There are various challenges and risks that may affect the adoption of non-fungible tokens, including but not limited to:
i) Complexity: The technology and tooling behind non-fungible tokens and the decentralized applications (dapps) that underpin them are still nascent despite the increasing adoption amongst startups and enterprises alike; Many of the complexities associated with building NFT-related solutions are not yet abstracted by quality tooling.
ii) Regulatory/Legal Implications: With the introduction of new and innovative technologies, particularly ones that involve speculative or high-value assets, come distinct regulatory and legal considerations including but not limited to know your customer procedures, anti money laundering mechanisms, and securities law compliance.
iii) Rapid Innovation: The rapid pace of innovation in the NFT ecosystem and the blockchain networks on which they are issued presents challenges for those adopting the technology in the form of consistent change; agility and modularity are critical.
iv) Concerns Regarding Ecological Impact: Controversy continues in regard to the impact that energy-intensive blockchain networks that utilize the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism have on climate change, and NFT-focused products have been a target for such criticism. However, solutions already exist to ameliorate this concern, such as the adoption of less energy-intensive consensus mechanisms and the use of “Layer 2” or L2 networks where transactions that mint NFTs can be validated more rapidly and efficiently outside of the main blockchain network. For example, the Ethereum blockchain network is well on its way to shifting towards the more energy-efficient Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism in its Ethereum 2.0 launch, and Layer 2 solutions like Polygon and ImmutableX are already helping reduce the load today.