Cornell International Law JournalThe preeminent source for scholarship on foreign and international law

Non-fungible tokens are the hot word on the street, the topic of conversation that is getting all the buzz as we learn of preposterous purchases in the million-dollar range for a digital picture. That is right, a digital picture depicting some kind of artwork can be worth millions of dollars, and that is the very reason this topic is so intently discussed and mystified. Its unique nature has serious legal implications, however, that have troubled the entire globe, to the extent that some of the most sophisticated government bodies cannot ascertain how to regulate NFTs, or sometimes even define a NFT in the first place. The
consensus is that NFTs are a type of digital asset, but due to their unique characteristics that differentiate them from other digital assets, they have so far been regulated in a different manner. These very issues have complicated the regulatory and enforcement approach to several issues regarding NFTs, such as money laundering and counterfeiting. In the United States, intellectual property and
domestic litigation were the first responses towards preventing illicit activity in the NFT industry. The United States is notably lacking in NFT regulation compared to its international counterparts, with essentially zero federal regulation in place. Although U.S. Senators tasked the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) with surveying the NFT industry and looking into infringement schemes just this past summer, the U.S. should consider broadening its search for the best answer by looking to international examples of NFT legislation. These international approaches responding to the latest threats of fraud in the digital asset industry, including the NFT industry, may offer solutions for the
United States to draw from to address the fraud problem. Many people throughout the country and world are victims to fraudulent sales of NFTs often in the six to seven figure range and should therefore merit a real, thoughtful, and quick response by the United States and other nations late to act.

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