QANplatform Use Case Story: NFT
Learn more about non-fungible tokens and discover why the QAN blockchain platform provides an excellent infrastructure to mint quantum-resistant NFTs.
NFTs exploded in 2021, creating a multi-billion dollar market in digital goods almost overnight. Today, iconic brands, sports teams, celebrities, and content creators are minting NFTs to benefit from the growing demand for virtual goods with verifiable ownership.
Read on to learn more about NFTs and how the QAN blockchain platform provides a user-friendly ecosystem to mint quantum-resistant NFTs that are built to last.
What’s an NFT?
NFT (non-fungible tokens) are unique digital tokens used to represent verifiable ownership of a digital asset that “lives” on a public blockchain.
Whereas digital currencies are fungible (one QANX will always be worth one QANX), NFTs are non-fungible, which means you can’t exchange one NFT for another one that’s exactly the same. An NFT’s cryptographically verifiable ownership proves its uniqueness.
NFTs can be used to represent any digital or physical item, such as music, videos, stickers, paintings, game characters, title deeds, invoices, tickets to events, etc.
The History of NFTs
While NFTs became mainstream in 2021, the concept began as far back as 2014 when a digital artist, Kevin McCoy, minted the first-known NFT “Quantum.” Quantum is the image of an octagon filled with different shapes. However, many didn’t appreciate the concept at the time as the focus in crypto was on Bitcoin and the growing altcoin market.
The concept of NFTs appeared again in the crypto space when the Ethereum blockchain emerged. The Ethereum community introduced a token standard known as ERC-721, which allowed for the creation of NFTs. In 2017, John Watkinson and Matt Hall created a generative NFT project on Ethereum known as CryptoPunks. The project’s NFTs originally sold for a few dollars but later skyrocketed in value, trading for millions of dollars, following the popularity of NFTs in 2021.
In 2017, a blockchain-based game known as CryptoKitties was also launched on Ethereum. The game allowed players to adopt, breed and trade virtual cats (where each kitten was an NFT). Within a few months after launch, CryptoKitties became very popular as people were selling the virtual kittens for tens of thousands of dollars. At a time, the in-game activity of CryptoKitties was so high that it ended up clogging the Ethereum network. From then on, NFTs caught the attention of crypto investors. However, the budding world of NFTs was largely limited to crypto-savvy folks back then. That changed in 2021.
Following the record sale of Beeple’s “Everydays: the First 5000 Days” for about $69 million at a Christie’s auction, NFTs went mainstream in the months to follow.
Games like Axie Infinity, Decentraland, and Sandbox made the headlines recording millions of dollars in sales, and a new market for crypto art emerged, where artists from all over the world started making money through the sale of NFTs.
The demand for NFT surged further when Facebook changed its name to Meta, stating its intention to focus on the metaverse in which NFTs are poised to fill the critical role of proving digital ownership.
The NFT Market Today
NFTs are (still) booming.
Data from Chainalysis shows that the total value of the NFT market reached a value of $41 billion. However, the Financial Times stated that this data doesn’t include NFTs minted and sold on other blockchains, suggesting the total market value of NFTs is actually much higher.
In 2021, OpenSea, one of the biggest NFT marketplace, recorded over $2.5 billion worth of NFT transactions, with sales of the iconic Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks leading the way. Some of the stand-out sales include Cryptopunk #9998 for $530 million, making it the highest NFT sale yet.
Beeple’s “Everydays: the First 5000 Days,” which sold for $69 million on a Christie’s auction, remains the highest official sale. Moreover, virtual worlds and NFT games like Decentraland, Sandbox, and Axie Infinity have recorded millions of dollars in sales as they account for about 49% of transactions in marketplaces.
Athletes, celebrities, and big brands like Coca-Cola, Gucci, Nike, and Adidas, also made a dent in the space, providing NFTs with a new level of exclusivity. The power of these famous names profoundly impacted the NFT market. Traditional auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s have sold millions of dollars worth of NFTs as they look to capitalize on this fast-growing new market.
Even with such high achievements, the NFT market shows no slowing down, as data from NonFungible.com shows over $500 million worth of NFT transactions were settled in the first few weeks of 2022. This indicates more growth for the NFT market.
The NFT market may grow even further once the tokenization of real-world assets takes off.
The Tech Behind NFTs: How Do Non-Fungible Tokens Work?
NFTs draw value from the underlying technology responsible for their security and transparency. Non-fungible tokens are minted using smart contracts that assign ownership and ensure transferability. The NFT transaction is recorded in a block, which is then broadcasted to nodes in the network for validation.
Think of the NFTs as certificates of authenticity or proof of ownership that can be publicly verified. This means anyone can prove that they own an NFT even if the underlying digital file is duplicated.
You can easily track an NFT on the blockchain down from its current owner to the original creator. However, ownership of an NFT doesn’t necessarily mean you have copyright over the underlying digital file.
NFT Royalties: New Revenues Streams for Brands and Creators
Most creators don’t receive the compensation they deserve for what they are putting out.
NFTs have changed the narrative by enabling creators to earn lifetime royalties for their work. This means that creators can now receive a percentage share of the future sales of NFTs they created after the original sale. Creators can receive royalties automatically if included in the smart contract during the minting stage.
Currently, NFT royalties percentage typically ranges from 5–10%, enabling creators to earn passive income through the royalties they’ve received from their content.
Problems with NFTs
Despite being a booming market, NFTs face challenges that are not being adequately addressed by today’s most popular blockchains.
High Gas Fees
Most NFTs currently reside on the Ethereum blockchain, where gas fees are extremely expensive. This discourages creators from launching their own NFT projects, creating a high barrier of entry for artists who cannot afford the fees.
Interestingly, the NFT boom has been sustained in spite of the high gas fees on Ethereum. Imagine what happens when there are fixed low transaction fees. The potential upside could be near limitless.
Mona Lisa vs. Quantum Threat
One security flaw found in most blockchain platforms, regardless of their complex cryptographic security mechanisms, is the threat of quantum computing.
The cryptographic hash functions employed in most blockchains will brake when faced with the immense power of quantum computing. This puts the NFTs on these blockchains in potential danger for hackers to steal or manipulate.
Why Mint NFTs on QANplatform?
QANplatform will provide brands and content creators with one of the best infrastructures to mint NFTs. Moreover, it will allow for seamless deployment of web3 applications, DeFi protocols, and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), or Metaverse solutions.
The QAN blockchain platform could become one of the leading projects in 2022 when it will launch the first quantum-resistant NFT to make the NFT market more secure.
Let’s take a look at the benefits you can enjoy by minting QANplatform NFTs.
- There is a fixed price range for transaction fees, which are fixed to USD. These transaction fees are also low compared to other blockchains like Ethereum. With QAN NFTs, you can predict transaction fees while paying very low fees.
- Use your favorite programming language to build quickly and securely on the QANplatform. Its multi-language smart contract feature allows you to code in the programming language you can use best instead of learning or adapting to a new language.
- In addition to the royalties you earn on NFTs, you can also earn developer royalties when other developers use your code on QANplatform.
- Unlike the majority of the blockchains today. which is susceptible to attacks from quantum computers, QANplatform enables the minting of quantum-resistant NFTs. QAN NFTs will remain secure on the platform even with the emergence of quantum computers.
Building an NFT venture has never been easier.
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About QANplatform (QAN blockchain platform):
QANplatform is the quantum-resistant Layer 1 hybrid blockchain platform that will allow developers and enterprises to build quantum-resistant: smart contracts, DApps, DeFi, DAO, NFT, tokens, Metaverse, and Web3 solutions on top of the QAN blockchain platform in any programming language.
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