Paris Hilton revealed she is not only bullish about nonfungible tokens but also has a good understanding of potential applications of the technology in an extensive blog post explaining her excitement about the sector posted on Wednesday.
In a blog post titled “I’m Excited About NFTs—You Should Be Too,” Hilton demonstrates an informed understanding she said comes from learning everything she can about the subject by immersing herself in the NFT community on social media and “working with NFT collectors like WhaleShark, Illestrater, internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom and the founders of Origin.”
The 40-year old has a Twitter following of 16.9 million and operates 19 different product lines, with her perfume line alone generating more than $2.5 billion to date. She wrote:
“I see NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, as the future of the creator economy. They use blockchain technology to help creators increase the value of their work and share it with fans in real time.”
Often referred to as the “world’s first social media influencer” and self-described “#bossbabe,” Hilton appears to be aiming to position herself as an authority on the NFT space, at least for a mainstream audience, as she readies to release a new drop soon.
The former reality star said that isolating at home during the global pandemic had “illuminated the importance of digital worlds—and NFTs,” as many people move their lives online for entertainment and social connectivity. In particular, Hilton notes the potential value of NFTs in virtual reality:
“I started realizing how impactful NFTs can and will be in virtual worlds. Digital art, fashion or branding can all be displayed on someone’s avatar or in a virtual environment, or traded for other goods [...] You can already buy virtual real estate using NFTs. In the virtual pet universe Axie Infinity, someone paid $1.5 million worth of crypto for nine plots! You can also buy virtual cars.”
Hilton notes that NFTs could also empower the fashion industry to showcase their designs and products digitally, with the pandemic currently making it difficult to host fashion shows. Cointelegraph reported this week that Gucci is pondering a move into NFTs and tokenizing its fashion wear.
Hilton draws on the example of tokenizing authentic baseball cards as a way to explain the basic concept of NFTs to her millions of fans. She said that “as the owner of the card, you can create a token on the blockchain representing the authenticity of that baseball card. You can now trade or sell it for other valuable goods on the blockchain.”
Hilton thinks “NFTs are democratizing art,” as artists can utilize NFT platforms to directly connect with large audiences and buyers while bypassing gatekeepers such as galleries, distributors and agents.
The “#bossbabe” also feels the monetary rewards can be more fair, as the individual can determine their own financial terms and keep a majority of the revenue.
Hilton concluded by stating that the potential applications for the technology are so wide-ranging that she’d only just starting to wrap her head around them.
“Some of these applications might even change the way we live. What if we could use NFTs as collateral for physical items? Or as a way to trade for them?”
The social media personality sold her first NFT in August 2020 before the mania arrived in 2021 — an NFT depicting a painting of her Cat, which sold for $17,000. She donated all the proceeds to The LA Food Bank, Meals On Wheels and BB4Homeless charities.