Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique digital tokens that are non-interchangeable, non-hackable and powered by public blockchains. There have been many attempts to bring NFTs to the real world, especially in the domain of arts, entertainment and collectibles, however achieving mass adoption is not a simple task. Only when effectively applied and integrated with real-world applications will this technology trigger the landslide of disruption expected across key industries.
NFT Markets: A Monster in the Making
Since the first NFT project surfaced in 2017, the market for these digital assets has witnessed parabolic growth. The release of the ERC721 token standard in early 2018 only fuelled this precipitous rise, providing developers the tools to build out NFT offerings more easily. In 2021, the NFT market has continued to exceed expectations with analyses showing between 1785% and 2100% growth in just the first three months of 2021, with more than US$2 billion being spent on NFT collectibles.
Forecasts for 2021 continue to look extremely positive for the emerging market, already valued at over $20 billion higher than 2020. For context, YoY growth for the NFT markets in 2020 was just 299%. The hyper-growth of this emerging asset class is reminiscent of multiple notable market events from recent decades. During the dot-com boom of the late 1990s, NASDAQ’s dot-com stocks bore witness to a 456% explosion in growth over a five-year period. More recently, an ETF for cannabis stocks grew 212% in just five months, between October 2020 and February 2021. We firmly expect the NFT market growth to be comparable to the Bitcoin boom, which saw the price of Bitcoin skyrocket 14000% over a five year period
NFT: Another Bubble?
Such impressive numbers logically elicit the question: Is this growth sustainable? Are NFTs a bubble? Well, the answer is both yes and no. The current tranche of NFTs going mainstream is mostly art-based NFTs created by digital creators, influencers and celebrities. We see high-value NFTs being sold to art collectors and speculators who are often cryptocurrency enthusiasts whose wealth has ballooned over the past year.
One of the most notable NFT sales was the headline grabbing $70 million sale of a digital painting by the artist Beeple. The ensuing media furore created high-profile awareness of the space, culminating in Christie’s auction house auctioning a CryptoPunk NFT for $9 million. One could argue these types of NFTs are in an asset pricing bubble. One of the main issues facing the current generation of NFTs is that they are often minted on the Ethereum blockchain, which is synonymous with high transaction costs and a sluggish, unscalable network. These conditions have killed the creativity of NFT-related companies by imposing restrictions on their product designs and execution. Simplistic art- and music-related NFTs, even in a low frequency trading environment, are still far too expensive to be commercialised and taken mainstream.
Looking forward, it is clear that as the value proposition of NFT technology becomes increasingly obvious to more and more participants, it will play a critical role in many industries of the future. It is these aspects that we can see are not in a bubble; instead they represent viable, long-term business models. For example, VeChain Foundation, the founding member of VeChainThor Blockchain, always being enterprise application adoption focused, have recently announced an Enterprise NFT Ecosystem, which utilises all the NFT concepts such as marketplaces and ownership authentication for use by businesses and enterprises. NFTs would be able to move towards more tangible industries, from authenticating luxury handbags, and fashionable sneakers, to proving ownership of property and land titles.
NFTs – Here to stay or just a fad?
NFTs are capable of delivering much more than simple certificates of ownership for pieces of art tracked on-chain. We know that NFTs can be far more engaging, leveraging their unique metadata and histories to create a story, with behavioural habits, actions and conquests, becoming a character in their own right and creating bonds with their caretakers. Eventually, through these connections, NFTs can even become companions and friends. We see NFTs becoming the digital souls of physical objects and toys, unleashing an entirely new way to create value for all kinds of stakeholders and providing an entirely new market for the existing entertainment industries.
We firmly believe that through the revolutionary power of blockchain, NFT technology will have a profound impact on our world and relationships. We see NFTs as the start of a movement – one that will blur the lines of the physical and digital domains. Through NFTs, we see the convergence of an internet of information with an internet of value. Many aspiring teams and projects are racing into this space to immerse themselves in what promises to be the equivalent of the California Gold Rush of the digital economy. Our project, VIMworld, is one of those pioneers embracing and building this future.
VIMworld – A new era of NFT entertainment
With our unique platform and product, we would even say we believe we are on the verge of creating a new kind of life form – a unique digital being that exists in its own dimension. Artificial intelligence, coupled with embedded nested smart contracts, is opening up another direction for human societal behaviour. From our perspective, the current shifting trajectory of interaction towards the digital makes the developmental path clear. Our unique mindset and approach to NFTs, plus our belief in the potential of artificial intelligence (AI), Internet-of-Things (IoT) and the deep understanding of the adoption of blockchain technologies, guide us to create our NFT ecosystem with all the building blocks needed to become the first blockchain application to impact everyday people.
At VIMworld, our motto is: “Shoot for Pluto. Even if you miss, you’ll land on the moon.” We work tirelessly to realise our dream of creating new forms of digital life from our Smart NFTs and driving completely new methodologies for human interaction. We plan to build a platform for experiences so profound they change the dynamic of how people form communities, interact and play in this new social setting, facilitating new kinds of human-digital and human-human relationships. VIMworld is the first step of a new way for people to make friends (humans or Smart NFTs), interact and play, while finding a sense of community and belonging. Our journey into this brave new world is just beginning and it starts now.
This article is an excerpt of the introduction of VIMworld’s Public Project Proposal. For more in-depth insights on the NFT market and how VIMworld plans to revolutionize the industry, read the Public Project Proposal now.
Click Here to Download and Read the VIMworld Public Project Proposal
About VIMworld
VIMworld is a revolutionary non-fungible token (NFT) ecosystem that creates a space where entrepreneurship and play combine and thrive. At the core of VIMworld are VIMs themselves, each one unique and permanent. VIMs are Smart NFTs that will deliver an immutable system of authentication, allowing their owners to both store and build value through play whilst building meaningful connections with others.
For more information about VIMworld, please visit the website at https://vimworld.com
For news inquiries, please email hello@vimworld.com
