Much has changed in the Non-fungible Token world since the March frenzy.
Back then, everyone was covering NFTs, the internet was taken by storm by headlines such as “What are NFTs?”, “Is NFT art a bubble?”, “Beeple!”, etc. You get the point.
Lately, things have been a bit quieter, but NFTs are making a huge comeback thanks to new and interesting features that they are implementing.
Also, you have to consider that the first wave was an absolute novelty, so there has been a lot of speculation, weird sales, and even scammy projects. The bright side is that we are now headed to a much mature and aware stage in the NFT world.
Let’s see what’s new then!
Dynamic NFTs
Do you know who the Pythia was? But, most importantly, why you should care? Well, because. Because the Pythia was the best oracle in ancient Greece, and everyone paid her to know the future.
Blockchain oracles, the digital Pythias
Back in the present, the ever-growing blockchain technology faces a huge dilemma. To keep the blockchain safe, it is disconnected from any external system.
Basically smart contracts don’t have any access outside of their network.
This means that what is on a blockchain cannot be updated unless you burn the item (usually a smart contract) and create one anew, furnished with updated data.
But…this sucks, period.
Enters the oracles, tadaaa! See? The Pythia’s stuff was useful after all.
What’s an oracle in the blockchain world?
It’s a service that provides smart contracts with verified and up-to-date data, triggering a smart contract change of state. This widens the scope of what you can do on a blockchain, quite a lot!
Oracles and NFTs
Ok, back to NFTs. A non-fungible token, in case you didn’t know, is a smart contract, which means an NFT is liable to the same issue that ordinary smart contracts face: being isolated from the outside world.
Enter the oracles! This means that NFTs become dynamic! This means they can change based on a new batch of data that is provided to them by oracles.
For example, the NBA player Lamelo Ball has created a dynamic NFT, a digital collectible tied to his real-life assists during his (hopefully long) NBA career. Once you buy the NFT, it will stay up-to-date thanks to oracles, so that the assist count will be growing, while also increasing the value of the non-fungible token, especially if Lamelo continues playing like last season.
Another interesting application is that of RNG, random number generators. Many digital collectibles implement this feature to manage the rarity of each collection once is dropped.
To do that, you need an oracle, as you can’t reliably have an on-blockchain smart contract do that kind of random number generation.
So, oracles provide RNG to blockchain-based digital collectibles and everyone can be 100% sure that he/she has as many chances to get a super-rare digital collectible as anyone and sell it for a lot of ETH of course.
Physical NFTs, the answer to the “I can copy-paste any NFT without paying” guys
There is still a lot of skepticism surrounding NFTs. One of the main reasons for such skepticism is that whenever you buy an NFT, you won’t get anything tangible. No canvas, no signed copy of whatever the artist has created, just a jpg or Gif file.
Things are more complicated than that, but you get the point.
In the last months, a trend has surfaced in the NFT eco-system: attaching physical goods to the NFT itself.
This has been done by many VIP creators, such as Mike Shinoda, Steve Aoki, and Lamelo Ball.
Sometimes NFTs take the inverse route as they go from digital to physical, as in the case of skateboards printed with your favorite NFT.
It works like this: you buy the NFT on an NFT marketplace, then the creators send you a host of physical collectibles, a signed print, a unique video, a photo, and much more.
This way, you no longer get “just” a digital file, you also get many unique pieces to boost your collection and increase its value.
Beeple is another creator that is really exploring the physical NFTs realm.
His newborn marketplace aims to sell unique collectibles, tied to historical events, mostly sports-related. Or as you can read on the website:
“We immortalize culture’s most consequential moments on the blockchain, forever linking celebrated icons and their achievements with the collectors who admire them most”
What you actually get is a Physical Artifact (as they call it) of the chosen WENEW moment. They come in a high-definition video display embedded in glass casings.
For instance, the “Andy Murray wins Wimbledon 2013” NFT, included the following package:
- Play tennis with Andy for 30 mins at the All England Club*
- 2 VIP tour experiences and Centre Court tickets to Wimbledon Gentlemen’s Final 2022**
- All 5 NFTs in the Andy Murray x Wimbledon series
- Physical Artifacts of all 5 NFTs in this series
- Wimbledon 2013 program signed by Andy
- Wimbledon 2021 poster signed by Andy
- The Challenge Cup Trophy Replica
- Autograph card signed by Andy
On top of that, you are sure about the NFT provenance, another important concept, each moment is personally authenticated by those who made it special.
Steve Aoki Dream Catcher
Another cool example of how physical NFTs are changing the scenario is Steve Aoki’s Dream Catcher, in collaboration with Antoni Tudisco. Along with the digital file here is what you got:
PHYSICAL OFFERING
The auction piece, edition of 1, 5, and 10 in the pack collection all come with an Infinite Objects physical display screen! Must own the NFT EXACTLY 2 weeks after the collection goes live (March 21 at 2 pm ET) to redeem the physical screen!
Infinite Objects is the first “Video-printer” company. They make amazing permanently treated displays, called Video Print. One video, looping forever (as they love to say).
NFTs: much more than a bubble!
As you have read so far, non-fungible tokens are here to stay, of course, there have been issues, critics, and skepticism, but that’s 100% granted when something new surfaces in the gray bubble of the already-seen-ocean.
From Dynamic NFTs to physical NFTs, many things are evolving, the market itself is finding new stability and is maturing, to say nothing on how many companies are using NFTs to keep track of their supply-chains, or the thriving NFT Real Estate world.
Do you want to keep the pace with the ever-changing NFT world? Then hurry up and sign to our super duper up-to-date newsletter!
