The Paradox of Decentralization: NFTs, Platform Capitalism and the Tokenized Knowledge Economy

Abstract

This study examines the economic, legal, and institutional structures of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as emerging mechanisms of digital value creation in the global art and media sector. Correspondingly, the aim was to analyze the functional logic of these blockchain-based forms of exploitation and to determine their role in the ongoing knowledge economization of cultural production. Utilizing a qualitative-exploratory multiple-case design, this study meticulously analyzed exemplary use cases from the art, music, and creative industries. Notable examples include ArtTrade.io, Royal.io, and the Kool Savas NFT drop, all of which were scrutinized through systematic document analysis and a PRISMA-based literature evaluation. However, to enhance analytical rigor and support theoretical triangulation, an additional institutional comparison set has been introduced. This set includes significant large-scale distributed ledger technology initiatives such as BLOCKBASTER (collaboration between Deutsche Börse and Deutsche Bundesbank), BIS Helvetia Phase II, Collateral Management Benefit from DLT, and Delivery versus Payment (DvP) utilizing Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The projects in question effectively contextualize NFT-based market structures within the wider landscape of digital financial infrastructures, underscoring the convergence of cultural, technological, and regulatory frameworks surrounding tokenization. As the results indicate, NFTs currently function primarily as tokenized representations that do not transfer copyright or property rights. They point out a structural paradox: blockchain promises to decentralize technology, but governance, pricing, and monetization are still centralized. From an economic perspective, hybrid revenue models consisting of primary sales and secondary royalty mechanisms dominate, utilizing attention, exclusivity, and scarcity as core resources. However, NFTs thus appear as socio-technical infrastructures that redefine the interface between technology, market, and culture. As a contribution to the study of the global dynamics of digital creative economies, it highlights that NFTs represent less of a disruption of existing structures and more of an algorithmic reorganization of them. They thus mark the transition to a tokenized knowledge economy in which creativity, data, and code become convergent factors of production in a new economic era.