How are objects sold as NFT's ("non-fungible tokens")?
Usually, the NFT has no ties to the physical object. And anecdotally I have heard of many cases where an NFT represented some intellectual property, but did not come with rights, and if the owner of the NFT tried to distribute the corresponding media, then he/she would be in violation of the copyright.
One could potentially sign a contract saying, &quot;whoever legitimately possesses this NFT has these rights,&quot; but I have never heard of that being used for a real world object or intellectual property.
Further more, the cryptographic security provided by the block chain is moot because the original creator of the NFT could create arbitrarily many NFTs for a real world object and dishonestly claim that they are the only NFT for the object.
If there is a painting I liked, and someone gave me the choice of either a corresponding NFT or a fancy looking signed certificate that says &quot;whoever owns this certificate is the honorary (but not actual) owner of [the artwork],&quot; I would take the certificate because I could hang it up on my wall and the physical form may give it a higher resale value.