Agency Mischief is auctioning off its NFT (and a big idea) in order to help save the planet from NFTs
'Meow Mint' aims to curb the environmental damage done by the cryptomining that helps to support non-fungible tokens
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One of the upsides of NFTs is that they’ve helped to legitimize the work of digital artists. Unfortunately, they’re also notoriously horrible for the environment, with critics noting that the cryptomining of the Ethereum that makes NFTs possible consumes nearly 26.5 terawatt hours of electricity a year—that’s close to the annual consumption of the entire country of Ireland and its five million residents.
Just ahead of Earth Day, one agency is jumping on the non-fungible token bandwagon in order to help curb the damage the technology inflicts on the planet.
Mischief @ No Fixed Address has put up for auction its own NFT, “MeowMint.” It targets marketers, promising the highest bidder not only official ownership rights to one digital kitty; they’ll also score a “big idea” from the agency, which was founded last year by longtime BBDO vet Greg Hahn and has since, turned out memorable campaigns for Kraft Heinz, OKCupid, Oura, Jay-Z’s Monogram and more. Being owner of “MeowMint” also comes with half a day with Mischief’s creative and strategy teams to crack a business problem.
Along with promoting the Mischief name, the campaign helps to underscore the value of agencies and their creative contributions to clients. “An NFT is a way to represent anything unique as a blockchain asset,” said No Fixed Address Creative Technologist Darrin Patey in a statement. “They can represent digital art or real-world real estate. So, we thought, why can’t they represent ideas?”
Equally important, the effort aims to address the harm that NFTs bring to the Earth. All the proceeds of the auction will go to benefit Green NFT Bounty team, an organization that is pushing for the advancement of a “greener” blockchain. “There’s an important conversation happening around the environmental impact of NFTs and indeed around blockchain technology in general,” Patey added. “There are improvements to the technology’s eco-efficiency coming, but they’re not here yet, and anybody experimenting in this space has to take it seriously.”
But doesn’t creating yet another NFT only exacerbate the problem? “In short, yeah, we're asking people to do a little bad for a whole lot of good,” an agency rep says.
The auction runs until April 22, 2021 at 5 p.m. EST. You can bid on "MeowMint" here and check out the Mischief’s FAQ on the project here.
