Non-Fungible Tokens as Investment

William Goetzmann, Dong Huang and Milad Nozari

No 34837, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: NFTs provided an extraordinary real-time laboratory for bubble economics: returns were exceptionally right-skewed, illiquidity pervaded even the most active platforms, and a handful of trades drove aggregate performance. Investors extrapolating from realized returns without recognizing selection bias and survivorship faced a substantial risk of disappointment. As our data and simulations confirm, successful NFT investing during the bubble required an almost perfect confluence of timing, liquidity, and luck.

JEL-codes: D44 G11 Z11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-02
Note: AP
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