A non-fungible token (NFT) can be described as a non-interchangeable unit of digital data that is stored inside a blockchain, which is a form of digital ledger.
Types of NFTs can include things that are associated with photos, videos, and audio.
Because each token is uniquely identifiable, NFTs differ from blockchain cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin.
Since NFTs became popular, a number of companies and individuals have earned significant amount of profit, with the largest is Beeple, who sold his artwork of collage images for $69 million.
Even Melania Trump has joined the NFT craze with her own NFT products.
This time, it's the Italian carmaker Lamborghini.
The popular manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese, known for creating the Aventador, the Huracán, Urus, and timeless classics like the Diablo, Miura, Murciélago, and others, as well as the more ultra-expensives like the Sián and the Sesto Elemento.
This time, the company is launching its own NFT collection referred to by the supercar manufacturer as the 'Space Time Memory'.
The artwork that is made by Lamborghini's partnership with Swiss artist Fabian Oefner, as well as NFT PRO and Sotheby’s, features an exploded-view Lamborghini, and of carbon fiber that has been sent to outer space.
Lamborghini minted five of these.
With a $280,000 price tag, the Lamborghini's NFT is depicted as a Lamborghini car breaking down into its core components as it rockets through the blackness of space.
According to Stephan Winkelmann, President and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., the move is owed to innovation being a part of the company’s DNA.
"As a leading company for carbon fiber composite materials within the automotive sector we pushed boundaries two and a half years ago with the joint research project in space. Now entering the metaverse is again proof of Lamborghini always setting sail for new horizons," he said.
According to Lamborghini about its NFT product:
In more details, Oefner created the compositions from real elements, by capturing more than 1,500 individual Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae parts. As for the photo of Earth, it was purposefully taken by a weather balloon flying above the stratosphere.
Lamborghini prepared all the necessary parts and components that were taken directly from a production ready Ultimae.
Oefner then put everything together in a makeshift photo studio right next to the production line at the Lamborghini Factory, to create an artwork that depicts the Ultimae flying above the Earth.
In all, Oefner and his team took around two months to finish the project.
According to Oefner:
Buyers of the NFT would have access to the digital artwork via a QR code engraved in five units of a physical object, which is referred to by Lamborghini as the 'Space Key', whose carbon fiber elements were sent to the International Space Station (ISS) back in 2020 as a part of a joint research project with Lamborghini.
Upon its return to earth, Oefner engraved the carbon fiber with a QR code, and then encapsulated it into the block of aluminum.
In the past, NFTs have been used as a speculative asset, and that they have drawn criticism for the fact that they require energy to run. In other words, NFTs pollute the Earth as they create carbon footprint to validate their blockchain transactions.
What's more, many have used NFTs in art scams.
Making thing more worrying, NFTs do not restrict the sharing or copying of the underlying digital files and do not prevent the creation of NFTs with identical associated files.
Despite the legal rights conveyed by NFTs can be uncertain, NFT ledgers claim to provide a public certificate of authenticity or proof of ownership to the buyer.