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Introduction

Bitcoin was first used as a store of value and payment in its early days. Still, the technology has been used for applications in sectors of the economy, the most recent interest in blockchain technology has mainly turned into DAOs, Decentralized finance, and NFTs. NFTs have become so popular in the past year that many companies are bringing new use cases of the technology. According to Chainalysis, nearly $41 billion was spent on NFTs in 2021.  NFTs have been used in Play to Earn (P2E) games, sports tokens, collectibles, concert tickets, and most recently, for securely transferring digital assets due to their uniqueness. 

Why NFT is beyond selling digital artwork

The Ethereum ecosystem gave birth to NFTs with the ERC-721 token standard. NFT works so that people can create a unique work and take ownership of it when they mint them on the Ethereum network. Other platforms have started creating their NFT token standard. Polygon, BSV, and XRP have all developed their own NFT platforms. The popularity of NFT increased when people started making millions from their digital artworks. Beeple is one of the most famous examples. He sold his artwork on an online auction website for $69 million. 

The technology usage has been seen beyond artwork as gamers, social media, and reward platforms have also adapted the uniqueness of NFT technology. Social media can now reward users with rare collectibles which they can exchange for money, making it one of the most significant use cases of NFTs. 

NFT usage in gaming

Games are one of the essential things in the entertainment industry, with gaming companies boasting roughly $16.2 billion in 2021. The advantage of using NFT in games is that it gives gamers direct ownership over their property. For example, a game collectible can also be traded in the market and be used in games. It also allows gaming companies to reward users for reaching a certain level in games, the rewards they can trade with game collectibles or sell in the open market. Many gaming companies, such as Axie Infinity, have explored its usage, and it is one of the most popular games today, with about $1.6 billion in revenue. 

NFT usage in sports

Blockchain technology will always be at the forefront of conversations about fan engagements now and in the future. Fan tokens and digital collectibles are becoming very popular in Europe (the continent where the 2024 Olympics will be held). Football clubs like PSG, Juventus, Manchester City, and Inter Milan now have fan tokens and collectibles, which give their fans a percentage of ownership through tokenization. 

NFTs have also become very popular in Europe, with players like Lionel Messi and Bruno Fernandes selling their digital collectibles. Lionel Messi’s collectible, known as “The Messiverse,” is a collection of pieces about him. We will expect more athletes to sell the NFT collections of their medals and achievements to fans in future sports events. The next Olympics will be held in three years, and we expect more digital collectibles and fan tokens development. While some fans might not make it to the stadium, they might like to participate by buying fan tokens and digital collectibles. 

NFT usage for social media rewards

Social media reward and engagement is one of the most underrated usages of NFT. There are more than 3.9 billion social media users today, and most of them will be loved to be rewarded for their time on social media. The social media platform, Instagram, is one of the big names in the social media world that have announced that they will add NFT to their ecosystem. This means that creators can reward users for a particular action or milestone, encouraging increased engagement on their platform. The platform can also allow creators to sell the rights to their exclusive content through NFTs.

NFT usage in token security and transfer

NFTs can also be used in digital wallets, ensuring that private keys can be stored uniquely using NFT tokens. This uniqueness enables the tokens to be transferable and hassle-free. Serenity Shield is one of the platforms exploring NFTs in digital wallets. Their wallets allow users to store sensitive information as NFT and can be recovered from the Serenity Shield Strongbox. These platforms also enable assets to seed recovery while enabling them to share information with their heir, which means that if they pass on, their heir will inherit their tokens.

NFT has a lot of applications beyond enabling unique artworks to be sold. It has been successfully used in many aspects of our daily lives. Many more companies are coming up with more uses of NFT, and the technology, no doubt, will not be moving away anytime soon.