Technologies

Why Tiger Woods, Tom Brady and others are joining in on the NFT craze

Tiger Woods is the latest to sell digital collectibles as NFTs. But how much are they going for nowadays? We’ll explain.

You’ve probably heard about NFTs, short for nonfungible tokens. But what exactly are they? It’s a new type of digital asset similar to cryptocurrency that can cost you a lot of money. The craze began in 2017, and since then, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, rock legends Kings of Leon and even Tiger Woods have sold NFTs for a pretty penny (more below).

But what exactly are you buying when you purchase an NFT? It’s not a collectible that you can keep in your dresser drawer, like Pokemon cards, a comic book or paintings. They’re entirely digital and are tied to almost anything — a video highlight, a meme or even a tweet.

If this doesn’t make much sense to you, well you’re not alone.

In short, NFTs offer a blockchain-created certificate of authenticity for a digital asset or piece of art. The interest has created a digital market that boasted $250 million in sales in 2020, with NFTs reaching new levels of hype from Visa, Warner Music Group and Nike. Even toilet paper companies are in on the latest cryptocurrency wave. Still confused? We’ll break down what NFTs really are, how much they cost and how you can get in on the latest bidding wars.

What’s an NFT?

This is the part that takes a bit of open-mindedness. An NFT is a unique digital token, with most using the Ethereum blockchain to digitally record transactions. It’s not a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ethereum, because those are fungible — exchangeable for another Bitcoin or cash. NFTs are recorded in a digital ledger in the same way as cryptocurrency, so there’s a listing of who owns each one.

What makes an NFT unique is the digital asset tied to the token. This can be an image, video, tweet or piece of music that’s uploaded to a marketplace, which creates the NFT to be sold.

Do I own the asset if I own an NFT?

Nope.

That’s the real kicker to understanding the whole concept. The person who buys the NFT doesn’t own the actual asset.

“NFTs challenge the idea of ownership: digital files can be reproduced infinitely and you do not (usually) buy the copyright or a license when purchasing an NFT,” said Jeffrey Thompson, associate professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.

For example, the creator of the Nyan Cat meme sold an NFT of it for $590,000. The person who bought the token owns the token, but doesn’t actually own the meme. That still belongs to the creator, who held onto intellectual and creative rights.

What the owner of the token has is a record and a hash code showing ownership of the unique token associated with the particular digital asset. People might download Nyan Cat and use it on social media if they want, but they won’t own the token. This also means they can’t sell the token as the owner can.

Why are NFTs so expensive?

As with physical collectibles such as Beanie Babies, baseball cards and toys, there’s a market for NFTs. The buyers tend to be tech-savvy individuals who understand the idea of wanting to purchase digital goods and likely made a killing this past year with cryptocurrencies. Ethereum, for example, went from just over $100 last March to a current price of about $3,400. In some cases, buyers are just flexing their digital wallets to show off how much crypto they have, but for others, there’s a deeper interest.

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“Specifically for art-related NFTs, there is a huge surge in demand due to their novelty and creativity of early artists,” Jason Lau, chief operating officer of crypto exchange OKCoin, said in an email. “Whether it’s a physical work with an attached NFT (think of it as a digital autograph and proof of veracity), or an entirely digital work (where the NFT is the art), this new medium is opening new ways for collectors and artists to explore their relationship with the artwork itself.”

It’s also great for the artists, says Lau. By selling digital art directly to those interested, an artist can begin monetizing work without having to try to sell it in a gallery.

What kind of NFTs can I buy?

NFTs can be tied to any digital asset. Anything you see online can be an NFT — music, social media posts, clip art and more. Today, Sorare released its “Super Rare” Lionel Messi digital trading card that’s currently bidding at €29,992.75, equivalating to over $35,000. Sorare also announced that it raised $680 million for its next-level sports fantasy game. The funding is currently led by SoftBank.

And today, Tiger Woods will sell thousands of digital collectibles on Autograph on the DraftKings marketplace. The second collection will launch on Sept. 28. Autograph is co-founded by Tom Brady, another athlete in the NFT market.

But NFTs are going far beyond sports. Recently, Fortune gave its readers a chance to get in on the NFT craze. The company sold 256 copies of the limited edition cover from the graphic artist Pplpleasr for Fortune’s August/September magazine on OpenSea. The copies sold out within five minutes starting at $1 Etherum (estimated $3,000). But the NFTs were available for resale at three times the cost.

And in August, a clip art of a rock, better known as Ether Rock, was sold for $400,000 Etherum (estimated $1.3 million). Two weeks ago, it was valued at $97,716. And in August, Visa announced its NFT CryptoPunks purchase for $150,000 in Ethereum. The financial corporation believes that NFTs play a big role in the “future of retail, social media, entertainment, and commerce.” And Vine’s co-creator, Dom Hoffman, is reportedly inventing a new way to gamify NFTs with his fantasy gaming console, Supdive.

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As the hype for NFTs grows, expect more digital assets to come up for sale and bring in some big money.

Where can I buy or sell an NFT?

While you may not want to jump right in bidding six figures, there are multiple NFT marketplaces out there to check out, with Opensea being the biggest. Buyers can search for art, domain names and random collectibles to bid on without having to break the bank. And Woods’ digital collection is one of the many NFT collections available on DraftKings marketplace, including Tony Hawk’s collection.

On the other hand, if you want to sell an NFT of your art, you can use NFTify, the Shopify NFT store, to sell NFTs without creating your own store. You’ll also need a MetaMask account to get going. And Burberry recently announced a partnership with Mythical Games to gamify buying, selling and collecting toys as NFTs through the Blankos Block Party game. CNET’s own Chris Parker also made a step-by-step guide on how to make and sell your own NFT, in the video below.

What are the downsides of NFTs?

A drawback is the hundreds of dollars in fees required to create an NFT. If you’re making your own token on the Ethereum blockchain, you need to use some Ethereum, which as mentioned earlier is kind of pricey. Then after you make an NFT, there’s a “gas” fee that pays for the work that goes into handling the transaction and that’s also based on the price of Ethereum. Marketplaces simplify the process by handling everything for a fee when an NFT is sold.

There’s also an environmental cost. Like Bitcoin, Ethereum requires computers to handle the computations, known as “mining,” and those computer tasks require a lot of energy. An analysis from Cambridge University found that mining for Bitcoin consumed more energy than the entire country of Argentina. Ethereum is second to Bitcoin in popularity, and its power consumption is on the rise and comparable to the amount of energy used by Libya.

Technologies

CNBC Daily Open: U.S.-China meeting in focus while Trump wants to rename the Strait of Hormuz

All eyes are on the upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House, which could offer more clues to the U.S.-China trade relations as well as China’s stance towards Iran amid the Mideast conflict.

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Hello, this is Justina Lee writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC’s Daily Open.

The upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House is highly anticipated, though some China watchers are keeping their expectations low.

But relations with China aren’t the only focus for Trump, as he floated the idea to rename the Strait of Hormuz after himself. This comes less than a week after he signed an executive order to change the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America.”

On the economic front, worries over inflation, higher rates and high debt continue to weigh on sentiment, as benchmark borrowing costs around the world extend their multi-decade highs.

What you need to know today

All eyes are on the upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the White House, which could offer more clues on the future of U.S.-China trade relations as well as China’s stance towards Iran and the Mideast conflict.

Some China watchers, however, are keeping their expectations low, as both sides appear to be more interested in avoiding moves that would risk their current trade truce.

Meanwhile, Trump continues his “naming” game, expressing his desire to rename the Strait of Hormuz after himself, less than a week after he signed an executive order to change the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America.”

But “making America great” doesn’t stop there, as Trump met with travel industry executives who urged his administration to target attracting 100 million international visitors by 2030.

Oil continues to dominate the headlines amid the Mideast conflict. The Strait of Hormuz, which remains one of the most critical strategic waterways for global trade flows, saw oil exports hit a wartime record on Monday with more than 17 million barrels daily, Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC.

While concerns over oil supply disruptions in the Middle East continue to persist, Venezuela offers a bright spot. Chevron is expanding its operations in Venezuela, more than doubling its oil production over the next five years via a $7 billion investment.

Over at the G20 gatherings this week, artificial intelligence took center stage with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman saying the use of AI is “non-negotiable” and Anthropic co-founder Tom Brown praising Trump’s stance on AI data centers.

Switching lanes to auto-related sectors, Uber announced plans to cut 10% of its workforce as it seeks to consolidate management layers and lower costs. However, the ride-hailing company declined to disclose the number of jobs cut, nor did it attribute the move to AI.

In markets, U.S. stocks closed higher in Wednesday’s regular trading, with all three major averages snapping a three-day slump. Asia markets closed lower amid concerns over Iran-U.S. tensions.

Meanwhile, worries over inflation, higher rates and high debt remain in focus, as benchmark borrowing costs around the world extend their multi-decade highs. Central banks in major economies, including the U.S., are widely expected to raise interest rates this month.

—Justina Lee

And finally…

Zelenskyy says airlines should avoid Russian airspace as Ukraine expands drone operations

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged airlines to avoid Russian airspace as Kyiv expands its drone operations.

“We want to warn every airline that uses Russian airspace, every insurer, and everyone who still uses Russia’s key airports: Russian airspace is becoming completely unsafe,” Zelenskyy said Tuesday in his evening address.

His warning follows Ukraine stepping up its long-range drone strikes on Russian oil refineries and logistics hubs, as it seeks to raise the cost of the war for Moscow.

—Sam Meredith

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Technologies

Uber Aims to Reduce Staff by 10% to Achieve Simpler, Faster Operations

Uber plans to cut about 10 % of its workforce to simplify operations and accelerate decision‑making, while maintaining its $10 billion-plus investment in autonomous vehicles. The layoffs are part of a broader effort to flatten management and concentrate staff in key hubs.

Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi told employees that the layoffs are intended to make the company simpler and faster while freeing up resources for future investments, including the planned $10 billion-plus commitment to autonomous vehicles. The announcement pushed Uber’s shares up almost 2 %. Uber declined to specify how many jobs would be eliminated; the firm reported roughly 34,000 employees at the close of 2025 in its annual filing. The move follows a broader trend among technology firms to flatten management hierarchies to accelerate decision‑making and boost efficiency. Khosrowshahi said the cuts are not linked to AI‑driven layoffs affecting other tech companies. The restructuring will slash small teams of one‑to‑two‑person reports by about half and reduce staff seven levels below the CEO by 20 %, noting that Uber has surpassed the usefulness of many of those layers at its current scale. Additionally, Uber will merge several teams and concentrate more workers in hubs such as New York and San Francisco, while permitting roughly 1 % of employees to continue working remotely. Khosrowshahi argued that a leaner structure will clarify accountability, speed up decisions, and allow more time for product development rather than coordination.

Technologies

Iran Claims Tankers Hit Mines in Hormuz, U.S. Disputes Allegation

Iran alleges two tankers were mined in the Strait of Hormuz, but the U.S. denies this, amid ongoing military tensions and retaliatory strikes.

According to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, two oil tankers struck naval mines while attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, following Iranian retaliatory strikes on U.S. bases in the Middle East. In a statement relayed by state media, the hard-line military group said the vessels were disabled and their crews forced to disembark after ignoring warnings about taking an “illegal route” through the strait. President Donald Trump stated he was not trying to force Iran to the bargaining table, as U.S. forces conducted a new round of attacks against the country on Tuesday. U.S. Central Command countered Iran’s claim, posting on social media that no ships had hit mines in the Strait of Hormuz, calling it another IRGC attempt to intimidate commercial shipping through disinformation. The latest military exchanges occurred as the Financial Times reported on Russia’s secret assistance to Iran in developing advanced supersonic cruise missiles targeting U.S. warships. In a Truth Social post, Trump asserted U.S. control over the Strait of Hormuz and highlighted Tehran’s economic collapse, questioning when Iranians would rise up. Earlier, U.S. Central Command announced strikes on Iranian air defense and communications sites in retaliation for recent attacks on shipping and American personnel. Iran responded by targeting Jordan, with Jordan’s armed forces intercepting 10 of 13 missiles, causing no casualties. Bahrain also reported intercepting Iranian air strikes. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted the Strait of Hormuz would become obsolete within two years as oil shifts to land pipelines. The Sunday strikes marked the first U.S.-Iran exchange in a month, following the Trump administration’s “economic D-Day” on Tehran’s supporters.