Non-fungible tokens are basically the digital version of anything. Art, music, videos, tweets etc. Anything you see can be converted into an NFT making it something that will stand out and make it unique.
The words non-fungible essentially mean that NFT’s cannot be replaced, that every token is unique, it is one of a kind. The artist Beeple sold his piece of art for a whopping 69 million dollars. The same piece of art that you can download for free from the internet. Then why pay, right? The answer is that you can own that piece, you’ll have a digital certificate that can’t be tampered with, you’ll be the owner of that masterpiece.
This concept of NFT’s has numerous applications, artists could use this to digitalize their art and sell it online as opposed to the traditional setup in galleries. The financial aspect of this sale, on most occasions, is more beneficial than the old school selling technique.
Imagine having the ability to own the most popular memes, posts, tweets, and practically anything else. This opens up a plethora of options for sports teams, production houses, artists and content creators to monetize their work and not be worried about illegal activities like theft, counterfeiting etc since the pieces of work are secured by blockchain technology which is known for the level of security it provides. Blockchain, being decentralized, makes it tremendously difficult for hackers to hack since they’ll need to hack half or more computers associated with that particular chain. The versatility that NFT’s bring, clubbed with the secure blockchain network provides for a great platform for artists, musicians, actors, sportspersons to showcase their work and ‘mint’ money.
Coming to the sports field, here are some interesting sales made recently-
Tyson’s NFT fetched US$987,000 via an auction, making it one of the biggest sales of sports NFTs in history. US$200,000 paid for NBA star LeBron James’s slam dunk NFT, and around US$290,000 sale of a Cristiano Ronaldo NFT. These numbers show the weight and financial value these sports collectables carry and the potential that this market has.
NFT’s in the film industry can be used for the buying and selling of movies, as seen in the case of “Zero contact” by Anthony Hopkins. The movie will be listed as an NFT on Vuele, from where it can be watched, collected and traded.
Jack Dorsey’s tweet sold for a stunning 2.9 million dollars. This is clearly indicative of how any form of unique content can be converted into an NFT, the only prerequisites being that it must be unique and the demand for it should exist.
In the music industry, the primary sources of income for an artist have been the record labels, the concerts and the merchandise they sell. Due to counterfeiting and the current global pandemic situation, the first 2 have taken a significant blow leaving merchandise as the primary source of income for them. However, the big problem with merchandise is the large capital requirement and a team to manage the sales and other business operations. Here is where NFT’s can help musicians, NFT’s of their music can be listed, which would eliminate the problem of forgery and also provide them with a good revenue source when their music labels are traded on NFT marketplaces. A similar procedure can be followed for their merchandise designs as well which could open multiple streams of revenue for them.
The gaming industry can also see the rise of NFT’s in the form of in-game collectables that can be traded and used across various games. Large scale implementation of this will surely take time, but the integration of NFT’s in games is indeed an exciting concept. Cryptokitties was one of the first games to adopt the concept of NFT’s. Over a million dollars worth of these characters have been purchased so far. The game involves collecting, breeding and selling virtual kitties. This has been one of the earliest attempts made to use blockchain in the leisure industry.
Coming to the automobile industry, NFT’s can be used to monetize early pre-launch images and videos of cars that can be purchased by fans before the real car comes on the roads. This again can serve as a way for car manufacturers to capitalize on the brand value and monetize it. Digital collectables of cars are also something that is worth considering.
The food industry is another area where NFT’s can find good purpose. Chefs can mint and sell their recipes; restaurants can do the same with their menus and exclusive food photographs. The possibilities are endless indeed. Seeing the pandemic situation, this would provide means for restaurants to keep their boats from drowning and who would mind an extra source of income, right?
The areas where NFT’s can be used have no limits, which is what makes it attractive enough for people to invest in it and use it to convert a variety of ideas into a business.
As we have seen above, NFT’s solve a large number of issues and serve as a source to expand the reach of artists and their products as well. A concept that seems like one that can be the primary method of buying, selling, trading of art in the future. In the future, we might just be transacting with decentralized currencies including bitcoin, eth and the upcoming cryptocurrencies. This would normalize the purchase of the NFT’s with cryptocurrency which will be a prime contributor to large scale adoption of NFT’s as a source of valuing and trading art as well as other items that are unique and in demand.
