💬 meet the team behind CNN’s NFT initiative, Vault by CNN

When an Inside CNN reader suggested we profile ways in which CNN Digital is exploring new technologies, CNN’s NFT initiative came to mind. And to learn more about it, we knew just who to chat with.

Jason Novack is the senior director of emerging products, overseeing blockchain and Web3 initiatives at CNN Digital. He leads a team tasked with exploring one of the most talked-about digital phenomena of the past few months: non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. His team builds and runs Vault by CNN. Vault is a new initiative, separate from CNN editorial, that creates NFTs from CNN's 42-year media archive as well as new original artwork to spark community conversations about world events. Historic moments that have been featured so far include consequential presidential elections, milestone space launches and landmark Supreme Court decisions.

Here are a few highlights from our conversation with Novack.

Jason Novack, senior director of emerging products at CNN Digital.

What is an NFT?

Novack: I like to start with first explaining what is blockchain. Blockchain is a new technology that allows us all to record transactions and keep track of who owns what in a way where we can trust that with strangers globally. Blockchain was originally created to keep tabs on who owns a single thing – originally bitcoin, which you can think of like money. One way to think of it is that blockchain is keeping track of our possessions that are native to the internet.

In the real world, we have two types of possessions: fungible and non-fungible. Things like money, where it doesn’t matter which ones we have, only how many, are called “fungible.” But most of the things we own are non-fungible. It matters which home I live in. It matters which sentimental objects I have. Most people don’t freely trade their clothes or the things in their kitchen.

The same concepts are being mirrored on the internet, where we might have both things like money, fungible assets, but we also might have things that are unique, or non-fungible.

At the end of the day, an NFT is a bit of code you can think of as having a unique serial number. As a developer you can attach whatever you want to that code. You can embed in it images, for example, if you want it to be a one-of-a-kind piece of art.

How did Vault by CNN come about?

Novack: I was hired on to a group at CNN called emerging products and platforms. This group looks at new technologies, new audiences and new business models. Before I joined CNN, I worked at a blockchain venture studio running their startup accelerator, so I thought when I came to CNN that blockchain as a profession was behind me.

Vault was started in the first half of 2021. It was launched by a few dozen volunteers who had other day jobs at CNN. When it first launched, we treated it like an experiment: Let’s see if there’s really something here. We saw some success and got some support internally to build a dedicated team. We now have five full-time team members, with a few more coming soon.

An example of a Vault by CNN NFT that captures the on-air moment in 2008 when CNN projected Barack Obama would become the president-elect of the US.

A lot of news coverage around NFTs is skeptical at best. Why do you think that is?

Novack: There’s a really classic trope that new technology often looks like a toy at first. It looks frivolous, like it has no purpose. We often analyze new technology on the playing field of what existed before it.

A good example is the internet. Many people were skeptical of it first, because no one imagined what it would become. I think NFTs are similar. Right now we’re captivated by fine art applications of NFTs and we ask, “Is this really better art?” The answer to that question may be unknown, but I think it’s likely that NFTs begin to unlock entirely new possibilities that did not exist before.

What does the future of the NFT and blockchain space look like for CNN?

Vault's first artist collaboration NFT, this one with Nigerian artist Zida Kalu, dropping this week.

Novack: In the near term, we’re going to be seeing some artist collaborations coming. We bring in people who have some really established perspectives on art and history and invite them to collaborate with us and spark some interesting conversation. We have a whole road map of new product features.

In the long term, we’re just at the start of this journey. We want to stay curious and experimental.

We’re starting with NFTs, but our team is also dedicated to experimentation in the broader Web3 space and other types of experiences that could further that mission.

Learn more about Vault by CNN and subscribe to Vault's newsletter. Vault by CNN is separate from CNN editorial.

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