

Many people all around the world might have heard the word NFT which is short for Non- Fungible Tokens. However, most people are not aware of the NFT applications in the digital era that we are living in. The primary application of NFTs have been considered to be tokenizing digital arts and collectibles. However and at least in theory, all digital and physical assets can be tokenized in order to craft Asset-backed NFTs. As such, there are many applications that are coming into existence, thanks to blockchain technology and asset tokenization. Blockchain, tokenization and NFT brings important benefits to all sectors. As such, it is expected for NFTs to rise in popularity and utilization over the next coming years. Now, let’s dive deep inside and figure out the transformative NFT applications.
1- Real Estate
Real estate sector has always been among the most popular sectors for investors as well as consumers. From the investors’ perspective, investing in the real estate sector not only comes with capital growth, but also generates passive income by renting the property out! However, the real estate sector is considered as an illiquid market. Valuable properties are expensive and out of most investors or consumers’ financial capability. Besides, the real estate market is limited to nearby areas, as most investors prefer to invest in a property that is close to where they are living. The real estate investment in the blockchain era is providing innovative solutions for such risks and inefficiencies. Property tokenization makes fractional ownership possible. Hence, it allows small-scale investors around the world to invest in a share of a valuable property that brings more liquidity to the real estate sector.
2- Gaming
Gaming industry is quite popular around the world and is making a significant amount of money for developers and gamers. By incorporating NFTs with video games there will be endless possibilities for generating more revenue for both gamers and game developers. NFTs can represent in-game items that offer rarity, uniqueness, utility and collectability. That would encourage gamers by monetizing their time, so they become eager to play more in hope of gaining more NFTs. Those NFTs can be traded in the NFT marketplace and generate income for the gamers.
3- Digital Arts
The immutability of the blockchain network has allowed artists to make their work unique. The main issue with digital files is that they can easily be duplicated. This is a serious concern for people who are interested in buying digital arts. Thanks to the blockchain network, artists can now mint a NFT that represents their digital piece of work. Such a NFT provides enough confidence for buyers that it is the one and only copy of that piece of digital art. As we already know, the authenticity and ownership of a NFT can not be changed or replicated. Besides, digital artists can receive a cut, once their digital art is sold in the secondary market. They can ask the NFT developer to design the smart contract in a way to send their portion to their wallet, once the buyer sells the digital artwork in the secondary market.
4- Finance
NFTs can store and transfer virtual assets within a blockchain network. NFTs are safe and secure and the data about ownership and authenticity can not be changed or replicated. Does it sound familiar? How similar those potentials are to financial services? NFTs have big potential in financial markets and services by providing a safe and secure ecosystem to exchange digital assets. Furthermore, NFTs in financial services provide more privacy, as the transactions are only visible to sender and receiver! DeFi or Decentralized Finance as a blockchain-based financial system is now providing a wide range of financial services within the blockchain network. DeFi in real estate and other sectors are transforming the landscape of investment and NFTs can add additional value by being used as collateral, lending and borrowing, representing assets and a lot more.
Final words
Other than major and trending applications that we have gone through, many other innovative applications are emerging right now. NFTs can provide valuable solutions to the medicine and healthcare industry. It can provide easier and more accessible solutions to storing patients’ information and health history, imaging results and making them instantly available to both healthcare providers and patients. Furthermore, NFTs are capable of providing valuable solutions to the supply chain and logistic sector by authenticating products and their quality and verifying their origin. The list of NFT applications never ends, as more industries and markets are becoming familiar with the advantages of NFTs.
However, lack of regulation and robust legal system around the world for asset tokenization is the major risk that the NFT and its applications are facing right now. As such, potential investors must be very careful, before making an investment decision in tokenized assets and NFTs.