Non-fungible tokens or NFTs are digital representation of artworks, music, videos and in-game collectibles created and stored on the blockchain in form of tokens. Being non-fungible means every single token is unique with its own ID.
Read also: Crypto Exchange Kraken to launch NFTs marketplace in 2022
In simple terms NFTs can be likened to real world certificates or titles that shows ownership of a particular item like a car or real estate. But for better understanding in our context let’s liken NFTs to digital representation of artworks or pictures.
The CNN example of an NFT
For a better understanding of what NFTs are, let’s take a look at CNN collection of NFTs. Global news and media company CNN released a series of NFTs called Vault by CNN.
These NFTs are made up of different stories reported by the media company that made the headlines in 2021. These includes Bezos and Branson going to space, 2020 Olympics, Delta variant of Covid19, End of Afghanistan war and many more.
Vault by CNN was simply created by converting the web pages of reported stories to pictures in digital form created and stored on the blockchain in form of tokens. Each token with its unique ID represents a particular story.
“Starship Troopers Bezos and Branson, Reporting for Duty” was one of the CNN news headlines of 2021 that made their NFTs collection.
Below is the link to the story on their website and a screenshot of the web page.
Link: Starship Troopers Bezos and Branson, reporting for duty
Below is the NFT created from the news publication on the media company’s website as part of Vault by CNN.
NFTs on different blockchains
Originally NFTs were first minted on the Ethereum blockchain. I believe you have heard of CryptoPunk NFT?
With the launch of Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible blockchains like Solana, Binance Smart Chain, Fantom, Polkadot and Polygon, NFTs have expanded to these listed blockchains and many more not mentioned here.
Where can I store my NFT?
NFTs are tokens and can be held on your cryptocurrency wallets depending on the blockchain. For instance an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain can be stored on TrustWallet.
Conclusion
NFTs have grown from just being digital representations of artworks to an asset class that holds real value. Earlier this year a CryptoPunk NFT was purchased by Shalom Meckenzie at a Sotheby’s auction for a final price of $11.75 million.
NFTs have not just been in the news but global news and media channel CNN had to jump on the NFT train, creating their own NFTs collection. Other notable names that have jumped on the NFT train include Twitter, Adidas, Ferrari, Pepsi, Melania Trump, etc. As a matter of fact 2022 has been dubbed the “Year of NFTs” but in the coming weeks and months we will see if this really happens.