Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have been around for some time now, with what is recognized as the first-ever NFT “Quantum” created back in 2014. The industry has grown and evolved into what you see today. It is a vibrant and wholly absorbable market built on Ethereum blockchain. This market offers a combination of scarcity, provability and real value through digital ownership.

Mainstream media coverage of NFTs focuses on CryptoArt, which is a unique look at art media, based on a decentralized blockchain. The NFT world and art have a relationship that has developed quickly and naturally. This gives credence to CryptoArt and makes it a reason why the industry should be given the attention it deserves. It has frequently been labelled as a bubble because the advent of the industry is portrayed to have occurred at the start of 2021. A quick look at the history of NFTs will show that the community has existed for quite some time. Though, the market really began to swell between 2018-2020, before exploding at the start of 2021–coinciding with the soaring popularity of NFT exchanges. NFT marketplaces were bursting with buyers at the beginning of the year. People were learning how to purchase NFTs.

There has been a rise in the number of NFT art marketplaces, offering a platform for artists and collectors to interact and purchase collectibles at an allocated NFT crypto price. This marketplace allows artists to get exposure and reach their target audience. NFTs are available in the art industry alone. They can be digital moving art, digital files of offline art pieces, and creative sounds or music. NFTs are not new. However, they have been around for years. The industry is still young and it will continue to expand the boundaries of what’s possible in space.

You are already seeing the evolution of digital media into Playable NFTs with the launch of collections like ArcadeNFTs, allowing owners to access a unique interactive retro game. Each ArcadeNFT drop has sold out, not just because of its interactive NFTs, but also a growing fanbase communicating on its Discord server and building a lasting community of NFT devotees. Gamable NFTs was just the start of the creative expression of the community. As investment and funding increase, you will realize the vision of NFT developers.

NFTs: Then and Now

The story of NFTs stretches back to the first years of crypto, back to 2012. NFTs are everywhere, from trading cards to colourful coins. But, when this exciting medium really began to find its identity was around 2016 when the already established Counterparty platform posted the collection of rare “Pepes.” A seminal collection built on the Bitcoin blockchain, before being released on the Ethereum blockchain the following year under the name “Peperium.” In the same year, 2017, the release of 10,000 unique “Cryptopunks”, which were originally given away for free to anyone who held an Ethereum wallet. Fast-forward four years and those pixelated heads are reaching over $5 million.

Over the course of the next 2 years, there were many notably NFT collections released; the likes of CryptoArte, EtherRocks, and interactive virtual game collections like CryptoKitties. It was still unclear how to purchase an NFT, so the market remained underground. This is only for crypto evangelists. Until 2018-19, when the NFT ecosystem experienced significant growth, led by trading platforms like OpenSea and SuperRare, which remain some of the best NFT marketplaces in operation today. Web3 wallets, Eidoo, MetaMask and MetaMask were key to the fast-growing NFT ecosystem. This allowed users to quickly and easily access the marketplace.

With a focus on collaboration and community, we’re seeing the rise of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) which offer social platforms with no central leadership, instead, they’re governed by the community from the ground up. Within the NFT sphere, you have the likes of Friends with Benefits, which requires members to have 75 $FWB in order to join, offering a space to discuss and collaborate on NFT projects. Token-based communities that focus on NFT collection and driving design.

The NFT ecosystem has benefitted from the rapid growth of the cryptocurrency industry to the point that now there are various websites offering NFT reviews and comparisons between crypto wallets, NFT marketplaces, games, and collectibles. While the pioneering NFT collections will always be remembered, it is the future of NFTs which will be a source of inspiration. It’s the rawness of the market, the knowledge that each project is an experiment, pushing boundaries of what’s possible. Designers create new opportunities, and then test them to determine if NFTs can become mainstream. There are many possibilities.

NFT Authenticity

Given that an NFT is held digitally, what stops people from screenshotting an NFT and making it into a JPG? You can’t sell an NFT without it being registered on the Blockchain and the original version. Each transaction’s financial implications and movement are recorded on the Blockchain. This provides a chronological record of every NFT and makes it possible to verify its authenticity through a digital archive. The transaction cannot be re-entered or modified after it has occurred. This is what gives NFTs authenticity. It is important to distinguish between ownership of artwork and code that manifests in images or interactive media of art. While NFTs do not constitute art, they can be used to authenticate artists, allowing them to sell their work without the need for intermediaries. With the market thriving and now that NFT collectors know exactly where to buy NFTs, the innovators are exploring other functionality these tokens offer.

Real World Use Cases for NFTs

The foundations of NFTs–authentic, tokenized, royalties, scalable–may lend to the development of technologies that could improve everyday life. Many speculate about the impact of NFTs on other industries. A more conservative view still holds promise for a bright future. Without delving too deep into each individual sector, these look to be the main areas for utilizing NFTs in the near future:

• Art NFTs
• Collectible NFTs
• Interactive Gaming NFTs
• Logistics NFTs
• Property Ownership NFTs

For Art, Collectible, and Gaming NFTs, you have mostly covered how these work. CryptoWisser believes that the industry will grow to support these different uses. NFT transparency would be a huge benefit to logistics supply chains, as it will provide a source for validity and reliability for goods. This is particularly useful for perishable goods where data about the supply chain stages and the number units are important. Because of the nature blockchain, every record is unique, allowing distributors to track one product from its origin to its destination. Logistics organizations have struggled for decades with this technology, using archaic methods to record data.

The same concept is applicable to recording ownership of real-world assets. NFTs allow for seamless proof of ownership, which can be a game changer in the music and real estate industries. These industries are plagued by an excessive number of intermediaries in what should be a transaction between buyer and seller. It would be possible to streamline and simplify the process and remove unnecessary bureaucracy. The same principle could be applied to any asset. This would make the process of transferring ownership easy and completely controlled by the owner.

Closing Thoughts

The soaring popularity of NFTs will likely lead to more mainstream adoption, not just from the public but also businesses looking to utilize the technology. These are just a few of the many uses that you will see in the future. Despite this, many of these projects are small and don’t have the funding they need to reach their full potential. NFTs for digital verification and ownership would be a good idea due to the large number of non-bankable property.

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