The worst thing that could have happened to NFTs

We learned to tokenize with Solidity and saw that the best use anyone found for it was a bunch of monkey cartoons, some with glasses, but none with real flair.

When speculation invades production, what happened to NFTs is inevitable: during the short lifespan of a novelty, people are willing to pay millions for a pixelated JPG of kittens. Later, they flee at the mere mention of the term.

The NFT Boom

These digital assets became hugely popular a few years ago because they allowed digital artists and creators to monetize their work in a new way, adding a sense of ownership and exclusivity that made them appealing to potential buyers, collectors, and investors who saw a chance for long-term profit.

However, like any investment asset, NFTs eventually fell prey to speculation and volatility. The promise of decentralization and digital authenticity became more of a problem than a solution, and NFTs stopped being functional tools to become mere speculative assets.

The market flooded with projects lacking real value, images sold for millions, and countless copies of content with no real utility. Saturation and the lack of practical applications led NFTs to lose credibility, and what once seemed like a revolution ended in mistrust.

More than just an expensive JPG: the good uses of NFTs

We’ve already talked about the bad uses of NFTs, but it’s not all doom and gloom. In fact, despite the bad reputation brought on by speculation, it’s important to recognize that the technology has some interesting aspects, such as traceability and the idea of decentralized digital ownership.

These tokens don’t just represent ownership of digital artworks, they also serve as an immutable and transparent registry of ownership. Thanks to blockchain technology, each NFT contains exclusive information and data that differentiates it from any other, granting it value and a stamp of originality. This makes it easier to precisely identify an asset’s owner and ensure safe transfers without intermediaries.

Here are some of their useful applications:

Digital authentication and certification

In a world where document, certificate, and license forgery is a problem, NFTs can guarantee authenticity and traceability.

Intellectual property management

Creators of software, music, digital art, or any other content can register their work on the blockchain and ensure their copyrights remain intact. NFTs also allow royalties to be automated without relying on intermediaries.

Tokenization of business assets

Companies can digitally represent contracts, software licenses, or even physical assets as NFTs, enabling secure exchange and traceability without the risk of tampering.

Interoperability of digital ecosystems

From video games to business platforms, NFTs make it possible to transfer digital assets between different systems without losing authenticity.

And in the software world?

For development companies, blockchain technology has real potential applications, from data traceability to digital identity management.

But the case of NFTs leaves us with a key lesson: technology alone is not enough. If it’s not developed with purpose and real utility, it ends up becoming its own worst enemy. In that sense, we believe the worst thing that could have happened to NFTs… was NFTs themselves.