NFTs

Introduction to NFTs

NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token. NFT’s (via tokenization) represent uniqueness and provide a certificate of ownership. Due to the property of tokenization NFT’s have become very valuable and useful in a diverse set of industries like art, photography and other creative fields as well as medicine and technology to name a few.

NFT’s in Art / Photography

Tokenization of art on the blockchain is the same as the term editions in photography. It can be open or limited as well as digitally vs. physically rare. NFTs allow photographers specifically to decide what edition they want for their work and the buyer to know exactly what is out there. There is a real traceability.

The value of tokenized art is found in the exclusivity of ownership. While buyers may not hold the copyright of the art they purchase, they do receive the guarantee of authenticity that comes with owning it.

Keeping the above in mind, the blockchain makes it possible to avoid brokers. Art is one of the last niches where physical sales remain predominant and a significant portion of the income generated go into the pockets of intermediaries. With the advent of NFTs and cryptocurrency wallets art can directly be sold on platforms. Royalties and other forms of monetization are built-in to the NFT (i.e. the art itself) and programmable by the artists themselves. For example, an artist can decide to keep 10% of sales each time the art i.e. NFT is sold or ownership changes hands. In addition, NFTs solve a very fundamental problem of provenance and counterfeiting which afflicts the art world.