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What can designers learn from NFTs?
Lessons from their explosive growth.
What are NFTs?
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are unique and distinct bitcoin assets. While one Bitcoin is identical to and interchangeable with another, each NFT is unique, with distinguishing metadata and identification codes. NFTs are certificates of authenticity, using a string of characters to prove ownership and legitimacy.
While they have been around for a while, they’ve exploded in popularity recently as they’ve been embraced by art, music, and entertainment.
NFTs can be anything digital, from the new Kings of Leon album to Jack Dorsey’s first tweet to NBA highlights to digital artist Beeple’s compilation of daily art creations over the course of 13.5 years.
The modern finance system evolved to execute complex loans and trades for various assets. Cryptocurrencies and NFTs reimagine this infrastructure, fully digitizing currencies, transactions, and marketplaces. NFTs streamline the trading process, remove intermediaries, and connect larger audiences of buyers and sellers.
Why are NFTs blowing up?
Beeple, a relatively unknown digital artist, recently paired up with Christie’s, an established and renowned auction house, to sell a digital collage. No one knew how much it would fetch, but people were floored by the top bid of $69.3 million, the third-highest price ever paid for a living artist. This highly publicized event seems to have opened the floodgates for NFTs. Eager to cash in and fearful of missing out on the next big thing, many people are jumping on the NFT bandwagon.
What trends and attributes are propelling NFTs’ success?
Trend #1: Democratization
- Just as we’ve seen direct-to-consumer retail businesses such as Warby Parker, Casper, and Dollar Shave Club flourish, democratization is thriving in the financial spectrum. Anyone can buy, sell, and create NFTs, and many artists, musicians, and creatives are eager to join in. NFTs offer a new space and medium…
