From Participation to Exposure: NFTs and the Socio-Environmental Tensions of Digital Innovation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v30.6562Keywords:
Anthropocene, Capitalocene, Digital divide, Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), Socio-environmental externalitiesAbstract
Digital innovation is typically discussed in terms of inclusion, efficiency, and value creation. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) reveal a less visible dimension of digital innovation: their benefits can accrue to a relatively small number of actors, while their environmental and social costs extend beyond those who participate in, or benefit from, the technology. Using NFTs as a revealing case, we examine the tension between digital value creation and socio-environmental cost externalisation. Drawing on the Anthropocene and, in particular, the Capitalocene as a productive interpretive lens, we examine how digital artifacts, often perceived as intangible, are embedded in economic, infrastructural, and institutional arrangements through which benefits, responsibilities, and socio-environmental consequences are unevenly distributed. We argue that this tension adds an important dimension to digital inequality because participation and exposure need not coincide. We therefore call on Information Systems scholars to examine not only who accesses, participates in, and captures value from digital innovation, but also who bears responsibility and who is exposed to its (unintended) consequences. We outline avenues for doing so through multidimensional approaches to digital inequality, climate justice, socio-environmental externalities, and critical futures thinking.
References
Babel, M., Gramlich, V., Körner, M. F., Sedlmeir, J., Strüker, J., & Zwede, T. (2022). Enabling end-to-end digital carbon emission tracing with shielded NFTs. Energy Informatics, 5(1), 1–22. doi.org/10.1186/s42162-022-00199-3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s42162-022-00199-3
Beinke, J., Schleh, D., Högemann, M., & Teuteberg, F. (2023). “Right-click, Save As” is dead; long live “Right-click, Save As”!–Understanding profile picture NFT business models in Web3. Proceedings of the 44th International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS 2023, 1–11. aisel.aisnet.org/icis2023/blockchain/blockchain/11
Benbya, H., Strich, F., & Trieu, V. H. (2025). Accounting for Unintended Consequences in IS Research: A Call to Action. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 29, 1–2. doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v29.6063 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v29.6063
Bossert, L. N., & Loh, W. (2025). Why the carbon footprint of generative large language models alone will not help us assess their sustainability. Nature Machine Intelligence, 7, 164–165. doi.org/10.1038/s42256-025-00979-y DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-025-00979-y
Burks, Z., Morgan, J., Malone, B., & Seibel, J. (2020, September 15). ERC-2981: NFT royalty standard. Ethereum Improvement Proposals. eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-2981
Chalmers, D., Fisch, C., Matthews, R., Quinn, W., & Recker, J. (2022). Beyond the bubble: Will NFTs and digital proof of ownership empower creative industry entrepreneurs? Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 17, e00309. doi.org/10.1016/j.jbvi.2022.e00309 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbvi.2022.e00309
Chamakiotis, P., Aljabr, N., & Masiero, S. (2022). Social Media and Forced Migration: The Emergence of a Hybrid Social. Proceedings of the 43rd International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS 2022, 1–9. aisel.aisnet.org/icis2022/social/social/2
Chamakiotis, P., & Petrakaki, D. (2025). Exploring Alternative (Non‐Economic) Forms of Value Engendered by Digital Platforms. Information Systems Journal, 35(4), 1093–1100. doi.org/10.1111/isj.12576 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12576
Chamakiotis, P., Petrakaki, D., & Panteli, N. (2021). Social value creation through digital activism in an online health community. Information Systems Journal, 31(1), 94–119. doi.org/10.1111/isj.12302 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12302
Crutzen, P., & Stoermer, E. (2000). The ‘Anthropocene’. Global Change Newsletter. International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme (IGBP), 41, 17–18.
Davison, R. M., Majchrzak, A., Hardin, A., & Ravishankar, M. N. (2023). Special issue on responsible IS research for a better world. Information Systems Journal, 33(1), 1–7. doi.org/10.1111/isj.12405 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12405
Entriken, W., Shirley, D., Evans, J., & Sachs, N. (2018, January 24). ERC-721: Non-fungible token standard. Ethereum Improvement Proposals. eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-721
Ethereum Foundation. (n.d.). Ethereum’s energy consumption. Ethereum.Org. Retrieved May 29, 2026, from ethereum.org/en/developers/docs/consensus-mechanisms/pos/energy-consumption/
Gholami, R., Watson, R. T., Hasan, H., Molla, A., & Bjorn-Andersen, N. (2016). Information Systems Solutions for Environmental Sustainability: How Can We Do More? Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 17(8), 521–536. doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00435 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00435
Gore, T., Alestig, M., & Ratcliff, A. (2020). Confronting Carbon Inequality. Oxfam Media Briefing, September.
Guidi, G., Dominici, F., Steinsultz, N., Dance, G., Henneman, L., Richardson, H., Castro, E., Bargagli-Stoffi, F. J., & Delaney, S. (2025). The environmental burden of the United States’ bitcoin mining boom. Nature Communications, 16(1), 2970. doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58287-3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58287-3
Heeks, R. (2022). Digital inequality beyond the digital divide: conceptualizing adverse digital incorporation in the global South. Information Technology for Development, 28(4), 688–704. doi.org/10.1080/02681102.2022.2068492 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02681102.2022.2068492
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (2023). Climate change 2023: Synthesis report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. doi.org/10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9
Kinsley, S. (2014). The matter of “virtual” geographies. Progress in Human Geography, 38(3), 364–384. doi.org/10.1177/0309132513506270 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132513506270
Lee, C. T., Li, Z., & Shen, Y.-C. (2024). Building bonds: an examination of relational bonding in continuous content contribution behaviors on metaverse-based non-fungible token platforms. Internet Research, 34(6), 2057–2095. doi.org/10.1108/INTR-11-2022-0883 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-11-2022-0883
Maitland, A., Lawson, M., Stroot, H., Poidatz, A., Khalfan, A., & Dabi, N. (2022). Carbon billionaires. In Oxfam International. doi.org/10.21201/2022.9684
Malm, A., & Hornborg, A. (2014). The geology of mankind? A critique of the anthropocene narrative. Anthropocene Review, 1(1), 62–69. doi.org/10.1177/2053019613516291 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019613516291
Moore, J. W. (2016). Anthropocene or Capitalocene? Nature, History, and the Crisis of Capitalism. Sociology Faculty Scholarship, 1. orb.binghamton.edu/sociology_fac/1
Nadini, M., Alessandretti, L., Di Giacinto, F., Martino, M., Aiello, L. M., & Baronchelli, A. (2021). Mapping the NFT revolution: Market trends, trade networks, and visual features. Scientific Reports, 11(1), 20902. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00053-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-00053-8
Pang, M.-S., Kankanhalli, A., Aanestad, M., Ram, S., & Maruping, L. (2024). Digital Technologies and the Advancement of Social Justice: A Framework and Agenda. MIS Quarterly, 48(4), 1591–1610. doi.org/10.25300/MISQ/2024/484E3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.25300/MISQ/2024/790
Regner, F., Schweizer, A., & Urbach, N. (2019). NFTs in practice - Non-fungible tokens as core component of a blockchain-based event ticketing application. Proceedings of the 40th International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS 2019, 1–17. aisel.aisnet.org/icis2019/blockchain_fintech/blockchain_fintech/1
Richardson, K., Steffen, W., Lucht, W., Bendtsen, J., Cornell, S. E., Donges, J. F., Drüke, M., Fetzer, I., Bala, G., von Bloh, W., Feulner, G., Fiedler, S., Gerten, D., Gleeson, T., Hofmann, M., Huiskamp, W., Kummu, M., Mohan, C., Nogués-Bravo, D., … Rockström, J. (2023). Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries. Science Advances, 9(37), 1–16. doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adh2458 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adh2458
Richter, A., Leyer, M., Black, S., & Davern, M. (2026). Tensions: A lens for provoking debate on contemporary information systems developments. Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 30. doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v30.6676 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v30.6676
Seidel, S., Bharati, P., Watson, R. T., Boudreau, M. C. M., Kruse, L. C., Karsten, H., Melville, N., Toland, J., Fridgen, G., Albizri, A., Butler, T., Guzman, I., Lee, H., Rush, D., & Watts, S. (2017). The sustainability imperative in information systems research. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 40(1), 40–52. doi.org/10.17705/1cais.04003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17705/1CAIS.04003
Spiekermann, S., Krasnova, H., Hinz, O., Baumann, A., Benlian, A., Gimpel, H., Heimbach, I., Köster, A., Maedche, A., Niehaves, B., Risius, M., & Trenz, M. (2022). Values and Ethics in Information Systems: A State-of-the-Art Analysis and Avenues for Future Research. Business and Information Systems Engineering, 64(2), 247–264. doi.org/10.1007/s12599-021-00734-8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12599-021-00734-8
Steffen, W., Broadgate, W., Deutsch, L., Gaffney, O., & Ludwig, C. (2015). The trajectory of the anthropocene: The great acceleration. Anthropocene Review, 2(1), 81–98. doi.org/10.1177/2053019614564785 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2053019614564785
Taffel, S. (2023). AirPods and the earth: Digital technologies, planned obsolescence and the Capitalocene. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 6(1), 433–454. doi.org/10.1177/25148486221076136 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486221076136
Tarafdar, M., & Davison, R. M. (2018). Research in information systems: Intra-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary approaches. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 19(6), 523–551. doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00500 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00500
Tavares, A. P., Whitley, E., Nordhaug, L. M., Sæbø, J., Raghavan, M., Senyo, P., & Masiero, S. (2023). Digital Public Goods and vulnerable populations. ECIS 2023 Panels, Kristiansand, Norway. aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2023_panels/2
United Nations Development Program (UNDP). (2023). UNDP Human Climate Horizons. horizons.hdr.undp.org/
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) & United States Copyright Office. (2024). Non-fungible tokens and intellectual property: A report to Congress. www.copyright.gov/policy/nft-study/Joint-USPTO-USCO-Report-on-NFTs-and-Intellectual-Property.pdf
van Dijk, J. A. G. M. (2020). The digital divide. Polity Press.
Vassilakopoulou, P., & Hustad, E. (2023). Bridging Digital Divides: a Literature Review and Research Agenda for Information Systems Research. Information Systems Frontiers, 25(3), 955–969. doi.org/10.1007/s10796-020-10096-3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-020-10096-3
Xiao, T., Nerini, F. F., Matthews, H. D., Tavoni, M., & You, F. (2025). Environmental impact and net-zero pathways for sustainable artificial intelligence servers in the USA. Nature Sustainability, 8. doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01681-y DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-025-01681-y
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Marc Oberhauser, Vitor Lima, Petros Chamakiotis
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
AJIS publishes open-access articles distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Non-Commercial and Attribution License which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and AJIS are credited. All other rights including granting permissions beyond those in the above license remain the property of the author(s).
