Neha discusses N.F.T.s in "How Memes Become Money" by The New Yorker

DCI Director Neha Narula took part in The New Yorker’s “How Memes Become Money” discussion.

In the clip above, you can view highlights of the evening’s discussion, “How Memes Become Money,” a consideration of the growing influence of Internet culture on the economy and our notions of value. Joining Beeple on the virtual stage were Neha Narula, the director of the Digital Currency Initiative at the M.I.T. Media Lab, and the technologist and essayist Anil Dash. Moderated by the New Yorker staff writer Sheelah Kolhatkar, the conversation focussed on two innovations that have changed markets in the past decade: cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and non-fungible tokens, or N.F.T.s, the artistic medium that earned Winkelmann his headline-making windfall. (Audience members who were hazy about the nature of N.F.T.s need not have worried; Winkelmann, who is thirty-nine, explained that, although he has been making digital art since he was in college, he heard about N.F.T.s for the first time only in October.)