If you are still looking at NFTs with the mindset of 2022, then your understanding of NFTs is indeed dead, completely dead. So how did NFTs evolve?
Let’s dive in!
NFT 1.0 - PFP Avatar
NFT first appeared on the Bitcoin network and can be traced back to color coins. It really came into view with Cryptopunks in 2017, and its large-scale outbreak occurred in 2022.
After the Defi summer in 2021, everyone had too many coins and needed to show off and spend them, which gave rise to the PFP avatar craze that started in 2022.
Typical representatives: Cryptopunks, BAYC, Azuki
This stage was cruel and beautiful. At that time, people were still discussing art, scarcity, and various easter eggs buried in the details, and there was no shortage of money (ETH). During that period, hundreds of PFP series emerged, but there was only one head, and there was only one avatar in the end.
Soon, PFP collapsed.
NFT 2.0 - Utility
After experiencing the PFP craze, calm people began to think about a simple but painful question: What is the use of NFT?
So, domain name NFTs represented by ENS appeared, in-game props NFTs represented by Stepn appeared, and various offline event ticket NFTs appeared...
Functionality began to be explored, so that PFP also had certain functions, such as airdrops, community verification, etc.
This idea has been extended to today. KaitoAI has given its NFT the rights of airdrops and voting, and MegaETH has raised funds for its SBT and gradually empowered it. Airdrops are inevitable.
NFT 3.0 - RWA+ Real Assets
Unconsciously, NFT has begun to evolve to 3.0, which means it has a physical body. How heavy is NFT? MorphLayer says it weighs 22 grams, which is 1 gram heavier than the soul.
Based on NFT casting, it is paired with a physical bank card, providing airdrops and high Defi returns online, and consumption and club membership benefits offline. NFT is concrete, it is a real card that you can use to buy groceries.
Maybe you have discovered that evolution is not unidirectional, but mixed, chaotic, and mutually penetrating. MegaETH's NFT is so good that it can be used as an avatar, madLads is already recognized as a golden shovel, and MorphBlack directly delivers "NFT" to your home.
There will be more and more similar applications, and NFT as the underlying technology is increasingly hidden in the depths. Technology itself is neither bullish nor bearish, and the applications attached to the technology are the standard for measuring whether the technology is moving forward.
