After the highs of the NFT market that was experienced during the year 2021, the 2022 crash came along. The highs were very high and the lows were very low. This has invited a lot of criticism from those who have seen the extremes of the market. The critics of NFTs have said that this only a speculative vehicle, and that one should stay away from it as a result. The uses cases of NFTs are many, however, and they can empower users and businesses. So as long as one knows what NFTs can be used for, everything should be alright.
NFTs are backed by a technology that allows people to be the verifiable owners of assets. With this technology, you can basically create assets. Which of course, are those NFTs we all know and love. What you have now is emerging business models that allow the users of the product or services to own these digital assets in order to get an enhanced service. Or an enhanced brand experience. But there is so much more to look at here.
Let’s see how NFTs change different aspects of our Internet lives.
- New forms of art
NFTs has been used primarily as a means for visual artists to protect their artwork. It’s been a great way to enforce copyrights, and tell the world that while there may be multiple copies, you can only have one original. And now, with the emergence of smart contracts and the use of generative art, you can have pieces of art that are unique to NFT and blockchain technology.
Generative art as a term has been around since the 1960s, and what it refers to is the art that is created by an autonomous system that represents the vision of the artist. This type of art is ripe for the digital life, but without a way to protect intellectual property, there was always going to be little incentive to produce this kind of art. With NFTs you can see more of this type of art. Additionally, you can have smart contracts be a part of the art, which would allow the art to change as it is transferred from wallet to wallet. Or as it encounters different NFTs inside a wallet.
Simply put, NFTs has brought about a new form of art. That is in and of itself a notable contribution to modern society and our Internet lives.
- New ways of creating an online community
NFTs can be the membership to a community. And if you decide that perhaps you’ve had enough, you could sell access to that community to someone else. What you have then, is a sort of digital club or digital cooperative. In Web3 terms, some of these communities are known as Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) and can be for a variety of purposes. They don’t have a hierarchical leadership, and they take decisions through consensus and voting on proposals. The really cool thing is that the decision-making process can be automated through a smart contract.
A DAO can work as a way for NFT enthusiasts to join together and find out about other projects together. The DAO can then take the decision (approved by its members) to buy NFTs, or the members individually can do so as they value the information that comes out of the DAO.
Gaming Guilds, communities of gamers where information is shared about videogames, can now take the form DAOs and make sure that their members are getting the best experience as possible. NFTs can be used in videogames that allow the earning of a native currency that is worth money. This has made a lot of Gaming Guilds to start to appear and take the form of a DAO.
So Gaming Guilds and DAOs will only be of more use, as NFTs become more widely used.
- Enhanced brand experiences
NFTs allow verified ownership of a digital asset. So brands can leverage this to create a new membership card for better services, products and discounts. What you can start to get as a result is a more simplified brand experience that wouldn’t require passwords or showing your ID to someone. It could also mean that the person would be the absolute owner of this pass, and even though there isn’t a clear incentive yet as to why someone would want to buy a branded NFT from someone else, it’s a possibility.
- A possible disruption in events and ticket industry
We’ve seen that NFTs can be used as membership cards for communities and as a way to give loyal customers an enhanced brand experience. This could very well be used for the events industry, and basically everything that might require a ticket for entrance.
Imagine buying a ticket to a concert and then you can’t go. It’s a lot easier to sell that digital pass on the blockchain, seeing how there are many marketplaces where you can simply connect your wallet and list your NFT.
- Metaverse applications
So, we have all of the above-mentioned utilities and we haven’t even begun to scratch what the metaverse will entail. More than likely, the metaverse will be powered by NFTs and cryptocurrencies. Clothing, land, housing, and a lot more will be NFTs in the metaverse.
To put things into perspective, think of SOPRG. This NFT art gallery has presence in the Somnium Spaces metaverse through a land parcel, where they have their virtual gallery. This is an NFT. Inside this gallery, what do you have? More NFTs on display. And this is just one side of the many practical applications for NFTs inside the metaverse.
NFTs are definitely going to stick around, and they will more than likely shed the speculation stamp that they have. The technology has too many use cases to be ignored, and what you’ve seen is just some of them.