Musk Criticizes NFTs in a Recent Joe Rogan Podcast Appearance

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  • In a recent Joe Rogan podcast, Elon Musk discussed Bitcoin Ordinals and criticized mainstream NFTs.
  • Most NFTs only contain a URL link instead of encoding the actual JPEG image on the blockchain, which Musk highlighted as a potential issue.
  • Musk argued for embedding artwork directly into blockchain metadata.

In a recent episode of the Joe Rogan podcast, Elon Musk inadvertently highlighted the advantages of Bitcoin Ordinals, which are Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on Bitcoin’s chain, while simultaneously ridiculing mainstream NFTs for their failure to store metadata on-chain.

Musk noted that most NFTs only contain a URL link rather than encoding the actual JPEG image on the blockchain. “If the company hosting the image goes bust, you don’t have the image anymore,” he said.

Elon Musk’s recent comment about NFTs comes at a time when the NFT realm is not in its best shape. Musk argued that NFT creators should embed artwork into the blockchain metadata, saying, “You should at least encode the JPEG in the blockchain.” Will Clemente, co-founder of a crypto research firm, noted that Musk “just laid out the case for Bitcoin Ordinals.”

Ordinals are essentially Bitcoin’s version of NFTs—inscriptions of images or text encoded permanently into transactions on Bitcoin’s blockchain. According to the data from Dune Analytics, there are currently approximately 37 million Bitcoin Ordinal inscriptions on Bitcoin’s ledger. 

Unlike Ethereum-based NFTs hosted on centralized servers, Bitcoin Ordinals exist exclusively on its distributed blockchain ledger. This makes them ultra-resilient against link rot and company failures.Musk has derided NFTs before, once calling them a “sign of mental illness” in a 2021 post on X. In May 2023, the Milady NFT collection saw a significant increase in popularity following a mention by Elon Musk.

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