Commonly known by the acronym NFT, "not-fungible tokens" are the equivalent of a certificate of ownership on digital content of any kind. The main characteristic of these elements is their uniqueness: they cannot be replaced by anything else.
With a purely commercial function, NFTs boosted the online market with record sales of over ten million dollars.
Let's take a look at how NFTs originated and the path they took to become a current trend today.
Origins of NFTs
They were born in 2014, following a hackthon project (hangout event for computer experts) by Glitch CEO Anil Dash in collaboration with digital artist Kevin McCoy.
Then, in 2017, Canadian developers launched a game inspired by the Tamagochi of the 1990s called "KryptoKitties".
No one would have imagined that those completely context-free images would become a major innovation in the world of modern computing.
Continuing growth
The global popularity achieved by NFTs increases by 40% in monthly web visits as of March 2021. The number of buyers acquires an increase of 166%, in relation to the number of sellers, which increases from 40 thousand to almost 123 thousand.
We can see that the boom we have reached in the last 12 months has completely changed the world of online investments, which started from around $64 million per month among the most popular sales and arrived at a daily sum of $41 million.
In 2018, the NFT market was worth just over $40 million (according to a report by NonFungible.com); to date, we're up to $338 million, with continued growth climbing in the early months of 2021.
NFTs and the metaverse: a new worldview
The metaverse is the representation of a parallel universe that creates a link between the real and virtual worlds. NFTs are elements that enable the fusion of these two worlds. To date, gaming is the only functioning space where players can impersonate avatars and build unique looks through NFTs. Many famous fashion brands, such as Louis Vuitton and Burberry, have already made moves to be frontrunners in this new dimension.
For example, the works of artist Beeple (stage name Mike Winkelmann) have been exchanged for figures exceeding 69 million dollars: his most famous work is Everydays: The First 5000 Days, a pixelated collage of his first five thousand works.
Nike and the NFT
In 2022 will be the debut year for a number of brands in the NFT world, such as the giant Nike, which has already moved forward with the development of solutions linked to the metaverse. In November, the company launched NIKELAND (behind "Just Do It") in collaboration with Roblox, creating an immersive 3D world.
It peaked in December 2021 when it announced the purchase of RTFKT Studios - a token company.
RTFKT just 7 minutes after launching the new digital trainers sold out, generating $3,1 million in sales.
Nike's CEO, John Donahoe, states that the investments made in the RTFKT brand are intended to support growth in their communities and to extend their reach into the digital marketplace as far as possible.
