#27 The Programmable Hyperlink

Plus NFT fundraising and our crypto investing playbook comes to life

Apr 27, 2022

1 Take 🌶️

NFTs can be hard to explain, especially when pictures of cartoon monkeys or pixellated images that look like they’re from a 8-bit Nintendo are selling for millions of dollars. But recently, I came across a great mental model from @Punk6529 on how to think about NFTs:

NFTs are programmable hyperlinks.

Why Hyperlinks Matter
Hyperlinks provide the ability to link to another web page in a permission-less way. Said another way, you don’t need the approval of the web page owner to link to it. This is foundational to the Internet because it enables discovery of new content and allows web pages to form relationships with one another. The latter literally underpins Google’s entire search algorithm and has empowered a massive proliferation of content because of the potential of discoverability.

Where do NFTs come in?
NFTs enable something very similar: the ability to link to them in an permission-less way, but with an added bonus: they’re programmable. This means anyone can create customized experiences for any NFT (or NFT owner) without needing permission. For example, I could create a website that only CryptoPunks holders have access to — without needing approval from anyone associated with CryptoPunks. Another example could be to inject NFTs into digital experiences — again all without needing explicit approval. In the same way that hyperlinks proliferated web content, the ability for any application to programmatically access, inject, and link NFTs will create a multitude of unique and amazing digital experiences.

For all the hype about the metaverse, this is its promise: a digital world that returns back to the roots of the Internet enabling people to create and build cool stuff.

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