I mean, digital “real estate” is definitely a ripoff, yes.
That said, NFTs could make for handy DRM for people who create custom assets for others to use in a metaverse-style virtual world. They’re definitely not a good investment, though, just a good method of proving you own a digital goods. It could be integrated into an encryption, so that if you own the NFT for X, only you an use that particular instance of X, though I haven’t seen it happen. The point is, it could be useful for a digital artisan economy in a metaverse.
As for crypto as a whole, once again you’re right in the moment. Don’t invest in cryptocurrency, just buy some if you need to pay for something in it like a SignalLink eSIM. Why? Because of shit like the “digital dollar”. If they’re going to digitize currency anyway and make said digital currency revolve around a central bank, then keep an eye on the escape route but remember that what looks like an escape might be a trap.
For the above reasons, I banned non-academic discussion of cryptocurrencies from /c/web3_xr because yeah, no one should be taken advantage of like that.
Oh, nice! Welcome to this little community I started, then!