NFT Art: Art That Does More
The digital world is here, and it continues to expand. What started as Pong on Atari in 1972, has grown into the metaverse. Soon, our children will own digital art that they hang on their digital walls in their digital rooms. And surely this digital art isn’t your grandparent’s art. It is art that is digital, and art that can be transferred quickly from one person to another. In fact, these art markets have liquidity, and the art itself has utility. The art is NFT Art. While NFTs were first created in 2017, they had their moment in 2021. Now, with the crypto winter cold and unrelenting, the question becomes: do NFTs have a future beyond 2022?
Can NFTs survive?
NFT Art: It’s the Utility
NFTs had a stellar year in 2021. Then, the crypto winter of 2022 blew a cold, bitter wind into the cryptocurrency markets. Everything related to cryptocurrencies – including NFTs – have plummeted in value. Also, NFT sales volumes have continued to decline, with November of 2022 the lowest on record for the year. Yet, many NFTs add a distinct value, even when the markets wildly fluctuate. This distinct value is the utility provided with ownership of the NFT. But what does “utility” mean in the world of NFT Art and NFTs? The dictionary defines the word “utility” as: “state or quality of being useful; usefulness.” In short, an NFT’s utility consists of add-ons offered by the NFT collection that go over and above providing simple ownership of a digital picture or video. Let’s look at some common examples of NFT Utility.
NFT Art: Staking Your Way in the World
Investors love passive income. Passive income is income that is earned when an investor is not “actively involved” in the income generating activity. NFT Art allows for passive income by way of staking. The utility of staking is one of the really innovative ways NFT collections provide benefit to their owners. An NFT owner can easily stake their non-fungible token on their NFT collection’s platform. Staking an NFT precludes the owner from selling, transferring, or otherwise divesting in the NFT while it is being staked. Once the owner stakes an NFT, the NFT collection rewards the owner with tokens created by the collection. These tokens can have real-world value, although in most instances, can mostly be redeemed on the NFT collection’s platform.
Access to Information
Information is an extremely valuable commodity in the 21st Century. Of course, having access to exclusive or proprietary information can be even more valuable. NFT ownership can grant owners access to this type of information. Further, because NFTs are encrypted and secure, ownership of the NFT cannot be maliciously transferred. This protects the information from nefarious bad actors. While the NFT community generally uses Discord for providing such information, there are other social platforms where information can be shared and stored. Further, while this information more often than not is related to the NFT and cryptocurrency marketplaces, any type of information can be shared amongst an NFT community.
NFT Art: Access
NFTs can be used as tickets to any type of event. The utility of “access” is quite literal. Owning NFTs can get you access. Access to backstage, to a sporting event, or to your favorite concert. NFTs can function as a ticket. The blockchain technology allows for easy confirmation of ownership and authenticity.
Proof of Ownership
There are five essential characteristics to every NFT:
- Proof of Ownership of the digital asset;
- A unique, one-of-kind ID that encapsulates all of an asset’s characteristics;
- The rights and privileges that flow from that ownership;
- Encrypted asset; and,
- Registered on the blockchain.
These combined characteristics are extremely valuable in-and-of-itself. Further – ownership that is unambiguous, clear and easily verifiable – has extreme value in the real world. Registries of deeds, where millions of titles are stored, will one day have their records secured and maintained on the blockchain.
And We Thank You for a Real Good Time!
Continue to check out our blog post for more news on NFTs, our Awk Monk NFT Project and other helpful resources. Also, don’t forget to check out our Ultimate NFT Monkey Guide, where we talk everything NFT Monkey related.
