The amount you could do with $623,000.......I would be able to support my family for almost 10 years with that amount! And they just wasted it on a glorified JPEG that's why you NEVER jump on the latest tech trends. Always gotta wait for everything to iron out first. The dot com bubble should've taught everyone that lol

Why would the guy pay that much in the first place?

I get the theory. It's the same logic behind people that want a first print of a pokemon card or book or whatever. But, when something can be replicated easily and perfectly by literally anybody, it kind of doesn't work.

It's an interesting comparison... if you look at something like a first edition copy of a Charles Dickens book, it'll only set you back $40k.  Less well known authors are much cheaper.  In the longer term, there isn't going to be a large price tag on this NFT stuff...

We're all victims of NFT / crypto mining :(

I think there's a bit of a weird situation. There's really no reason a first edition dickens should be worth any more than any other copy. The story is the same. We've just been conditioned over the years to value those kinds of things, because way back when, there might actually be a limited supply. And, we somehow feel that physical objects owned or signed by a person are somehow like imbued with their essence or something. 

I think in theory, it's hard to justify a first edition Dickens being worth much more than a nyan cat gif. Like, maybe worth 20 bucks more or so. The value people place on it is based on how people feel about owning it, rather than any actual value. Like many things, the value is all about perception. If you could convince people that the original Nyan cat file is worth a million dollars or whatever, that's what it's worth. But people just don't view digital media the same way.

They must be liberal because conservatives can't be victims.

Gotta feel sorry for them. Like mandate sorry.

Look at the used game market. The difference between a loose FFIII cartridge and a complete in box copy is several hundred dollars. For cardboard and what is admittedly a nice paper manual. If the shrink wrap is still on it, the price goes up still more. For plastic that was meant to be thrown away. 

Victims don't have 600.000$ to spend on a JPEG. NFT's have actual use-cases if done correctly, and I think the concept will be huge in the future. But this current focus on stupid memes and simple pictures is just lunacy, there's a breadth of possibilities for the technology and concept itself.

Some people loundered a shed ton money thanks to this.