'Ecological nightmare' backlash forces ArtStation to drop NFT plans

[seje]

'Ecological nightmare' backlash forces ArtStation to drop NFT plans

Prominent online art portfolio platform ArtStation has caved in to pressure from artists and environmentally-conscious users hours after announcing a series of non-fungible token, or NFT, drops from several notable artists.

On Mar. 9, the platform announced the program was scheduled to begin today and featured works from artists including Halo Infinite art director Nicolas “Sparth” Bouvier, retired NASA astronaut Nicole Stott, Assassin’s Creed franchise art director Raphael Lacoste, painter Craig Mullins, and Magic: The Gathering illustrator Alena Aenami.

Following a furious bombardment of criticism, all mentions of the announcement were pulled down and replaced with a short message on the website stating that “In light of the critical reception on social media regarding NFTs, it’s clear that now is not the right time for NFTs on ArtStation.” Despite the setback, the firm didn’t shy entirely away from the technology, hinting at its potential future use:

“We are very sorry for all the negative emotions this has caused. Despite our attempts to validate our approach, we clearly made a mistake and admit fault. It was our bad. We feel that NFTs are a transformative technology that can make significant, positive change for digital artists.”
Dapper Labs founder and CEO Roham Gharegozlou stated the decision to cave in was “short-sighted” adding that “for one, blocks will get mined anyway — for the other, the criticism basically doesn’t apply to proof of stake blockchains like Flow Blockchain [used by NBA Top Shot].”


https://cointelegraph.com/news/ecological-nightmare-backlash-forces-artstation-to-drop-nft-plans

[TomPluz]

This is my first time I read of an organization that got good plans for NFTs but eventually backed away due to pressure from the community it is in. Well, maybe the people close to the groups are not yet open to NFTs and the many positive things it is bringing. So I am assuming that they are afraid of the environmental impacts that NFTs can be creating for the planet Earth. Or I am wrong?