The unexpected stocking stuffer this Christmas might be a non-fungible token (NFT).
People who are both new and experienced in the nascent world of NFTs say they’re planning on distributing the digital gifts to friends and family – who might not really know what to do with the presents.
Abraham Aradillas says he hadn’t heard of an NFT until about six months ago, after they exploded onto the popular culture mainstream and were parodied by Saturday Night Live.
But now the 23-year-old truck driver from Dallas says he’ll be buying Platy Punks – a popular NFT with the image of a platypus – for all his friends for Christmas, and he thinks they’ll be excited and confused.
“When I told my friends I bought an NFT, they laughed at me. They’re like, ‘You bought a picture of a platypus’. So I think they’ll have the same reaction,” Mr Aradillas says.
As the prices of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies skyrocketed over the past year, NFTs have been lifted up in the mania. They’ve piqued the interest of people who started trading and managing their own portfolios during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as those who finally got a handle on cryptocurrencies.
An NFT is a type of cryptocurrency asset that uses blockchain to record the ownership status of digital objects. Although anyone can view the item, only the buyer of an NFT has the certified status of being its owner.
Unlike currencies, in which every token is of equal value and can be swapped for any other, NFTs have unique qualities that stop them from being interchangeable or fungible.
The NFT market is booming in the wake of Covid-19 as investors seek alternate and more profitable avenues to channel excess liquidity. Mike Winkelmann, the digital artist who goes by the name Beeple, made headlines in March when he sold an NFT for $69 million.
Besides art, people are also spending millions of dollars on NFT collectibles that include sports trading cards, digital houses, augmented reality trainers, music and video games. For instance, an NFT of Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey’s first tweet sold for about $3m.
NFT sales volume surged more than eightfold to $10.7 billion in the third quarter of this year, up 704 per cent over the previous three-month period to the end of June, according to data from market tracker DappRadar.
Sales volumes recorded on OpenSea, the largest NFT trading platform, hit $3.4bn in August, according to DappRadar. In January, the monthly volume recorded on the platform was more than $8m.
Some gift givers say they hope their friends and relatives will learn about NFTs or that the token will be a good investment: sort of like a lottery scratch-off, the gift could pay off big time. In other cases, the gifts are more akin to collectables, souveneirs or art.
Wallet and keys
For recipients, the gift can feel like a chore. If they are new to cryptocurrency, they have to learn terms such as “wallet” and “keys” – not to mention what NFT stands for.
Educating family about NFTs is part of Jessica Walker’s motivation for giving the tokens as gifts this year for Christmas.
“To understand the new technology, you have to be introduced to it on a personal level,” says Ms Walker, 28, who creates educational content for price-tracking website CoinMarketCap.
Her budget is about one Ethereum, or $4,100. Ms Walker’s father and 25-year-old brother are football fans, so she’s eyeing some of the products on Tom Brady’s NFT platform Autograph. For her mother, an avid news follower, she’s looking at an NFT from a line created by the Associated Press.
She thinks her mother, who has her own Coinbase account, will appreciate the gift. Her brother, however, is a different story.
To understand the new technology, you have to be introduced to it on a personal level
Jessica Walker,
educational content creator, CoinMarketCap
“My brother will look at me slightly disappointed that I have not bought him food,” Ms Walker says.
Paula Sanguino, 36, a dental hygienist from Raleigh, North Carolina, says her first reaction to being given an NFT was excitement – along with a bunch of questions. She received the web address paulas.eth from a friend. It’s a domain name – like .com or .net – but also functions as an NFT as well as a way to send and receive cryptocurrencies.
“‘Thank you! Is this a domain? What do I do with this? Can I sell it later?’” Ms Sanguino recalls saying. “I was very confused by it when he shared it with me.”
She says it took her a few weeks to wrap her head around the concept of why something like this would be worth as much money as it was.
Montreal resident Nicolas Hebert is using gifts of NFTs as something of a memorial to a friend who recently died.
Mr Hebert, a 30-year-old commercial manager, and two other friends are giving their friend’s niece and nephew, both under age 12, NFTs in honour of him.
“We know this is something he would have done this year,” Mr Hebert says.
The kids will get an OnChain Monkey, which initially cost Mr Hebert about $40 when he helped mint it but is now worth around $2,000 to $2,500, he says.
They will also be getting an NFT called 2 Ballerz, which cost $200 each to mint. There’s no current marketplace for Ballerz.
Rather than buy NFTs to give, some families are creating them. Palo Alto-based angel investor Chris Eberle helped his 13-year-old son, who wants to be an animator, design one that will go out to family.
The recipients will learn of their NFTs in an old-school way, through a picture in a card.
“There’s more of a payoff when you open a card with a cool picture,” says Mr Eberle, 47, who just started his own investment company, Defiant Capital, after serving as director of content and marketing globalisation at Netflix.
Gift givers might want to feel out their recipients first to see if the present would be welcome.
Jules, a 16-year-old from Maryland, says he would be disappointed if he got an NFT as a gift, particularly because of the energy used to create cryptocurrencies.
“I wouldn’t know what to do with it, to be honest,” says Jules, whose mother asked not to use his last name.
“What do you do with it? I think I would just hold onto it. I think that would be the least harmful thing I would do. It really holds no value to me.”
23-man shortlist for next six Hall of Fame inductees
Tony Adams, David Beckham, Dennis Bergkamp, Sol Campbell, Eric Cantona, Andrew Cole, Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba, Les Ferdinand, Rio Ferdinand, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard, Roy Keane, Frank Lampard, Matt Le Tissier, Michael Owen, Peter Schmeichel, Paul Scholes, John Terry, Robin van Persie, Nemanja Vidic, Patrick Viera, Ian Wright.
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
More on Quran memorisation:
The biog
Hobbies: Writing and running
Favourite sport: beach volleyball
Favourite holiday destinations: Turkey and Puerto Rico
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
If you go
The flights Etihad (www.etihad.com) and Spice Jet (www.spicejet.com) fly direct from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Pune respectively from Dh1,000 return including taxes. Pune airport is 90 minutes away by road.
The hotels A stay at Atmantan Wellness Resort (www.atmantan.com) costs from Rs24,000 (Dh1,235) per night, including taxes, consultations, meals and a treatment package.
Scoreline
Liverpool 3
Mane (7'), Salah (69'), Firmino (90')
Bournemouth 0
THE SIXTH SENSE
Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: 5/5
RESULTS
5pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,400m
Winner: JAP Almahfuz, Fernando Jara (jockey), Irfan Ellahi (trainer).
5.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh90,000 1,400m
Winner: AF Momtaz, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.
6pm: Handicap (TB) Dh100,000 1,400m
Winner: Yaalail, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Championship Listed (PA) Dh180,000 1,600m
Winner: Ihtesham, Szczepan Mazur, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami.
7pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 1,600m
Winner: Dahess D’Arabie, Fernando Jara, Helal Al Alawi.
7.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 2.200m
Winner: Ezz Al Rawasi, Connor Beasley, Helal Al Alawi.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
What vitamins do we know are beneficial for living in the UAE
Vitamin D: Highly relevant in the UAE due to limited sun exposure; supports bone health, immunity and mood.
Vitamin B12: Important for nerve health and energy production, especially for vegetarians, vegans and individuals with absorption issues.
Iron: Useful only when deficiency or anaemia is confirmed; helps reduce fatigue and support immunity.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA): Supports heart health and reduces inflammation, especially for those who consume little fish.
RESULTS
6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (Dirt) 1.600m
Winner: Miller’s House, Richard Mullen (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Kanood, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.
7.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Gervais, Sandro Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
8.15pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Important Mission, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Firnas, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
9.25pm: Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Zhou Storm, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
How to apply for a drone permit
- Individuals must register on UAE Drone app or website using their UAE Pass
- Add all their personal details, including name, nationality, passport number, Emiratis ID, email and phone number
- Upload the training certificate from a centre accredited by the GCAA
- Submit their request
What are the regulations?
- Fly it within visual line of sight
- Never over populated areas
- Ensure maximum flying height of 400 feet (122 metres) above ground level is not crossed
- Users must avoid flying over restricted areas listed on the UAE Drone app
- Only fly the drone during the day, and never at night
- Should have a live feed of the drone flight
- Drones must weigh 5 kg or less
RESULTS
6pm: Mazrat Al Ruwayah – Group 2 (PA) $40,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
Winner: AF Alajaj, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ernst Oertel (trainer)
6.35pm: Race of Future – Handicap (TB) $80,000 (Turf) 2,410m
Winner: Global Storm, William Buick, Charlie Appleby
7.10pm: UAE 2000 Guineas – Group 3 (TB) $150,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Azure Coast, Antonio Fresu, Pavel Vashchenko
7.45pm: Business Bay Challenge – Listed (TB) $100,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: Storm Damage, Patrick Cosgrave, Saeed bin Suroor
20.20pm: Curlin Stakes – Listed (TB) $100,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Appreciated, Fernando Jara, Doug O’Neill
8.55pm: Singspiel Stakes – Group 2 (TB) $180,000 (T) 1,800m
Winner: Lord Glitters, Daniel Tudhope, David O'Meara
9.30pm: Al Shindagha Sprint – Group 3 (TB) $150,000 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Meraas, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
RESULTS
2.30pm Jaguar I-Pace – Conditions (PA) Dh80,000 (Dirt)
1,600m
Winner Namrood, Antonio Fresu (jockey), Musabah Al Muhairi
(trainer)
3.05pm Land Rover Defender – Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (D)
1,400m
Winner Shadzadi, Tadhg O’Shea, Bhupat Seemar
3.40pm Jaguar F-Type – Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Turf) 1,600m
Winner Tahdeed, Fernando Jara, Nicholas Bachalard
4.15pm New Range Rover – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,400m
Winner Shanty Star, Richard Mullen, Rashed Bouresly
4.50pm Land Rover – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 (T) 2,400m
Winner Autumn Pride, Bernardo Pinheiro, Helal Al Alawi
5.25pm Al Tayer Motor – Handicap (TB) Dh95,000 T) 1,000m
Winner Dahawi, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
6pm Jaguar F-Pace SVR – Handicap (TB) Dh87,500 (D) 1,600m
Winner Scabbard, Sam Hitchcock, Doug Watson
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
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Takreem Awards winners 2021
Corporate Leadership: Carl Bistany (Lebanon)
Cultural Excellence: Hoor Al Qasimi (UAE)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Bkerzay (Lebanon)
Environmental Development and Sustainability: Raya Ani (Iraq)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Women’s Programs Association (Lebanon)
Humanitarian and Civic Services: Osamah Al Thini (Libya)
Excellence in Education: World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) (Qatar)
Outstanding Arab Woman: Balghis Badri (Sudan)
Scientific and Technological Achievement: Mohamed Slim Alouini (KSA)
Young Entrepreneur: Omar Itani (Lebanon)
Lifetime Achievement: Suad Al Amiry (Palestine)
