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by 121789 1466 days ago
Why do people always use art as an example? Couldn't you do it with something like cars (where the car doesn't start until you prove you have the NFT)? I'm completely unfamiliar the with the space
2 comments

Would the NFT-locked car require a live blockchain connection and refuse to open its doors if it hasn’t been able to sync its node after a certain time? So you’d get locked out of your car if mobile Internet goes down?

If it doesn’t do this, then you can steal the car by selling the NFT, simultaneously disabling the car’s Internet connection, and driving off. Now the NFT is held by one person but the physical car is held by another.

Would likely require a form of NFT that's a little different and probably more complex than the current forn. Something about having the car key also be a cryptographic key, and transfers of the NFT invalidating keys or requiring rotation.
You could shape the NFT in the form of a metal rod with notches on it. When placed inside a slot and turned, the car could validate that the right pattern of notches exist on the NFT and turn on.

If you want to sell the car, simply hand off the physical NFT to the new owner.

Well crypto allows for trustless digital transfers. Like selling a house halfway across the world, without having to fly over to hand off the keys.
So the person halfway around the world can immediately start enjoying their house?
I assume it would be something like, the door lock is tied to the current owner as defined by the blockchain. No need for intermediaries, and no physical key.
Yes.

But real estate law does not.

What is it with NFTs and solving theoretical problems in extremely complex ways. Car thefts at at 1/3 of what they were in the 90s, and the existing mechanisms for buying/selling cars work just fine. Why do we need to introduce car DRM with brittle, distributed access control systems? You're more likely to get your tires or cat stolen - no NFT is going to prevent that.
because then a16z can get a cut of it
I think the point of an NFT would be that everybody else can also see that you control the token, which doesn't really seem relevant to starting a car. You could just ("just") have a privately controlled public/private key pair, and the previous owner could tell the car that your public key should now be the only one able to open the car; no need to announce that to the world.

(I also know nothing of the space, just engaging to build my own understanding.)