BNP Paribas CEO Says NFTs Are The Riskiest Asset Class Ever

The BNP Paribas CEO believes NFTs are the riskiest digital asset class but he also thinks that the sector could become a solid infrastructure for the virtual economy as we are reading more in our latest cryptocurrency news today.

The latest NFT boom saw a few people make a ton of money from digital collectibles from things like virtual lands, sports cards, and artworks, and even tweets which became non-fungible tokens as of late. With this mania evolving, the investors are worried that they are entering another bubble and more recently, John Egan, CEO of the French bank L’Atelier BNP Paribas, opined that the investments in these assets are like gambling adding that they are the riskiest asset in the virtual economy.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Egan noted that most people are drawn to the NFT space because of the thrills of making plenty of money and also gain property rights over the digital asset but this is becoming an issue. He pointed out that the problem with ownership is becoming a huge problem in the NFT space since people are stealing other people’s works and turning them into NFTs:

 “What I think we’ve seen increasingly over the past few months is people trying to register NFT-based ownership over other people’s copyrighted tweets… We’ve seen many instances of artists having their works effectively plagiarized by people minting NFTs of their work even though they weren’t the creators.”

Egan stated that the NFT space is so risky that it will be well identified as the riskiest asset in the world of crypto assets. He likened investing in NFTs to gambling where the winnings are based on luck solely. He continued:

 “[NFT] is an alternative digital emerging asset. I don’t think we could find many more risky categories of assets at this point. I think it’s probably, at this stage, akin to going into the casino. You know you’re going to spend money but maybe you’re doing it for enjoyment, for the experience. If you win, you’ve got lucky and I think it’s the way we need to think about it at this point; it’s in its initial phase.”

Despite the risks associated with NFTs, Egan is optimistic about the growth of this niche. He added:

 “I do expect NFTs to be some of the bedrock economic infrastructures within the virtual economy as it emerges over the next ten years, especially as that virtual economy begins to emerge out into the real world.”