NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, have been dominating headlines for the past year. While everyone has probably heard the acronym at least once, that doesn’t mean that everyone knows exactly what an NFT is. If you don’t know what an NFT is, don’t worry — let’s dive into it. A Primer on NFTs An NFT can be anything from digital art and collectibles to virtual immersive environments. An NFT is a secure file that’s stored on the blockchain. NFTs are incredibly secure because all of the data from their history is stored in the blockchain. They can’t be stolen or altered. When you access the NFT file, you get to see the digital goods and engage with them based on their programming. Remember, an NFT is really just a digital “thing.” I think of it as the coding that creates “matter,” or stuff, in the Metaverse. Since NFTs are secure, they can’t be hacked or altered illegally. That means that someone can’t “change” the integrity of the NFT goods, even though it’s all digital. In this way, the “stuff” of NFTs is a lot like the “stuff” in the real world. What is, is. We don’t have wizards magically reconstituting the matter we see in the physical world and suddenly changing it. It’s like the physics of the Metaverse. Sounding too much like The Matrix? The rabbit hole goes deeper. NFTs in the Metaverse Right now, NFTs are crazy popular, but they’re not being used to their full potential yet. NFTs are mainly being accessed through 2D interfaces, like computers, phones, and laptops. Whether it’s one of the famous Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs or an interactive environment designed by architect Daniel Arsham, people are primarily engaging with it as a typical digital file. But, NFTs are capable of a full potential that’s like a VR-360-3D environment for avatars in the Metaverse. They can be digitally accessed using VR and AR to simulate a real-world engaging experience. With access to the Metaverse just around the corner, NFTs are going to become more pivotal than ever. That’s because NFTs need Metaverse real estate. NFTs are going to be inside your Metaverse real estate — just like how you store your “stuff” (art, cars, collectibles, tools, furniture) in your home. The Metaverse Parallels the Real World  In the future, people are going to buy “art” for their “house,” but it’s really an NFT in metaverse real estate. Think about…

The 2008 recession yielded housing bargains in subsequent years, but it’s too early to know what the fallout from COVID-19 will be The 2008 financial crisis brought the global economy to its knees and sent American home prices into freefall. For anyone who managed to hang on to their job, savings, and credit score, the aftermath of the crisis was a prime opportunity to buy a house at a bargain price. The Great Recession is the only economic downturn millennials have lived through as adults, so, naturally, they might think that the next recession—which appears to be on the horizon because of the spread of COVID-19—will present a chance for many millennials to finally join the ranks of homeownership. The last recession was an anomaly in more ways than one, and its effect on the housing market is the biggest outlier relative to other recessions. The 2008 recession didn’t cause the housing market to go into freefall. The housing market going into freefall caused the recession. In the years leading up to that collapse, mortgage lenders were issuing mortgages that were destined to fail. Those mortgages were bundled into bonds and distributed across the global financial system. When people started defaulting on those mortgages, the financial system collapsed, and millions of homes went into foreclosure. Prices dropped. In contrast, the probable recession coming as a result of COVID-19 will be induced by cities going into lockdown, a necessary step toward preventing the further spread of the virus. Businesses closing or reducing production—particularly the airline, restaurant, and media industries—has caused more than 17 million Americans to file for unemployment since the outbreak. Prior to the pandemic, the housing market heading into this spring was set to be extremely competitive, as low inventory and low mortgage rates were a recipe for pushing already high prices up even further. A coronavirus-induced recession is hard to game out because there’s so much we don’t know yet, but Zillow looked at housing markets during previous pandemics and concluded that while the volume of housing transactions dropped dramatically, prices fell only a little, if at all. This makes intuitive sense. Home prices are determined by home transactions, and without transactions, prices don’t really move. A good way to think about homebuying during a pandemic is that the housing market is simply put on pause. Furthermore, the federal government has announced a moratorium on foreclosures on any mortgage backed by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, or the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)…