8 min read

Part 2: How NFTs will change the world beyond digital art

Published on
Oct 31, 2022
Disclaimer
This article is for general information purposes only and isn’t intended to be financial advice.
Phoenix Baker
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This article is the continuation of a previously published blog post on "How NFTs will change the world beyond digital art"

Identity & Official Documents

Proof of identity, academic qualifications, medical records and official documents are all perfect use-cases for NFTs. Nowadays, these documents are already digitised, so why not go the added step of securing them with NFT technology and storing them on the blockchain where proof of ownership can be easily and reliably verified. Not only does this remove the danger and stress of safeguarding a physical paper document, this would help combat identity theft and make it much easier for someone to prove their identity. 

Ticket Sales 

Event passes and tickets are another area waiting to be revolutionized by NFTs. Every ticket needs a unique barcode or identifier, so why not make them NFTs which can be easily and safely bought, sold and transferred between people. Bringing tickets to the blockchain would also reduce the possibility of counterfeit tickets and increase the security of buying, selling, and trading tickets on a secondary marketplace. Artists and musicians could even add perks to the NFT tickets such as exclusive event memorabilia, airdrops and access to future events.  

Fundraising

Cryptocurrency and fundraising are a match made in heaven, and NFTs and smart contracts are at the heart of this relationship. Along with cryptocurrency giving a safe and convenient way for individuals to send money to a cause or organization with low fees and fast processing times, the switch towards ‘tokenization’ opens up a world of possibilities in fundraising.Digital art NFTs, for instance, could have a charitable element added into them if the creator wanted to support a particular cause. For example, the creator of the NFT might decide to add into the NFT’s contract the condition that every time the NFT is transacted, a certain portion of the money is automatically donated to a charity. As the NFT changes hands and gains value over time, these automatic donations could amount to a sizable sum far beyond what the creator imagined. Given the explosive floor price of some recent NFT collections, the sky really is the limit – and with so much money changing hands in the crypto world, there’s always room for some fundraising. 

Sports Memorabilia and Luxury Goods 

The world of sports memorabilia and luxury goods (watches, designer handbags, etc.) are rife with scams and counterfeits. A huge portion of items in these industries are thought to be fake, so it’s easy to see why NFT technology that allows you to track an item’s full transaction history and verify its authenticity is the perfect solution. By digitizing and tokenizing collectibles and one-of-a-kind goods, people will be able to easily buy and sell these items while having a blockchain-secured record of the item's legitimacy and their ownership of it. 

Gaming

Besides the art market, gaming is the industry that is already being revolutionized by NFTs.  Currently, there are around 3 billion gamers worldwide and this cohort has proven to be the perfect target audience for adopting NFTs en masse, as they already have a relationship with online assets and collectibles. While the role of NFT technology in gaming deserves its own article, here are a few key ways this $90 billion dollar industry will be transformed by NFTs and blockchain technology. 

True ownership over in-game assets & items

Enter a new age of individual empowerment and true ownership over in-game assets. More and more, in-game assets and items like skins, weapons and characters are taking the form of blockchain-verifiable NFTs. As these items hold value due to their uniqueness, NFTs are a perfect way to allow gamers to verify, prove and feel secure in their ownership of these precious assets.

Real-world perks & value

NFTs will see the online world bridged with the real world like never before. Tokenized in-game items can give the owner real-world perks like getting exclusive access to in-person events or being able to buy certain physical collectibles not available to everyone else. Gaming NFTs would also be able to be sold on open NFT marketplaces, allowing gamers to play to earn certain items and characters and then sell them for real money on the open market. 

New income streams

Along with selling NFTs earned from gaming on the open market, the rise of play-to-earn games are creating a new way for individuals to earn an income from their gaming exploits. 

Almost everyone in crypto has heard of Axie Infinity, a Pokemon-like P2E game, which gave thousands of people from developing countries the ability to earn a full-time income by simply playing the game and acquiring valuable in-game assets.With the dawn of blockchain-based gaming aka ‘GameFi’, the past few years have proven that selling high-level gaming accounts or in-game assets to those who are not willing to do the work is a highly lucrative market that has been made entirely possible by NFT technology. 

Wrap up

NFTs have been synonymous with digital art since their inception, but as we have seen in this article, this groundbreaking technology has a lot more to it than meets the eye. While NFTs and blockchain technology are still in their early stages, their application and utility across a number of industries are undeniable, and we may very well look back on these years as the beginning of a radical shift towards a new, more efficient way of conducting business online. We hope you’ve enjoyed this article. Until next time!

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