In the unlikely event that someone has stumbled into my blog without already being enthusiastic or downright zealous about NFT's; I thought it may prove beneficial to have an explanation of what NFT's are, why they matter, and why so many people are 150% bullish on the entire space.
TLDR: NFT's are provably authentic, provably scarce, and truly own-able digital goods. Anyone can tokenize and monetize their creativity without 3rd party interference. The NFT space is growing at an absolutely rapid pace, and already is home to collectibles, videogames, art, music, literature and more. Several major companies have even clambered into the rabbit hole; such as Topps, Atari, and (if the rumors hold any truth) coca-cola. In fact, Jose Delbo, legendary comic book artist responsible for the now iconic portrayal of Batman, Superman, Wonderwoman and more, has begun tokenizing his artwork (and his own original comic!) as NFT assets.
An NFT, or non-fungible token, is similar in a sense to any other cryptocurrency asset. What sets NFT's apart however, is that every individual NFT can be verified as authentic and unique. While one bitcoin will always equal one bitcoin, regardless of their origin block or which miner created that specific bitcoin. Alternatively, even in the rare event that someone plagiarizes work from another artist, creating an "identical" replica, the tokens can have their full transaction history examined, by anyone, for free. In the example of plagiarism; comparing the "birth" hash of each token would easily prove that one is a fake, as it was minted at a later time and different wallet address than the authentic piece. This creates an entirely new scope of possibility for creators of all kinds. Possibly most exciting is that it completely changes our perception of what's possible in fine art. Five years ago, anyone could have easily copy/pasted your artwork and claimed it was theirs, without a simple method of exposing the truth. With blockchain/smart-contract technology, a tokenised artwork can be proven as authentic in a matter of moments, and without requiring any special training or skill.
While the potential effect on the art-world is enough to boggle the mind on its own; what many consider to be the biggest step toward mainstream adoption is also being enabled and expedited by NFT token standards. Video-games offering TRUE asset ownership, provable value, and cross-compatibility are taking the crypto-space by storm and aim to disrupt a multi-billion dollar industry; for you see, by allowing players to truly own/sell/trade etc. their assets obtained while gaming,. the pay-to-play business model of subscription/micrptransaction ridden games is being challenged by a totally new concept... thousands of gamers have already left behind traditional (non-blockchain powered) videpgames and have renounced pay-to-play in favor of play-to-earn.
A great place to learn more about NFT's, as well as discover a number of awesome projects and platforms focused on them; all while earning points redeemable for said NFT's, is Grow Your Base.
Though small, they have a very friendly an helpful team; and a very engaging platform that makes it fun and rewarding to learn about NFT projects I likely would've found anyway. I was among the first independent creators to establish a 'partnership' with GYB, and over the course of the several months since, have unexpectedly formed a friendship with a lot of the team.
I hope I was able to offer some insight into the world of digital collectibles, or at the very least, managed to point you in the right direction to learn more than I have patience to teach.
Peace and Love,
BruceTheGoose