The image of a nice kitten, a song or that GIF that you find on your social networks are an example of what an NFT is. This type of token would be like the digital version of a stamp, a painting or any other collectible object, but instead of being displayed in a museum, these creations are produced and “exposed” on the Internet.
The use of NFTs is growing at a great speed. Applied to art, there are already many crypto-artists who stand out for their works created solely and exclusively to be exhibited on the Internet. However, this is only one of the areas where we can find them. So what are they and why are they so popular?
What does NFT mean?
NFTs or non-fungible tokens ( Non Fungible Token in English) are unequivocal representations of assets, both digital and physical, on the blockchain network . They use the same technology as cryptocurrencies , but unlike cryptocurrencies, they cannot be divided or exchanged with each other, but they can be bought and sold.
Digital renderings, as a collector’s item
NFTs emerged years ago on Ethereum, a digital platform based on blockchain technology, and their first collectibles were the CryptoPunks created in 2017, followed by Cryptokitties, a video game in which virtual cats can be bought and sold. This was the beginning of a true revolution in the world of gaming . Currently this type of digital creations are already being considered authentic works of art that are sold in auction houses.
Without going any further, this same year the first tweet of Jack Dorsey, co-founder and CEO of the social network Twitter, was acquired in the form of NFTs at an auction for more than 2.9 million dollars. A multitude of digital works of art have also been sold, such as the collage “Every day: the first 5,000 days”, which was sold at the famous Christie’s auction house for 69 million dollars.
Non -fungible tokens are indestructible and unforgeable as they are stored with the blockchain. With this type of technology, each transaction that is carried out is registered in different databases, because it is decentralized.