Alphabet (GOOGL -0.41%) (GOOG -0.52%) is taking another step toward integrating non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into its YouTube platform.
In this video from "The Virtual Opportunities Show", recorded on Jan. 25, Fool contributor Rachel Warren discusses the news and how NFTs might impact the content giant's business.
Rachel Warren: I saw this interesting story and it was really all over the news today, about this letter that was published by the CEO of YouTube, their annual letter that essentially indicated that YouTube may be very close to adopting a variety of Web 3 technologies. The next iteration of the web, including non-fungible tokens or NFTs, which seem to be all the rage these days, particularly in the metaverse.
You have a lot of people specifically that are investing in NFT art or buying it maybe just for fun. I mean, you have everything from the very famous board ape NFTs that have sold for millions of dollars to, people may be taking some funny anecdotal picture from their family and making NFT out of it. You can make an NFT out of almost anything.
This caught a lot of the web by storm. I think it was interesting in the letter she said, "the past year in the world of crypto, non-fungible tokens and even decentralized autonomous organizations has highlighted a previously unimaginable opportunity to grow the connection between creators and their fans. We're always focused on expanding the YouTube ecosystem to help creators capitalize on emerging technologies, including things like NFTs while continuing to strengthen and enhance the experiences creators and fans have on YouTube." So far, I don't think YouTube has commented.
But all the crypto sites and tech new sites were all abuzz because this idea that is YouTube, are they stepping into this next iteration of the web, are they dipping their toe in the NFT universe, it seems very possible. For example, right now if you're a creator on YouTube, you can sell merch on your channel like maybe t-shirts or mugs. They didn't really give a lot of details about how they would explore the world of NFTs. But foreseeably, could you also have these content creators creating NFTs and listing them to be able to be purchased directly on the channel.
There's a whole world of possibilities that is opening up there. Something that I've noticed a lot lately reading in my spare time is there is just so much excitement that is continuing to come from all corners of all different industries around NFTs.
For example, I saw this story, the Italian luxury fashion brand Gucci, they've actually partnered with a toy brand to drop a collection of 10 different NFTs in February. The Paris fashion house Beaumont, they also recently did a collection where they did NFT drops as part of their physical fashion collection. You have everything from fashion to tech, industries you would never think of that are going into the space. I don't know, there's a lot of excitement around it. I enjoy reading about it anecdotally. It's not something I'm super interested necessarily in investing in from a virtual opportunities aspect.
There is potentially opportunity for some innovative artists and creators to actually create some really cool pieces and potentially do very well with them. I've seen a lot of stories lately of individuals, just ordinary people that maybe not even created anything that would be considered artistic before that, just decided to give it a go and have found a lot of success. I find that aspect of it and that entrepreneurial side of it very exciting personally.