Prospecting non-fungible tokens in the digital economy: Stakeholders and ecosystem, risk and opportunity

Abstract Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a highly nascent and emerging phenomenon revolutionizing how digital assets are traded. NFTs embody immutable rights to unique digital assets such as digital art and collectibles, and are represented as digital tokens that can be traded across marketplaces utilizing blockchain technologies. NFTs engender new ways to organize, consume, move, program, and store digital information, and have experienced a rapid rise in various adaptations across art, sport, broadcasting, content creation, and tech-crypto business. This paper explains what NFTs are, how they fit with blockchain and cryptocurrencies, how they are used by various industries, and what opportunities and risks they present. Our key contribution is to conceptually map an initial NFT ecosystem. In doing so, we provide relational mapping between and among key stakeholders including content creators, core and related technical and business intermediaries, consumers, investors and speculators. Further, the paper highlights implications for managers and ties them to conceptual exploration and exploitation frameworks. We also provide limitations and prescient understanding about the likely trajectories for NFTs.