, and speculations surrounding owning NFTs. The findings of this thesis reveal the multifaceted nature of ownership of NFTs. NFT ownership is characterized by low object awareness, ambiguous legal rights, and a perceived lack of control in the case of some NFTs. However, they are likely to become desirable status symbols in the metaverse due to their high self-investment nature, satisfying various utilities.