Everything About Digital Assets
Assets that exist and are operated digitally are known as digital assets. The exact definition of a digital asset has been in discussion for a long time because of the endless possibilities that this term could encompass.
In simple terms, any digital content that has value or can be valued and owned by any entity makes for a digital asset. These digital assets can exist in any digital form, like audio, video, picture, document, graphics, text, and much more. Digital assets should either hold some value or have the potential to be valued, just like non-digital assets. Another point that is considered a prerequisite of a digital asset is that these assets should be discoverable within the metadata.
Digital Assets Vs. Regular Files
Digital assets and regular files both can exist in various digital formats. However, the underlying difference that distinguishes a digital asset from a file is whether the content holds any value or not. One of the primary attributes of a digital asset is that it holds some monetary value for the owner.
Any graphic illustrations, write-ups, or images that hold value and can be exchanged or rented for money are digital assets. Any content that solely exists online does not add value, or does not have the potential for exchange or rent for money is only a regular file and not a digital asset.
Types of Digital Assets
– Photos
– Videos
– Write-ups
– Documents
– Graphics
– Illustrations/Animations
– Logos
– Metadata
– Reports
– Audio/Music
– Books
– Design Files
– Presentations/Spreadsheets/PDFs
– and many more
How are Digital Assets Valued?
Like every other asset or commodity, digital assets are valued by analyzing a few points, like the demand it creates, the time and energy spent on them, and whether or not they can be recreated.
Potential Demand
The value proposition of a digital asset depends primarily on the potential demand it creates. If the digital asset has immense usefulness, like graphics, or is an original piece of work by a celebrated individual, as a write-up by an author, it would have a potentially higher value. On the other hand, if the documents don’t have versatile usability, they would be valued lesser.
Time and Skills
The amount of time, skills, and energies that have gone into creating the digital asset says a lot about its value proposition. A file or a piece of content that has been created over a long time, like research work, would have more contributing participants and elements that could add value.
Re-creation Ability
If a digital asset is easy to re-create, it would have a lower value compared to one that is impossible to re-create. For example, capturing images of rare meteor showers is more likely to have better value than images of a starry night, as the latter is easier to recreate.
All these points together mark the value of a digital asset.
Why are Digital Assets Important?
With digitalization taking over several mainstream segments of our society, it is inevitable for digital assets to become more prevalent and important. Businesses own data with immeasurable value, and other entities own graphics, images, videos, animations, write-ups, etc., that hold an immense value that contributes to the importance of digital assets in our lives.
Most activities and sectors in our society and lives have prominent digital counterparts, like books and research papers for libraries, education material for online tutoring, reports, and statistics for analysis, and much more, which gives rise to the demand factor discussed earlier. When the demand for digital content increases, the value also increases, making it an important part of our lives.
The New Digital Assets
Although digital assets have existed for many years, their variety and versatility are catapulting only now. With Web 3 making its way as the third generation of the internet, digital assets closely associated with Web 3 are becoming more valuable and dominant.
The new age of digital assets has witnessed a steep rise in the values of the following assets:
– Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs)
– Cryptocurrency
– Tokens
– Crypto Coins
– Digital Gold
– Security Tokens
Closing Thoughts
Digital Assets form an essential part of the internet; without value, the internet space would collapse. All types of content that add value and can have potential monetary value are digital assets. These assets can be created and sold by individuals, companies, governments, etc. The value of the digital assets is immensely influenced by how tedious their creation process has been, the demand they create, and if they can be reproduced. Digital assets are similar to original artwork like Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa or The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. Both paintings hold immense value because of their unimaginable demand, the time, energy, and skills gone into creating them, and they are almost impossible to recreate.
