Blockchain NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) might sound kind of silly at first but are a truly revolutionary blockchain token type. Just as pictures can be .jpeg or .png and word documents can be .pdf or .doc, NFTs are a blockchain “file” type. On Ethereum there are numerous token types. The most popular is ERC20 which is a Fungible Token like $UNI while NFTs/ERC721 are the second most popular like a CryptoKitty. There are numerous other token types on Ethereum including ERC777, ERC223, ERC1155 each serving a unique purpose on the blockchain.
To give an example, If I were to mint 100 $PIX ERC20 tokens, every one of those tokens contain the same “data” within the smart contract. In essence, each $PIX token is capable of what every other $PIX token can do and in theory each $PIX token should be as valuable as the other 99 $PIX tokens. On the other hand, if I were to mint 1 $PIXEL ERC721 NFT that token would contain different data than 1 NFT representing the new Kings Of Leon album. NFTs are making headlines right now because artists all over the globe can access a public marketplace (Ethereum) where they can buy/sell their artwork in digital form. This process is typically done using a smart contract on Ethereum and IPFS for storing/anchoring the file on the web whether that be a visual, audio, or something else. Luckily for the artists a lot of crypto holders have more money than they know what to do with right now. For perspective, people are paying $100k for a pair of limited edition socks called Unisocks, Cryptopunks (digital pixelated pictures) are selling for 100+ Ether, and Christies Auction house just auctioned off an NFT created by Beeple for over $6 million.
Now all of this sounds absurd and for the most part is but for those who simply overlook NFTs because of these “bubble-like” market conditions are missing the point. NFTs can represent many more things than just art. An NFT can also be used as proof of a subscription, sport/event items (tickets, autographs), own-able in-game items (Fortnite), domain name services like google.eth, and medical records. We have barely scratched the surface on what we can use NFTs for but it will likely be a part of everyone’s day to day life in 5-10 years.
https://academy.ivanontech.com/blog/definition-and-use-cases-of-non-fungible-tokens-nft
https://variety.com/2021/music/news/kings-of-leon-release-new-album-nft-1234921278/
https://www.christies.com/features/Monumental-collage-by-Beeple-is-first-purely-digital-artwork-NFT-to-come-to-auction-11510-7.aspx
