Many friends have asked Kobayashi what is NFT? Maybe you know that the three letters of NFT are the abbreviation of the word "Non-fungible Token", and you also know that it is translated into Chinese as "non-fungible token". You know every English letter, word or Chinese character, but you can't understand it together. At the same time, the media is constantly bombarding us, and we can only vaguely feel "unclear".
NFT is neither Web 3.0 nor the Metaverse.
This article will tell you what is NFT? Why NFTs?
Speaking of NFT, I have to mention "CryptoKitties". In the early days, it was generally called "EtherKitties" on the Internet. Now it is officially called "CryptoKitties". Blockchain is the technical basis behind the operation of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. While not a digital currency, CryptoKitties offers the same security: every CryptoKitties is unique and 100% yours. It cannot be copied, taken away, or destroyed.
So what does NFT have to do with Mystery Cat? Kobayashi took everyone back to the origin. In fact, it would be more appropriate to use the relationship between Bitcoin and the blockchain to describe the relationship between them, and to avoid being stumbled by the question of which came first, the chicken or the egg. Before Bitcoin was popularized, there was no concept of blockchain. Inspired by the white paper and source code of Bitcoin, people extracted the meaning of blockchain separately, and finally formed an industry vocabulary such as blockchain. Then he compared Bitcoin to the first application of blockchain.
The Obsessed Cat project originated from Axiom Zen Venture Capital Studio in Vancouver, Canada, a bit like Hacker Dojo in the United States, the garage coffee on Zhongguancun Entrepreneur Street, and the early incubation model of Sinovation Ventures. When the team they incubated participated in the ETHWaterloo Ethereum Hackathon, it took only 3 days to create the first NFT prototype product. In fact, the original intention of this project is to popularize blockchain technology through a simple and easy-to-use work.
In January 2018, based on this prototype, the ERC: Non-fungible Token Standard #721 Ethereum Request for Comments document standard, generally referred to as ERC-721 (Ethereum Request for Comments 721) in the industry, is a non-homogeneous token in smart contracts. Standardization of tokenization. The role of ERC-721 is to uniquely identify someone or something. This type of token would be perfect for a platform that sells: collectibles, keys, lottery tickets, concert seat numbers, sports games, etc.
From this, it is not difficult to understand that the designer has designed a standard in order to realize a function that has not appeared before. Just like the previous example of the relationship between Bitcoin and the blockchain, the obsession with cats application led to the birth of NFT. Similarly, you can also say that obsession with cats is the first application in the NFT field. It is precisely because this type of application has amazing development potential that it needs an appropriate standard. It can be said that ERC-721 is here to solve this problem.
The domain name cryptokitties.co was registered on 2017-09-13. At that time, the development of the currency circle and the chain circle was quite embarrassing. The major domestic ministries and commissions jointly banned ICO. Also because they don’t like the impetuous atmosphere of ICO, Obsessed Cat is the first product that did not pass the ICO but became a hit, which not only played a role in popularizing science, but also added a sub-category of NFT to the blockchain field and played a typical demonstration role. .
At the same time, it is worth mentioning that the opensea.io domain name of the trading platform was registered on 2017-12-27, because the official website of Obsessed Cat is more like an e-commerce website under a certain brand, and OpenSea is different from general digital currency exchanges. Try to develop NFT in the direction of a platform like eBay or Taobao. In fact, until 2019, the entire NFT market is about 200 million US dollars. In 2020, with the emergence of Grayscale Fund, Wall Street capital began to really pay attention and get involved in the blockchain field.
In addition, the concepts of NFT and Token are easily confused. In fact, NFT is just a kind of Token, and Token can have financial attributes, semi-financial attributes, or no financial attributes at all. If you have read the article and courseware "Why Blockchain" written by Kobayashi before, or heard this keynote speech, you will not be unfamiliar. Here are some additional knowledge points. If you have learned it before, you can skip this section.
Definition of TOKEN:
The original meaning of Token is token, which is also called signaling in the basic telecommunications industry. It is currently understood as a new species emerging from the development of blockchain technology. For example, the ERC20 standard formulated by Ethereum is a contract code.
Based on this standard, anyone can issue a custom Token on Ethereum, and this Token can represent any rights and values.
It is a common practice to use Token as the proof of rights and interests of Cryptocurrency (Cryptocurrency) to conduct Crowdsale (also known as Initial Coin Offering, ICO; the concept comes from: Initial Public Offering: Initial Public Offerings, IPO).
Types of TOKENs:
Financial applications that provide users with more powerful ways to manage and participate in contracts with their money. Including sub-currencies, financial derivatives, hedging contracts, savings wallets, wills, and even some kinds of comprehensive employment contracts.
A perfect example of a semi-financial application, where money is present but also has a heavy non-monetary aspect, is self-enforcing bounties for solving computational problems.
Completely non-financial applications like online voting and decentralized governance.
Attributes of TOKEN:
Token is a certificate of equity in digital form, which represents a right, an inherent and intrinsic value.
Token's authenticity, tamper-proof modification, privacy protection and other capabilities are guaranteed by cryptography. Every Token is a right protected by cryptography. This protection is stronger and more sure than any law, authority, or gun can afford.
Token can circulate in the network and can be verified anytime and anywhere. Certain Tokens can be traded and exchanged, and Tokens can even represent all proofs of rights and interests, such as ID cards, academic diplomas, currencies, bills, from keys, tickets, points, card coupons, from stocks to bonds, and all proofs of rights and interests in human society. Represented by Token.
In 2017, when Kobayashi was researching the obsession with cats project, he realized the great significance of digital collections in this project. It instantly reminded Kobayashi of digital products such as Avatar (virtual image) and QQ show more than ten years ago. He also remembered Avatar, which originated from the Korean online community, and Tencent, which brought the gameplay of QQ show to the extreme.
It's a pity that there were no concepts such as blockchain, Token, and NFT at that time. At the same time, Q coins and Q points had policy risks and restrictions, which caused us to spend money to buy avatar costumes. It expires after 1 year. If you still remember the QQ show where you wore only underwear and underwear, then you should be a post-80s generation.
Although the white paper of Obsessed with Cats mentioned the keyword Non-fungible Token long ago, no one had extracted the concept of NFT for project or product promotion at that time. Now that NFT has quietly come to us, it is not just a concept, but whether you are aware of this change and are ready to accept it.
Looking back at our digital life, it has been practiced for more than 20 years. As early as 1999, there was a 72-hour network survival test. At that time, it was difficult for most people to imagine the grandeur of today's digital life. NFT can revolutionize your digital assets, and it may anchor non-digital products in real life in the future, let us wait and see.