Reno Reporter

Non-fungible tokens (NFT) are a hot topic within media circles. But, no one knew how the ongoing spotlight would impact the commodity.  

According to a news release shared by the University of Nevada, Reno, two assistant professors at the university, collaborated with a peer to examine the media ramifications on the NFT market.

Drs. Sean Wilkoff and Serhat Yildiz, associate professors in the University of Nevada, Reno, College of Business, along with Dr. Joshua T. White, an assistant professor at Vanderbilt University, conducted research to provide answers.

“One thing you are looking for as a researcher is a new laboratory to do research in,” Wilkoff said in the news release. “The NFT market has all the characteristics of a speculative market, and there was little research done on it. It was very much a ‘right place, right time’ kind of thing.”

Moreover, like all cryptocurrencies, the NFT market's data is stored on a blockchain, making the market somewhat transparent because anybody can view transaction data. The researchers were able to examine the effect of media on the NFT market because they discovered a data business that had already assembled the raw data.

“I was surprised," Wilkoff said. "My instinct was that the news generally creates hype, as seen with the stock market, so I thought the results would be similar, especially since we were looking at a speculative market.”