Gary Vaynerchuk Says NFTs Are ‘Assets to Communicate Who You Are’

• Entrepreneur and influencer Gary Vaynerchuk told CNBC that NFTs are “grossly misunderstood.”
• Vaynerchuk, who has 2.9 million Twitter followers, is the creator behind the popular NFT series Vee Friends.
• “We are living more and more increasingly in a digital landscape, and NFTs become assets to communicate who you are,” he said.

Entrepreneur and influencer Gary Vaynerchuk said there are serious misconceptions surrounding the digital asset space and zeroed in on the debate over whether non-fungible tokens have value. 

The NFT bull and CEO of VaynerMedia explained his stance in an interview with CNBC Wednesday that has gone viral on social media.

“I think NFTs are grossly misunderstood,” he said. “People thought that Andy Warhols and Jackson Pollocks should not have value. People thought that sports cards should not have value. People thought that sneakers should not have value.” 

People trying to assess value on something based on their opinions “has made me laugh my entire life and has been historically incorrect,” Vaynerchuk continued, adding that the market will decide if something has value.

Rather than try to put a price tag on NFTs, he said he tries to understand why people buy them and compared the purchases to high-end handbags, sneakers and cars. “It’s about brand.” 

The difference today is that people are projecting themselves online more, he said, pointing to teenagers on gaming platforms like Roblox and Fortnite.

“We are living more and more increasingly in a digital landscape, and NFTs become assets to communicate who you are,” he said. “And that’s something human beings have done forever — bought things to communicate. And NFTs will be the scaled version of that.”

Vaynerchuk, also known as Gary Vee, has 2.9 million Twitter followers and is the creator behind the popular NFT series Vee Friends. The price for a single Vee Friends NFT is currently 13.25 ETH, or about $41,000. 

The NFT market boomed in 2021 to about $41 billion in sales — nearing the size of the traditional art market — as celebrities, artists, and investors poured into the nascent Web3 space.

That momentum has continued into 2022. Over the past week, there were over $535 million in NFT sales.