When you read the title of this article, you probably thought: it’s not possible that, in 2024, someone will still try to convince me to buy an image of a smiling, colorful monkey.”
If you thought exactly that, stay until the end, as you will discover that an NFT can be much more than a digital collectible and provide benefits in the real world.
What is NFT?
NFT is the acronym for the name non-fungible token, whose translation into Portuguese means “non-fungible token”.
Fungible is something that can be replicated without individual identification or individualized value for it. The easiest way to think about what would be fungible is money: a R$50.00 note is worth R$50.00 anywhere, with the exception being only rare cases of notes with specific serial numbers or that have some characteristic that someone is adept at. see collecting as a reason to be worth more.
Now that you know what fungible is, let's understand what non-fungible is. Non-fungible is something that can be identified in a very direct and specific way. An example not related to the crypto universe helps to illustrate what this would be: your CPF number is unique and exclusively related to you in the national IRS registry. Another example is Mona Lisa. There is only one true painting painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, any other reproduction is considered a worthless copy.
With an eye on the crypto universe, an NFT is any and all item that not only has a specific identification but, being on a blockchain network, can be bought and sold with complete monitoring of its history of previous transactions. And, of course, all of this with the same openness and transparency of access that exists in these networks.
Another important aspect regarding what NFTs mean in terms of technology is the fact that, in addition to being exclusive items that can be traded and monitored in your transaction history, they are also small keys that allow access to specific situations. We'll talk about this later and everything will be much easier to understand.
There are still NFTs that are standardized and closed on some platform, serving as those special items from RPG games that we had a while ago, remember? These items end up highlighting whoever has them, even if they can be acquired by other people who also complete specific missions. About this specific type, at the end of the article we will tell you about an interesting opportunity!
How big is the current NFT market?
Observing data from CoinMarketCap, we have that the global NFT market has a market value of approximately US$4.25 billion, has already seen the movement of almost US$111 billion in its various possibilities and all of this occurred in approximately 78.6 million transactions :
Whether due to the size of the capitalization, the amounts moved or the number of transactions - regardless of the fact that it was a larger segment in the recent past - it is a market that attracts attention.
Which platform stands out the most in NFTs?
Among the most relevant platforms in the crypto universe that exist, of which Bitcoin stands out due to its market value and Ethereum due to the number of projects in Decentralized Finance (or simply DeFi), we have the Solana project. Solana is a network that was created with the intention of improving functions previously made available by Ethereum - so much so that you can find its nickname somewhere: Ethereum Killer (“Ethereum killer”, in free translation).
But, even with the original idea being to target optimizations of this other network, it ended up gaining prominence as a marketplace for NFTs, in addition to other diverse decentralized applications (DApps).
To give you an idea of Solana's relevance in this market, in December 2023, the accumulated value of US$5 billion in sales was reached through this network alone, with the volume exceeding US$360 million in that month alone:
In addition to the revolution in sports, what other challenges can NFT technology solve?
When the discussion starts from a point as open as “resolving the issue of the history of purchase and sales records”, it may be difficult to imagine what gains would be possible in practical terms to be achieved by a technology like this. However, when we look at situations in which these records would have made a difference, everything becomes much easier to understand.
Imagine a famous art gallery that sells paintings for a few million dollars to its select clientele who, in addition to buying such works, love to transform their mansions into private exhibitions. When it comes to such expensive acquisitions, you might assume from the beginning that the works are all of reliable origin and, of course, were made by the exclusive artists who justify such a value. Right?
Well, that wasn't what happened with the Knoedler Gallery in New York, as presented in detail in the documentary Fake Art: A Real Story. The film is cool and worth watching, but its motto is the following: some paintings sold by this gallery, for an amount that exceeded US$100 million, were actually forgeries made by a Chinese artist who copied the works originals or, in some cases, even created new ones - which were sold as “lost works” by certain artists.
If on the one hand the word of the art gallery would be enough, through the analysis carried out with experts associated with it, on the other hand it would be much safer to guarantee both the origin of the work and who had it with them throughout its history if there were records on a network blockchain that were verifiable.
In other words: if these works had the same registration as an NFT, it would not be necessary to “trust” the human action of verification, but just check the history in an impersonal, technical and emotionless way.
NFT is something closer than you think
If you observed with some resistance the example we just presented, about the NFT technology used to prevent million-dollar fraud, know that in fact the possibilities of acquiring and monitoring NFTs are getting closer and closer.
A brief Google search can bring you a certain number of companies that sell NFTs, or at least have had contact with this market in recent years. Maybe you don't know all of these brands, but it's unlikely you don't know or have at least heard of the existence of at least a third of them here:
What these brands offer as NFTs has everything to do with the direct experience of those who consume them: even with absolutely different prices (from something at Taco Bell to an item from Lamborghini), there is the possibility of holding a specific item, with origin, unambiguous detailing and transaction history. All of this guaranteed not just by some confirmation coming out of nowhere, but by a blockchain network from which the available information can be widely checked.
And, of course, without the human interference that can tarnish this exclusivity - which is explained by the example of the art gallery.
Potential for the NFT market is remarkable
The evolution of transaction capacity, as well as the greater ease and usability of applications that we have nowadays, are the two factors that most help to explain how much we can still expect in terms of potential in relation to the NFTs market.
Remember what we said earlier in this article about NFT being something that allows you to have specific and exclusive access? So: this additional item, which goes beyond the ability to buy and sell something by following the history in a technical and emotionless way, means that holding such items serves almost as a specific currency of exchange, a very different remuneration for some work or task performed. which, in the end, could not be acquired with money alone.
That's exactly what you thought: just like we saw in that classic scene from the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (in any of its editions, as they all tell the same story) in which the grandfather warns his grandson about how much that thing was worth. golden ticket, the experience that each holder of such a ticket would have would not be possible to buy with money (at least not directly and in a specific and unified way).
Something worth highlighting is that, as an additional advantage to the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Golden Ticket itself, we literally have possibilities in NFTs that go beyond a pure and simple financial transaction for some experience. There is also the community effect: the networks in which these items are created and transacted also allow connections between people with the same interests.
Therefore, the potential for growth in the use of NFTs is great, not only because of what it can provide at an individual level (to those who have these items in their wallet), but also because of the value unfolded in terms of financial transactions and even the incalculable and the invaluable power of community of being among people who share common interests.
The old internet forum that connected so many people from different places takes on much more relevant flights this way!
Binance launches the second edition of Brasileirão NFT
Although there are many examples of companies that make NFTs available at the most varied prices, it's even cooler when everything can be directly related to something that you really like.
With football being the most popular sport in the country and the Brasileirão being the biggest sports championship in Brazil, imagine how cool it would be to have the NFT of the Brasileirão Betano!
With Binance, you can do exactly that, and the advantages are diverse: by redeeming the championship's free NFT, within the exchagne platform, you can have a free pass to unlock several real benefits throughout the 2024 season.
Brasileirão Betano NFT holders can have access to:
Tickets for several championship games.
Special tickets for the unforgettable moment of Match Day, which is an experience in which fans step onto the field, get to know the players and important areas of the stadium.
Unique and collectible football items autographed by great players.
Transaction fee discounts on Binance.
Discounts on courses at the CBF Academy School of Management and Business.
If you are a football fan and now understand that NFT is not just a digital collectible, you can now redeem your Brasileirão Betano NFT for free on Binance.