What are NFT? What function can they serve in business?
A non-exchangeable token is a unique digital value. for which in some cases you have to pay tens of thousands, if not millions of zlotys. NFTs begin to dominate the world of entertainment, art and commerce. Today, however, we will focus on tokenization, or the rise of the blockchain architecture economy.
NFT for the uninitiated are an intricate puzzle, but the CEO of Smartverum argues that behind it stands a pure mechanism of economics, known from the traditional economy. The only variable in this case is the fact of transformation of material values into those generated digitally. In a normal situation, we all know that whether something has value or not is a matter of some kind of social contract and trust. Currencies, for example, are based on this, and they have become a form of representation of the work relationship in terms of its purchasing power. Hence the saying that The cost of something is as high as people are willing to pay for it.
Value is determined by people’s belief in it, but it must be characterized by the recognition of a larger social group that will be able to recognize the value of the item in relation to other goods owned by other members of the community. So it is obvious to realize that the most valuable things are those that are unique, unrepeatable and above all rare and distinctive.
Centuries ago, gold was just such a substance for Europeans, and it still represents a serious investment. However, it was different in the case of South Americans. Those did not see any special value in it, as the material was a big part of the common landscape there. This divergence has even resulted in the confabulation of the mythical El Dorado, which kept many prospecting groups up at night. In this example it is apparent how value is relative, but in defining it people are helped by a sense of limited availability. It is an effect that is quite visible in our psyche, and the methods of exerting influence have long detailed the need to mark goods as limited or exclusive.
Token is not exchangeable, everyone is able to make it themselves, but it is more difficult to understand this concept. In my opinion NFT is the first successful attempt to transfer values from the physical, material world to the digital world. This has been accomplished by having a limited amount of a certain object that becomes a digital object and clearly assigning ownership – to it; says Bartosz Bilicki.
What NFTs have to do with cryptocurrencies?
– Cryptocurrencies are similar to NFT, but unlike them focus on the measurable value. For example, if I own several bitcoins, well each of those bitcoins has no distinction, because each of them is worth the same, I can exchange them, I can split it, I can send 1/10th of that bitcoin, or even split it into even smaller values. It’s all based on blockchain technology, a technology that is uniquely able to describe the supply chain, i.e. who had this bitcoin first, to whom I transferred it, what amount and when. It takes place outside the central records of such information. Such a register can be e.g. bank in such a world of traditional finance, and in the world of cryptocurrencies we have a whole distributed network, whose servers are so dispersed that we do not even know where it is located – explains Bilicki.
Unlike bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, NFTs are based not on the computing power of the system that is responsible for a given operation in the blockchain., although they use the same technology, rather they are supposed to represent a value unique enough that this alone is responsible for its current valuation.
Token also can not be divided and can not be called a currency in the common meaning of the word. – It’s perfect for describing art on the blockchain, elements for gaming computers, you can digitize stamps, cards and other things that may have a unit value, so for example if I have a couple of hundred dollar bills today they are nominally the same, but if a famous person signed on one of them, well one of those bills suddenly may be worth a lot more. For such procedures, we can use NFT technology, which further secures us cryptographically – emphasizes Bartosz Bilicki.
Is NFT a scam?
When most people think of NFT, they see colourful monkeys, flirty pictures and ugly graphics created by Marta Linkiewicz. Digital love from Martha Rentel, a strangely acquired Bieber monkey and a rather infantile-looking Minecraft called Snoopvers do not evoke positive associations in reasonable people, yet the Mobile Trends Podcast guest rightly points out that tokens and technology are just a tool. It’s like with a compass, with which you can both draw a beautiful circle and poke someone in the eye.
Tools, by definition, are not bad, and the right use of them can have a positive effect on the whole, however, in the case of NFT it is not as simple as with the compass – In a world where we know that we are able to do certain things anonymously – we are able to anonymously release our own cryptocurrency and also release our own NFT. If so, it is clear that a great many counterfeits have been created. For example, forgeries of well-known works or even well-known NFTechs were created, so many people were fooled, or NFTs were created, which at one point cost a lot, but after a month they lost their nominal value because generally the person, group or project in general lost interest – says Bartosz Bilicki.
Unfortunately, gro people also speculate on tokens, proclaiming their low profitability. It is worth mentioning that, in accordance with Bartosz Bilicki, we claim that the weakening of the token value is not a fraud. After all, no one can guarantee that an item will continually maintain its purchasing parity. This can be seen in exchange rates, which fluctuate from day to day, and although they vary by small percentages or even fractions thereof, so in the case of war or inadequate power at the helm, the value of money can fall dramatically, until we reach the Venezuelan variant, where toilet paper is worth more than the paycheck. Two-thirds of middle- and low-level workers earn the minimum wage, for which you can’t even buy a roll of toilet paper; says Anabella Abadi, Director of Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility. content on the Caracas Chronicles website.
This does not mean that the market is flawless. However, it should not be demonized on the spur of the moment. – We’ve only been duped when we buy something that isn’t what it was initially presented to be. We have to rely on our own intellect, but we also have to rely on the opinion of the people who are doing it. We can lose everywhere, but this market specifically lacks regulation for people who don’t quite have pure intentions – explains the expert.
What function can NFT play in business??
– Let’s not give in to FOMO! NFT is not a recipe for success for every industry today. I have no idea how a local grocer could get rich on NFT. Well maybe if he added a potato NFT to every potato then maybe it would be interesting for a market of the type of youth and would be more willing to use buying vegetables or fruits – says the chief executive of Smartverum.
Tokens and the financial environment around them can be very surprising and volatile. This is a world that can still surprise us with various price spikes. Persons who come from the financial world tradition may not understand this. Well, buying a share of a particular company, they are sure what the company is, where it produces and what items, who is responsible for its management and what financial results. Investors have a number of tools and competencies to check most of the facts that interest them so that they can estimate their investment contribution. Such conduct usually allows them to enjoy a long paid dividend, and shares can be held in paper form.
What if an unknown entity releases a token allegedly authored by a given character, which is suddenly supposed to be worth tens of thousands of dollars.?This realisation may cause some concern, although in the back of our minds we have the information that NFT is being joined by huge brands with global reach such as Adidas or Nike, or even PwC, so we should keep an eye on their actions, as these are real entities with big capital and capitalistic hunger. Influencers are also responsible for NFT, which are increasingly valued much higher than the value of specific companies, and there are more and more examples. This can be confirmed by the existence of even token exchanges already, where people ruthlessly give these media a nominal value. – We are dealing here with a completely different financial instrument and I think this is the way we should approach it. Of course NFT is not the answer to everything and will not displace the stock market. I am still of the opinion that it is worth having a diversified portfolio when it comes to assets within one category of understanding financial instruments. It is worth having gold, cryptocurrencies, NFT and of course not to spend money that you do not have – explains CEO Smartverum.
What will NFT be needed for by the average Kowalski?
Nowadays tokens are also used in trading of tickets for events, where within a natively digital file we can get much better results of such transactions. Tokenization also gives the opportunity to belong to specific communities, an example of which is. Bored Ape Yacht Club.
Tokens are a technology that is primarily used to show authentic authorship or to state. – I would not look at NFT as a work of art, but more as a medium that is unequivocally able to transfer us something from the parallel world to the digital world – says Bilicki. On OpenSea we are dealing with tokenization model of ownership of domains, images and other files. NFT can serve as a certification of ownership confirming our undeniable possession of a given thing by means of information stored in the blockchain. In the NFT world, however, we have one advantage over paper certificates, which are also very often falsifiable in the art.
– In the NFT world even if someone counterfeits something he will never remove it, so even if the buyer at the beginning did not realize what he was buying and lacked proper moderation then in the future he will at least be able to know that it is a fake, so the digitization of property certificates is one of the basic cases, but here let’s leave the field to property law lawyers – says Bilicki.
If you are interested in what NFTs have to do with games, mobile apps or collectibles listen to the podcast with Smartverum CEO Bartek Bilicki here.