NFTs are not only digital assets, but also a new form of ownership. NFTs are hot, but the excitement of a million dollar JPEG is not enough to keep the NFT market alive. The mindset around tokens has to shift toward personalized or earned items, not just something you can buy. This isn't to say that purchasing high demand / high value digital assets will go away, but rather the majority of the token market will be focused on Utility Tokens.
Utility Tokens are NFTs that have a deeper codebase than traditional NFTs, allowing for asset-minting for things like game items, avatars, or entire programs. As for now, some of the lower level problems that could be solved are asset modification and monetization through tracked transactions. Using a fork of GIMP, NFT-Mod allows users to edit their NFTs, then mint the modified token to any blockchain regardless of the original chain.
While there are still some kinks in the current implementation, it is a good starting point for blockchain-agnostic NFT editing software. Ultimately there are only a few things that I would like to see in the future:
- A 'sidechain' that tracks all NFTs and their modified versions, providing a way to ensure payment to all parties down the chain
- Cross-chain assets that can be used interchangeably inside platforms like games.
The vision of the blockchain that I propose steps away from the current financial templates that are popular in the community, and instead focuses on user experience. Here's the scenario in my mind:
I'm playing Halo Infinite and get a ⁴⁰/₃ K.D. receiving a god-tier achievment, and the Battle Rifle I'm holding turns golden with barbed wire wrapped around it. I can then either bring that gun into Apex, or sell it as a rare NFT.
This has a few holes in it with the current systems that are in place, and of course this would require full participation from game developers, but I think this is a vision that could be sold to the developers and the community.