The Digital Coroner was inspired by a real-life museum I visited earlier this year. In the museum, all the artwork was based on NFTs (which stands for “non-fungible tokens,” which sounds like a line from Jabberwocky).

Most of my editors and early readers weren’t familiar with NFTs. NFTs are “digital assets” (for example, a digital image in JPEG format that you can view on the web) with a complex “digital signature” attached to it that says the digital asset belongs to you.

How can a JPEG graphic that can be downloaded from a website or sent in an email can “belong” to someone? (“Because the digital signature says so” appears to be the answer.) Creating that digital signature is really expensive and consumes a LOT of energy—roughly what the average American household consumes in six days. And some NFTs sell for a LOT of money!

Hopefully, I’ve explained enough about NFTs in The Digital Coroner for readers to understand enough to enjoy the murder mystery! But for those of you who want to know more, I’ve got a few links here:

• Good Housekeeping wrote an article about NFTs which is the best article I’ve found that explains NFTs in terms most people can understand without being a cryptocurrency trader.
• Bri Janes at Pipeline Artists wrote an article on NFTs that doesn’t disguise her disdain for NFTs and cryptocurrency (and capitalism). I think it does a great job of explaining the cons of NFTs, although some of the article assumes a working knowledge of crypto.
• And finally, here’s what the majority of search results come up with: a typical hype article about NFTs.

I hope these articles provide some insight around the technology showcased by my fictional museum!

-