NFT stands for non-fungible token (NFT). A non- fungible token is a unique digital asset whose ownership or provenance is tracked on a blockchain, the underpinning technology of NFTs.
These non-fungible or unique tokens are verified digital assets that hold value as a form of cryptocurrency, which makes them easy to trade on blockchain.
NFTs come in many different shapes and sizes, the span of which includes digital and physical goods such as art, song files, films, digital shorts, comics, anime, photography, paintings, clothing, real estate, augmented reality, property deeds, etc. NFTs span the realm of the digital and the physical, enabling the sale of anything on digital marketplaces.
“Non-fungible” means that it’s unique and isn’t interchangeable with something else, like a limited-edition pair of Jordans. If you trade an original piece of art for example, whatever you have traded it for will be completely different since it’s the only original.
“Fungible” cryptocurrency like bitcoin, on the other hand, is a trade for exactly the same thing (i.e. trading a bitcoin for bitcoin)
In the next decade, we will see many new and innovative use cases for NFTs that are only made possible by cryptocurrency.
While the Ethereum chain is where most NFT activity has taken place to date, NFTs can exist on other blockchains as well. This is because NFTs are just digital representations of assets that are one of a kind. Again, the term non-fungible just means unique and we refer to fungibility because it is an important technical distinction when it comes to how an asset is represented on a blockchain.
NFTs are being hailed as the future of the creative economy and in 2020 alone, the market was worth $250 million. Major companies are beginning to publicly align their business models to crypto technologies, racing to be the industry leader and first to market.
The same efficiency that crypto offers in that it is borderless and profoundly easier to transfer also applies to NFTs. They offer a unique and powerful opportunity because, when combined with other economic stepping stones on Ethereum, they allow anyone to issue, own, and trade them.
This makes interacting with NFTs significantly more efficient than in traditional platforms. The possibilities are endless when you have the ability to combine NFTs with DeFi (decentralized finance) building blocks. Not only can NFTs allow trading, it can also include actions like being able to borrow and lend, support fractional ownership or even use it as collateral in taking out a loan.
Solanart is an NFT marketplace based on the Solana network that allows anyone to acquire or sell Solana-based NFTs. Solanart aims to help promote artists and creators by providing them with a trustless marketplace to share their art.
