This week’s featured collector is secretmsgcol
secretmsgcol is a handmade NFT collection on WAX. Check it out at lazy.com/secretmsgcol
Last week’s poll asked whether the SEC should regulate NFTs as securities—and the verdict was clear: half of you said “never.” Another 30% opted for “sometimes,” suggesting a belief that not all tokens are created equal, while only 20% favored consistent oversight. No one said “I don’t know,” which may be the most telling result of all. The NFT community, it seems, knows exactly how it feels about government regulation. The takeaway? Even as courts and regulators struggle to define what NFTs are, creators and collectors have already made up their minds: digital art may live on the blockchain, but it doesn’t belong in a securities filing.
NFTs, Crypto, and the Psychology of Giving: How Digital Assets Are Reshaping Charity
When cryptocurrency first went mainstream, it promised to disrupt finance. Now, it’s quietly transforming something far more human: generosity. A new peer-reviewed study in Computers in Human Behavior explores how cryptocurrency and NFTs are influencing charitable behavior—and what it reveals about how we mentally account for digital value.
The study, led by Claudio Schapsis, Dorin Micu, and Nikki Wingate, applies Mental Accounting Theory—a behavioral economics framework developed by Nobel laureate Richard Thaler—to the blockchain era. Mental accounting describes how people categorize and track money in “mental ledgers.” We might have one mental account for groceries, another for entertainment, and a separate one for charitable giving.
But what happens when money itself becomes intangible, decentralized, and volatile?
According to the study, people often manage their cryptocurrencies and NFTs in the same mental account. That is, they perceive both as part of a single pool of digital value—even though one is fungible (Bitcoin, Ethereum) and the other is unique (NFTs representing digital art or collectibles). This finding matters because it changes how we understand the psychology of crypto donations.
Here’s where things get interesting: when nonprofits offer NFTs as incentives for cryptocurrency donations, people give more.
In experiments conducted by the researchers, participants were more likely to donate higher amounts of cryptocurrency when the charity offered an NFT in return—especially when the NFT was framed as a purchase rather than a thank-you gift. That framing shifted the donor’s mindset. Instead of thinking “I’m spending money,” they thought “I’m exchanging one asset for another.”
This subtle psychological shift—treating a donation as an exchange within the same mental account—reduces the perceived “cost” of giving. In other words, donors feel like they’re not losing value, they’re simply transferring it.
The result? NFT incentives drive higher crypto donations than physical rewards.
NFTs may cost little to create, but their perceived value is often much higher. That discrepancy—between production cost and perceived worth—makes them powerful tools for fundraising. Like limited-edition posters or event tickets, NFTs can serve as symbolic tokens of participation and belonging. But because they live on the blockchain, they also carry a sense of permanence, authenticity, and community identity.
In this sense, NFTs tap into both economic and emotional value. They’re not just rewards; they’re receipts of identity and proof of participation in something meaningful.
The study’s broader insight is that philanthropy in the digital era isn’t just about generosity—it’s about mental framing. When giving is framed as a trade within the same ecosystem of assets, people are more willing to part with their digital wealth. For nonprofits, that means understanding not only blockchain technology but also donor psychology.
By issuing NFTs as incentives, charities can appeal to both altruistic motives (“I’m helping a cause”) and investment-driven mindsets (“I’m gaining a digital asset”). That dual framing could help bridge the gap between financial speculation and social good.
The paper ultimately reframes NFTs not just as speculative assets but as psychological tools that reveal how humans adapt age-old behaviors to new technologies. Charitable giving has entered the blockchain era—and our mental accounting is following close behind.
Which best describes your NFT collector energy right now?
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