Purchase behavior of NFTs

: analysis of drivers and barriers in Germany

Abstract

Non-fungible tokens (NFT) have enjoyed rapid market growth within the last year. Based on a blockchain, the new technology brings the ability to serve as a certificate of authenticity. NFTs are uniquely verifiable and can be traced back to the owner. They can embody digital and real assets and assign them a unique value. Due to their traceability, NFTs have great potential in diverse application areas. This work aims to identify the associated drivers and barriers and analyze the buying behavior in Germany for NFTs. In this context, the study examines three different groups to capture the different aspects: NFT owners, people who do not own NFTs but are interested in buying them, and people who are not interested in buying them, but have a fundamental knowledge about the unique tokens. Qualitative and quantitative data collection is chosen to analyze the drivers and barriers. The theoretical part of the thesis focuses on the worldwide NFT-market and tries to draw first conclusions for the German market. Thereby first motives and obstacles for the purchase of NFTs are shown. Further data are found through an expert interview as well as ten in-depth interviews. In addition, 98 people in Germany were asked about their preferences and dislikes in a survey. The present work identified significant differences and similarities among respondents regarding drivers and barriers to NFT purchasing behavior.

Date of Award	28 Jun 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Miguel Rita (Supervisor)