paint-brush
This App Measures the Value of an NFT Based on its Environmental Impactby@alfredodecandia
215 reads

This App Measures the Value of an NFT Based on its Environmental Impact

by Alfredo de CandiaDecember 7th, 2021
Read on Terminal Reader
Read this story w/o Javascript
tldt arrow

Too Long; Didn't Read

2021 was the year of NFTs, and still, towards the end of the year, we can see that this phenomenon shows no signs of diminishing. We often find ourselves confronted with the relative price of the NFT or the collection, as it is not always easy to determine it or at least place it in a price range. I created a simple application, for Android, that can help at least the user to understand the actual value of any NFT.

Companies Mentioned

Mention Thumbnail
Mention Thumbnail

Coins Mentioned

Mention Thumbnail
Mention Thumbnail
featured image - This App Measures the Value of an NFT Based on its Environmental Impact
Alfredo de Candia HackerNoon profile picture

Undoubtedly and extremely, 2021 was the year of NFTs, and still, towards the end of the year, we can see that this phenomenon shows no signs of diminishing and indeed more and more projects and programs relating to this sector are popping up.


In this sector, however, we always have two operators, the creators, i.e. those who make the NFTs and the buyers, those who buy the aforementioned NFTs for several reasons, to collect them, to resell them, to frame them digitally, and more.


Regardless of the motivation that leads one to create, sell and buy these digital assets, we often find ourselves confronted with the relative price of the NFT or the collection, as it is not always easy to determine it or at least place it in a price range.


There are NFTs that are worth a fortune and others that are worth a few cents, and this is regardless of its creator’s fame. Even NFTs of unknown authors are sometimes worth a fortune, raising the question of whether these NFTs have that value or not since NFT trades could partly conceal pure and simple money laundering.



How much is my NFT worth?

It is not easy to answer this question as there are several variables to take into consideration, but it does not mean that we cannot express, even indicatively, the value and price of the related NFT.


NFT Estimator - The app to know the real value of NFTs

Considering that I’m both a senior Android developer and a creator and user of NFT, I created a simple application, for Android, that can help at least the user to understand the actual value of any NFT, NFT Estimator downloadable here for free.


We are talking about an application that takes into account some elements such as the reference blockchain and the price of the NFT that we want to check, and by simply pressing a button, we immediately discover the real value of the relative NFT:


NFT - Estimator


As can be seen from the image, there are 7 different blockchains:


  • Ethereum (ETH)
  • EOS
  • Algorand (ALGO)
  • Binance Smart Chain (BSC)
  • Tezos (XTZ)
  • Polygon (MATIC)
  • Solana (SOL)


So at the level of diversification, we can say that most of the blockchains on which we currently operate are affected as regards the NFT sector and we know different marketplaces.


Another data that we can deduce is the field relating to the NFT price, as it is sufficient to enter the NFT value to have an output based on the input value and then understand the relative real value.


Depending on the blockchain and the value that we are going to enter, the application will perform a calculation to determine the real value of the application, a calculation which, even if it is not public, still has its structure.


In this case, I take as a parameter, for the evaluation of the NFT, the impact it has on the environment taking into account the CO2 emission for the creation, sale, and purchase of the NFT itself, so we have a total of 3 different transactions.


So knowing that it is necessary to calculate how much the single transaction impacts in terms of CO2, and to do this, there are different calculations and formulas to get this value, and in some cases, it is the same foundations behind the related blockchains providing this data.


Any blockchain impacts more or less on the environment, which cannot be removed from the equation, but knowing this, let's see which blockchains have taken the path of mitigating its impact because if it is true that blockchains impact, it is also true that there are several solutions can be adopted to mitigate this impact.


Not everyone knows that only some blockchains are carbon negative or carbon neutral as in the case of EOS, and some have gone further as they use renewable sources to power the various servers and hardware assets that run the blockchain, and in this case always the EOS blockchain is one step ahead of the others.


While instead for all those blockchains that, albeit using a low energy consensus protocol, do not adopt any remedy to mitigate its impact, even being low compared to the Ethereum or Bitcoin blockchains.


In addition, there are also CO2 certificates, i.e. buy green certificates that cover the same amount of CO2 released throughout the year, to cover that quota until other validators and “miners” can align themselves for this energy and CO2 impact.


So with this application, we will be able to see negative values ​​(in red) for those NFTs

based on blockchains that do nothing to remedy the environmental disaster and others with positive values ​​(in green) that increase the value of the NFT.


We are not talking about a tool that can give an artistic evaluation of the NFTs, something that only an expert could provide, but we can check an estimate of the value on the blockchain side and relative impact to the environment, because it is certainly more important and with greater value than a simple digital object itself, and will always be greater than the damage or utility it brings to the environment.


We can define and affirm that this application provides real value based on the environmental impact of NFTs, and let us understand which NFTs are better than others, especially the environmental impact side.


For Italian readers I made a video explaining my app: