What are Non-Fungible Tokens? And How Does Cassava Plan to Leverage the NFT Boom?
Before talking of ‘Non-Fungible Tokens’, we should first consider ‘Fungible tokens’ since the word ‘non-fungible’ would be non-existent without ‘fungible’.
Fungible tokens refer to traditional cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ADA and ether, which have millions of units, each similar to the other. This is to say that 1 unit of bitcoin can always be exchanged for another unit because they are, in fact, the same thing. This is also how traditional fiat currencies work. If I have a $5 bill, its value is identical to any other $5 bill. Even though they’re different items in a physical sense, their value is the same.
On the other hand, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are assets on the blockchain with a unique set of cryptographic data that differentiates them from each other. NFTs are still crypto tokens on the blockchain, but unlike the traditional cryptocurrencies, there can only be one unique instance of an NFT.
They are called ‘non-fungible ‘because only one original form of an NFT can ever exist. This is similar to owning the original copy of da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’. Although there may be millions of copies reproduced, there is only one original. This is the same idea behind NFTs.
In this article, we take a look at NFTs and how Cassava plans to leverage them to build a huge network of Web3 users in Africa.
What are Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)?
NFTs are assets on the blockchain that cannot be exactly copied. Since they’re non-fungible, there can only be one original copy of an NFT. Unlike exchanging a unit of bitcoin for another unit, an NFT cannot be exchanged for another because they aren’t similar and do not have the same value. NFTs are also cryptocurrencies but differ from the traditional cryptocurrencies as a result of their non fungible nature.
Although they have been around since 2014, they began to attract a large number of audiences around 2017. The NFT market benefitted from the cryptocurrency surge of 2017 and as at the third quarter of 2021, the NFT market had a total trading volume of almost $11 billion.
Unlike traditional cryptocurrencies, each NFT has a unique set of cryptographic data encoded into them such that only one original copy of a particular NFT can ever exist. Traditional cryptocurrencies have millions of units with the same set of cryptographic data making one unit exactly the same as another. With this, it is difficult to exchange one NFT for another because they aren’t similar and do not have the same worth.
It’s important to note why NFTs are unique. In essence, NFTs have unique IDs on the blockchain. It’s entirely possible to take an existing NFT and copy almost every piece of metadata into another NFT. On the surface, this would be an exact duplicate. However, there is one thing that you can never duplicate, which is that unique ID on the blockchain.
Many NFTs in these early days aren digital representations of things that already exist in some form. Popular NFTs include videos or images of iconic moments from popular athletes or images of popular artists or public figures in various industries. But images aren’t the end of it: anything can be represented as an NFT.
How are NFTs Created?
NFTs exist on the blockchain the same way traditional cryptocurrencies do, but unlike the traditional cryptocurrencies, each NFT is unique.
NFTs can exist on various blockchains like Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, or any other blockchain that supports them. They can be created or minted to represent various items like art, photographs, collectibles or other tangible or intangible items.
Anything can be minted as an NFT. This became evident when Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of twitter sold his first ever tweet for just under 3 million dollars. But it doesn’t end there: NFTs are being used to support digital identity systems, help with record-keeping in bureaucracies and even manage real estate deeds.
Utilities are Constantly being developed around NFTs
As NFTs are still relatively new, most people are focused on just buying and selling (flipping) NFTs for profit. They’ve made a lot of people some life changing money anyway.
Times are changing though, and since technology continues to advance in the Web3 space, lots of utilities have been developed and are continuously being developed around NFTs. For example, NFTs have been employed in the area of gaming and are a key part of the metaverse.
NFTs are also being used in the area of domain name ownership, particularly where people can own decentralized domain names like ENS and unstoppable domains. This helps to make sure domain name owners have full control over their domains, unlike the traditionally issued domains where domains are still subject to ICANN authority.
In the area of sports, media and entertainment, NFTs also have various utilities which include access to private communities, ability to take part in decision making through DAOs, and the ability to co-own music albums, media files or even sports teams and earn royalties from them.
The opportunities are endless with NFTs and the new concept of soulbound tokens further opens the door to endless opportunities. This is the concept that we at Cassava leverage to power our entire system.
Soul bound tokens are non-transferable NFTs locked to a particular wallet that serve as digital identities. These kinds of NFTs are neither tradable nor transferable.
With this concept, the idea of NFTs can be applied to solve real life problems in the areas of certification, documentation and a whole lot more. A quick example is the Republic of San Marino which has adopted the use of NFT Covid-19 vaccination passports.
The opportunities are endless with NFTs and they can be applied in almost any area of life — all you need to do is imagine it and it’s possible.
NFTs are an Integral Part of the Cassava Ecosystem
We’re building a reward protocol that aims to onboard more Africans into Web3 by incentivizing them to make use of their favourite apps; Cassava leverages NFTs to make this possible.
Firstly, we have launched the easy-to-create Cassava AfriMyth Avatars. These Avatars serve as an identity in the Cassava system and grant users access to our rewards dashboard where they can complete tasks to earn rewards. With the Cassava Avatar system, anyone can come on board without necessarily having any prior knowledge of crypto.
It’s so easy that all you need is an email address. In the future, the Cassava Avatars will be taken on-chain and potentially become your very first NFT.
To get started building a Cassava AfriMyth Avatar, visit app.cassava.network.
Cassava also offers AfriMyth props which are NFTs that can be added to your base Avatar to help boost your reward potential. For example, if you’re to earn 10 points for completing a task, it can be increased to 12 points when you have a prop added to your Avatar.
These props can be transferred or traded on NFT marketplaces.
In addition to the Cassava native NFTs, we have also secured partnerships with leading industry names in Web2 and Web3 that will enable us to launch celebrity, sports and other themed NFTs. These NFTs will be tailored towards various utilities as we constantly seek to provide real value for our users.
With the idea of NFTs, we are onboarding new African users, developers and creators into Web3.
To get started with Cassava, just visit app.cassava.network to create your unique and beautiful AfriMyth Avatar.
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