NFT, a fancy toy?

NFT stands for Non-fungible token, which is a unit of data stored on a digital ledger, called a blockchain, that certifies a digital asset to be unique and therefore not interchangeable.¹

When I was listening a podcast in 2020, a brand new word really intrigues me and also made me confused. It was NFT. The definition of NFT implys one of most imperitive features of NFT: Not mutually interchangeable, so not fungible.

Due to these unique features, NFT can be used in many fields such as art, music, games ,etc. For instance, the artist would create NFT, transferring ownership of underlying works to multiple people(Ownership of an NFT does not inherently grant copyright). This processing is similar to authorization used in the past, though in different ways such as signature, seal, etc..

As the develepment of technology, paintings, music and other kind of artworks can be easily conterfeited regardless of signature validation. Never in the history have creators had tons of difficulties in copyright protection than it is today. As ditital world facilitates diffusion of music, videos and art, some creators are eager to enhance their influence by digital while maintaining copyright because the value of artworks will be mostly affected by authenticity. The creation of NFT will resolve these problems.

Recently, Louis Vuitton launched a mobile game called ‘Louis: The Game’ for celebreating its 200 years anniversary. The most interesting and notable are the 30 embedded NFTs you can find throughout the game, designed by artist Beeple.

 

The NFT market value tripled in 2020, reaching more than $250 million.

During the first quarter of 2021, NFT sales exceeded $2 billion. -by Wikipedia

 

Above all, NFT is listed on my New Tech Trend List. I believe the market of NFT will still enlarge , but now, it is still a brand new toy affiliated with curious artists and ‘upper-class’.