The 21st century has opened a lot of interesting directions in business to humanity. One of them is NFT. In the crypto community, this direction appeared relatively recently, but every year the popularity of technology is growing by leaps and bounds. In this article you’ll read about, what was the first NFT and who created this useful technology.
The term NFT means non-fungible token. In simple terms, this is a virtual digital unit that moves between addresses on the blockchain. Each asset contains a certain amount of data unique to each token. NFT can be compared to an electronic document that confirms the ownership of digital assets (photos, videos, gifs, or audio clips).
When buying an electronic coin, the user receives the right to use it. Recently, the history of purchase transactions has been stored on blockchain platforms. Previously, it was impossible to check that the buyer is the sole owner of the blockchain.
Now we will plunge into the history of the blockchain phenomenon. Let's consider the key stages of the development of first NFT ever.
The first experiments with NFC technology written in the Bitcoin blockchain scripting language were carried out in 2013-2014. And in the following 2015, the world's first NFT created project was presented at the international conference DevCon and bore the poetic name Etheria. At that time, the project did not receive proper attention from the crypto community. The following November, PixelMap developed a technology that allowed the image to be stored on the blockchain itself.
Two years later, in 2017, the American development team Larva Labs launched the CryptoPunks project, which specializes in cartoon character trading on the Ethereum blockchain.
An artist Kevin McCoy, which in 2014 created a unique animated Quantum picture. Two years ago it was sold for $1.4 million at Sotheby's. By the way, this was the first NFT sold for such great money!
Now let's dive deeper into the process of working with first NFT projects.
To support blockchains in the gaming industry, specific standards are used. The most popular are - ERC-721 and ERC-1155. The first standard applies to non-interchangeable digital elements. In addition to the model itself, users can create new contracts that are compatible with the ERC-721. The ERC-1155 standard has a wider arsenal of functions and techniques and also provides accurate information about all current balances of tokens.
Digital art was the first step toward the creation of the first non fungible token. So, who created the first NFT art? The first piece of digital art was the work of the famous graphic designer and artist Mike Winkelman “Every day. The first 5000 days”, created in 2021. Also not to mention is the Nyan Cat GIF, which was sold at an online auction for $590,000.
Tokens in the computer games industry have received a lot of publicity due to the ability to trade in-game assets without the permission of the game creator.
At the moment, many publishers and digital distributors of video games refuse to implement NFT technology for the exchange of artifacts on their platforms. This is confirmed by the fact that Valve banned applications that use blockchain technology in 2021.
Video game companies are constantly looking for new technologies to improve the technical and behavioral aspects of the game. NFT technology has interested many companies around the world.
However, users are divided into two opposing camps: some are ardent opponents of digital coins, while others find a lot of advantages in this phenomenon.
A prime example is the mobile video game, Axie Infinity. The game is designed in the style of games, where players need to grow monsters to face them in online battles with other users.
The developers have introduced unique coins into their project: each pet is assigned its own NFT, which can be sold on the internal gaming market for cryptocurrency.
When creating a game using blockchain technology, it is important to consider the following 3 factors:
A great example of the use of tokens is a project that sells collectibles from the best moments of the NBA. The CryptoKitties development team released the NBA TopShot tokenized project, which, as of February 28, 2021, brought the company over $230 million.
Also, an interesting way to earn money was offered by the American film director Quentin Tarantino, who released seven NFTs in 2021, which contained files of unfilmed scenes from the movie Pulp Fiction. However, Miramax filed a lawsuit against the well-known director, claiming that the rights to the film were infringed.
The use of blockchain in new areas of activity
Every year there are new opportunities and 2022 is no exception. Now tokens are used not only for collecting or exchanging in-game assets but also for areas where proof of ownership is important, to be more precise: virtual real estate, online clothing stores, and ticket offices.
NFT technology will not bypass the crypto market either. For example, tokens can be used to buy stablecoins and other digital currencies. The partnership between crypto lender Nexo and hedge fund Three Arrows Capital is a great example of this.
The growth of the social component
Ownership of electronic assets speaks of high social status and access to closed communities. BAYC has created a privileged club for all NFT monkey owners. Buyers are allowed to participate in exclusive events, and auctions of new collections, and use the purchased assets for commercial purposes.
Popularization of musical NFTs
Already in 2021, the news broke that the Canadian rapper had sold a limited edition of his album on the E-NFT platform in seconds. Buyers received not only audio files with the artist's tracks but also some other privileges (virtual meetings, merch autographed by the musician, etc.)
Growth of the fan token market
Consulting company Deloitte predicts a twofold increase in fan tokens in 2022. It is worth clarifying that the audience of fan tokens can potentially number millions of people around the world. This year it is expected to increase the number of owners to 5 million people.
Rising prices for oldest NFT projects
If we consider the NFT market in 2021, we can conclude that the old collections created in the early era of technology development have increased in price many times over. For example, the CryptoPunks company, created in 2017, “shot” only 4 years later.
Do not forget about traditional auctions. You don’t have to look far for examples – in 2021, the largest auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s sold several NFT products for $150 million and $100 million respectively.
Now you know all about the first NFT ever created, why this technology is so important and what you can do with this information.
The NFT industry is developing at the speed of light, so every year there are more and more opportunities for earning. Now any user can get a fortune from the sale of unique coins. Well, at least, at least try to do it: choose your niche and start earning.
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