On February 1, someone going by the handle “Bayneko” released an uninvited COVID-themed NFT through an airdrop on the blockchain platform Tezos. Bayneko adds, “The blockchain is more durable than the human body and allows receivers to cure themselves by burning the sickness or infect others by transferring the token,” in one of the more shocking, though tragically typical, parallels of our day. Indeed, holders of the NFT appear to have the option of ignoring it, deleting (“burning”) it, or passing it on (“infecting”) it to others. The analogy between blockchain and COVID may seem uncomfortable, but in terms of computer history, both analogies are widely established.
