As the NFT landscape continues to grow and evolve, you may have concerns about how the production of NFTs could affect the environment. You are not alone - environmental issues are undoubtedly one of the most important challenges we face as a global community.
Everything that we make - just like almost every other consumer product-oriented company - has some impact on the world around us. We recognize that we are part of a global community that is larger than Autograph. It's part of our job and mission at Autograph to make sure that we are taking every step to better learn, understand, and act on ways to minimize any potential negative impact that our products may have on the environment. Our goal is to make that impact zero in the near future.
When it comes to NFTs, the issue is not really with the NFTs themselves - it’s more about the consumption of electricity needed to produce them. The computers that create NFTs and power the blockchain networks that the NFTs live on can consume a lot of electricity, just as the computers that power many of our everyday activities do. The more that our energy sources transition to renewable, non-carbon-based sources of electricity, the environmental impact of using electricity for all purposes will decrease.
The original blockchain technologies were based on a “proof-of-work” methodology, which requires significant electricity consumption to function. We are proud to say that we have already made meaningful strides in our efforts to make Autograph NFTs among the most environmentally responsible in the industry. The Autograph NFTs sold in the DraftKings Marketplace are minted on the Polygon blockchain, which validates transactions through a method called “proof-of-stake” (PoS), not “proof-of-work” (PoW). (This
helpful article provides a more detailed explanation of the difference between the two methods.)
Polygon’s PoS validators consume electricity that is multiple orders of magnitude less than PoW-based blockchain miners employed by the majority of other platforms. For Autograph, that ultimately translates to more eco-friendliness and considerably less carbon emissions (
source).
We recognize that, as a Company, our environmental impact does not end with the amount of energy used to mint or transact the NFTs we produce. But our commitment to make things better does start there. This is just an example of the decisions that we are making - and seeking - on a daily basis to achieve our goal of being the world’s most environmentally-friendly producer of NFTs on the journey to zero impact.
We will use this space to update our Autograph community on our efforts and the steps that we are taking to be the most responsible brand in this growing digital industry.