In February 2021, Chris Torres sold his creation – Nyan Cat, as an NFT for 300 ETH, which is equivalent to US$587,000 at the time of sale. A GIF bagging thousands of dollars shifted the world’s attention to NFTs, blockchain, metaverse, and other aspects of the crypto world. More platforms like OpenSea continue to
emerge, giving access to people to sell their creations in various formats with lucrative features like
gas-free options, easy onboarding, and an overall better experience.

In this post, we will explore NFTs in more detail and how they can incorporate more than just images and
gifs; before that, let’s look at some fundamentals of NFTs first.

Coins, Tokens, and NFTs

Blockchains employ two kinds of mechanisms to facilitate different transactions on the network – coins and tokens. Coins are bound to their blockchain network. The utility involves the payment of transactions fees or rewarding blockchain contributors. In a way, coins are native to the blockchain networks. On the other
hand, tokens are not native to blockchains. Tokens operate on existing blockchain networks via smart contracts, making them malleable to represent digital assets.

NFTs and Use Cases

The Nyan Cat’s sale with wild numbers brought a lot of attention to selling digital image assets as NFTs,
and many people joined the bandwagon via platforms like OpenSea. However, since NFTs, like fungible
tokens, are also bound by smart contacts, it brings a lot of flexibility in their use cases. Let’s look at each of them.

1. NFTs For Image Assets:

Digital image assets of varying formats – JPEGs, PNGs and GIFs are the popular choices for NFTs. All kinds of artwork as digital images can list as NFTs for sale, auction, or trade. This format is virtually available to anyone and everyone, irrespective of defining a category. Artworks to memes, anything that can take the shape of a digital image can qualify for image-based NFTs. Art enthusiasts can list original works,
photographers can upload pictures, and even sports domains can sell cards or gifs of players to a global
fanbase.

2.  NFTs For Music:

Musicians are the latest to join NFTs. Platforms enable musicians to mint their compositions and sell
them to enthusiastic buyers. They can also serve as tokens or vouchers for physical events. Artists can
create NFTs to replace event tickets or other offline perks. The growth of musical NFTs or audio-based NFTs point to making music piracy-free while letting the audiences have a premium experience.

3.  NFTs For Domain Names:

Domain names are unique. They belong to the rightful owner and serve a purpose. NFTs are unique, and
domain names fit well in this category. Multiple decentralized domain name services provide domains
under .x, .crypto, .coin, .wallet, .nft, and more. Like Web 2.0, the platforms enable an availability search
and offer price ranges. Businesses owning domain names as NFTs can easily use them across applications and websites.

4. NFTs for Gaming Assets:

The gaming community is a collector at heart and prides itself on owning rare items or collectibles. As
such, game assets as NFTs remain a popular choice as it is an element that distinguishes players in the
gameplay. Game NFTs also hold significant value outside the game environment, making them eligible for further trading and profiting.

5. NFTs for Physical Assets:

The uniqueness of NFTs makes them perfect for validating ownership of real-world physical assets.
Currently, many projects focus on using NFTs to represent real estate, luxury goods, automobiles, etc.
Physical assets come together with paperwork from financial institutions. With DeFi apps and
blockchain’s security makes them an ideal use case for physical assets, though this adoption is slow.

6 NFTs for video creators:

Like musicians, video creators are also leveraging NFT platforms to produce exclusive content for their
audiences and offer other perks. Video creation can incorporate various creators – visual artists,
comedians, satirists, independent filmmakers, etc. Each creator can offer NFTs in their way – physical
goodies, event tickets, exclusive meet-ups, or more.

Conclusion

Uniqueness is the core feature of NFTs, which makes them ideal for representing items that cannot duplicate. However, since blockchains allow trading of NFTs, it expands their use cases and promises
profitability for quicker adoptions.