NFTs are a bet on an open source titling system for virtual goods. A tokenized virtual object is infinitely reproducible on the open web - but not in the context of a virtual world that respects its ownership, i.e. a game world, social site, or AR/VR headset.

People are spending increasing amounts of time in virtual worlds. However, platforms that create these worlds want to control the economy within them. This may be a race to adoption - which virtual titling systems or virtual worlds will gain mass adoption first?

Buying NFTs minted on Ethereum right now is an implicit bet that this blockchain-based titling system will gain the adoption necessary to drive its inclusion in future virtual worlds.

We’re some number of years away from the Metaverse - you’ll step into a VR world with its own economy, or admire virtual objects through AR glasses. Projects like Axie Infinity, Decentraland, etc. are trying to build the Metaverse on an open source, blockchain-based ledger.

This is the "build the world to support our titling system" approach. The other approach is to simply sell title claims with no platform, which looks pointless, but the end goal may be to get enough people bought in that they end up lobbying platforms to support their claims.

If Apple/Facebook end up with a platform monopoly in VR, but tons of people want to see their NFT claims represented in their virtual world, we’ll at least get an inclusion of the open standard to the extent that Google integrated XMPP.

Looking down the road, watch out for embrace/extend/extinguish of open standards like NFTs on future virtual world platforms.