The technology known as Web3 is very important and is constantly improving. Web3 allows for decentralization in areas such as finance, voting, and digital ownership. Additionally, many companies are trying to figure out ways to use this technology. Although there are probably many great ways to use Web3, we will just be discussing one called Non-Fungible Tokens.
NFTs are a type of digital asset that can be used to represent anything from art to collectables to items we use and own online. In this article, we will explore what NFTs are, the networks they exist on, and how they might be most useful for business. We will also explore how to get started incorporating NFTs into your business in ways that can bring value to stakeholders with very different relationships to the business.
What Are NFTs?
An NFT is a digital file stored on a blockchain network. The file is linked to and owned by an individual user, who can sell or transfer file ownership to another user. Decentralized and open source blockchain networks, like Ethereum, act as a public database. Everyone has access to the database, and it can only be changed by executing transactions on the network. This means that users have transparent, verifiable ownership over their NFTs.
NFTs can be many things. The most notable are things that only exist once, semi-fungibles, and collections.
One-of-Ones
One-of-Ones are files that can only be owned by one person. For example, if you have a digital copy of a painting, you are the only person who can own that file. This is similar to the Mona Lisa; there is only one original painting that was created by Da Vinci.
Semi-fungibles
Semi-fungibles are like one-of-a-kind items that can be divided into a specific number of tokens that represent or are linked to the same file. This is similar to how some artists will make multiple copies of their physical works, like a photographer selling several copies of the same printed photograph.
Collections
Collections of images are generated by randomly assigning a probability to each of a set number of variable traits, then creating a one-of-one NFT based on those traits at the time of purchase. Computer-generated collections are similar to build-a-bear collections, where individual components are similar across units, but some components are rarer than others.
NFT technology is currently in its infancy, with the most notable application being the attribution of ownership of digital art. However, there is a lot of potential for NFTs in the future. To get a taste of what NFTs have to offer, we recommend checking out opensea.io.
Know Your Network
While Ethereum has been getting a lot of attention recently for NFTs, it’s not the only blockchain network that supports this type of technology. Other networks offer solutions to some of Ethereum’s biggest problems, like high gas fees.
Running transactions on Ethereum costs a lot of money in gas fees. If you’ve interacted on the network before, you know that it can cost $200 to buy an NFT on top of its list price. This is because there’s a lot of traffic on the network, it’s not very scalable (only around 14 transactions/second), and its consensus mechanism uses a lot of energy.
Other networksFix this byOffer solutions to scalability.However, there is an infamous trilemma for blockchain architecture that EthereumFocuses on decentralization and security but struggles with scaling.Solana, on the other hand, focuses on security and scalability but struggles with decentralization.This articleWill not go into detail about network tradeoffs,But be sure to conduct some due diligence on this topic before picking your network!
How NFTs play into Business
NFTs could eventually become a way for people to express themselves online and show ownership of their work. For example, YouTube could give its users NFTs to show their contribution to the site. This would give creators more control over their work and ensure that they always receive royalties for their creations.
Blockchain will allow users to see the status and history of their owned items in a completely transparent way. Because ownership of NFTs can be verified, they can be used to give people exclusive online or real-life privileges, by acting as a digital key to their account stored on centralized servers.
For businesses specifically, NFTs have several stakeholder-specific use-cases that our team has been excited about:
Investors and Partners
An NFT can be used by investors as a way to show their early commitment to a company, by providing a timestamp of when the investment was made. This allows for a more decentralized resume of investments, and shows which investors are making the best bets at the earliest stage. When it comes to extras and parties, entrepreneurs may find creative ways to use an NFT as a digital key to give investors VIP treatment.
- Public Demonstration of Early Commitment
- Decentralized Investment Resume
- Enhanced artistic experience to showing off early investments to LPs
- VIP treatment for parties, giveaways, digital events, etc.
Creators
NFTs can give creators ownership of their digital content by minting it on a blockchain. Centralized organizations such as YouTube and Facebook have ownership rights over any content posted on their servers. However, NFT technology allows creators to have ownership over their content no matter what UI a company might choose to display it on. This means that creators can maintain control over their content, even if it is displayed on a platform that they do not have control over.
The team at Edily is planning an NFT tier system, where creators who fulfill a certain criterion will receive a matching NFT. This NFT will give the creators access to rewards, which may include token airdrops, access to Discord channels, live events, and other exclusive online content made just for Edily’s Creator Community. They are exploring uses for the tokens, and one potential use is for governance actions like voting for the curriculum structure or putting more weight behind a feature request. These governance actions will be crucial for building a better and more creator-friendly platform.
- Rewards for contributing to the App
- Access to airdrops, Discord channels, live events, and swag
- Exclusive online content for the creator community
- Ability to affect change on the platform through governance tokens
Users
If you use Edily, you can get special badges that show how much you know about the platform. You can get these badges by winning courses, and they act as a way to show off your skills. You can also use these badges to get points, which can be used to buy things or win prizes.
- NFTs tied to actions or accomplishments, e.g. completion badges
- Transferrable credentials representing knowledge, skills, and dedication
- Facilitates Learn-to-Earn or other action-to-earn models
Employees
. NFTs can serve as digital resumes for employees, keeping track of the date they joined the company, what positions they held, and recommend letters and deliverables they worked on. NFTs can also be used to digitally recognize employees’ accomplishments and milestones, which can be displayed online or redeemed for gifts or rewards.
- NFTs as a decentralized resume, showing company history
- Recognition for accomplishments and milestones, potentially redeemable
The Physical and Digital World Are Merging
Over time, e-commerce has developed and now offers a much more immersive experience. For many years, we discovered, purchased, and/or consumed goods and services through some sort of physical interaction, either by visiting a store, attending events, or booking services. When the Internet came around, e-commerce platforms started to pop up and rival the offline world. Shopping digitally meant browsing a website and seeing a 2D interface with product listings, information, and prices. But over time, e-commerce has developed and now offers a much more immersive experience.
The pandemic forced many stores to close and people to do their shopping online instead. Social interaction was limited to using telecommunication and social media platforms.
The COVID pandemic has forced many companies to switch to remote work, which has changed the way they operate. prior to the pandemic, many people primarily interacted with co-workers in person, in an office setting. However, the pandemic has caused many events such as concert tours and sports tournaments to be cancelled, which has had a ripple effect on other industries such as manufacturing. Many plants have been shut down and workers have been laid off.
How is the pandemic changing the way we think about digital assets? The pandemic has changed the way we think about digital assets because it has shown us how we can use them to keep our daily life running without cutting down or making compromises. It has pointed us in a direction to explore how we can leverage digital assets in our economy, so that in extreme situations like a pandemic the world does not come to a stand-still suddenly and everyone has to cut down on meeting friends, going to concerts, going shopping and more.
The metaverse refers to a future vision of a company exploring extended reality experiences. This would provide opportunities for consumers to interact with businesses and brands. It is also expected to transform entire industries.
NFTs could be used to power a decentralized metaverse. NFTs are the core of web3. They enable everyone to own a piece of the Internet, unlike in web2. They extend a consumer’s identity and unlock experiences beyond our current imagination.
As the metaverse becomes more commonplace, we are helping our clients’ brands adapt by expanding their presence into this new space. The first wave of adopters were mostly companies that sell fast-moving consumer goods or luxury items, but the next wave will be businesses that we refer to as “corporate metaverses.” These are businesses that are using the metaverse to increase their reach and interact with potential customers on a more personal level.
The term “corporate metaverse” refers to private, company-owned online environments that are used to support various business operations. These could include virtual production facilities, cross-office collaboration spaces, or toolkits that help sales staff close deals. Any online experience that helps a business-to-business brand grow can be considered part of the corporate metaverse.
NFTs are a key part of the decentralized environment and can act as a key to unlocking many doors. While we won’t go into the details here, we encourage business leaders to understand what areas of Web3.0 will be most applicable to their work. Other areas to explore include implementing a DAO and establishing governance coins that can be obtained by owning one of your NFTs.
Entering the Metaverse is Projected as a Multi-Trillion Dollar Opportunity
It is important to know the definition of the metaverse and to understand its history in order to see the value in it for businesses and brands. The metaverse is a world beyond our physical presence that can offer many benefits for companies.
The metaverse is a place where people can come together and interact. It is not just a copy of our existing world, but something that extends it. Brands can connect with consumers through immersive extended reality (XR) experiences.
The metaverse is a virtual reality space that companies are explore the adoption process for. The experience in the metaverse ranges from shopping for goods and services for your avatar, to attending concerts, buying virtual land, using it as a work hub and much more. The technology underlying the metaverse promises to offer businesses a whole new sphere of user interaction and targeting opportunities.
JP Morgan Chase predicted that the metaverse business will be worth $1 trillion dollars by the beginning of 2022. They are not new to the metaverse, having opened a lounge in the Metajaku Mall in Decentraland.
Citi, the investment bank, has even stated that it sees the metaverse as a potential $8 trillion to $13 trillion opportunity by 2030, with as many as 5 billion users.
Decentraland and The Sandbox are two of the biggest decentralized metaverses and are currently valued at a few billion dollars. There is potential for the value to increase by 1000x, which demonstrates the potential future upside.
Metaverse Use Cases: Identifying Business Opportunities
Use the insights you gained from your web3 research to think about how your business model could be improved, and whether there are any new opportunities you could take advantage of. Try to come up with new ideas for how your business could work, and experiment with them to see if they could work in practice.
Immersive Commerce with NFTs
metaverse can be used to generate new revenue sources, create wider brand awareness than what physical stores can provide, and create more detailed consumer profiles that can be used for targeted marketing.
In the future, digital products will be bought and used only in the digital world. NFTs will make this possible by allowing people to own digital items.
If you create digital experiences using NFTs, focus on creating value and offer unique utilities that make it worthwhile to invest in your brand or business. Focus on what your consumers like about your brand and use how they connect with you to your advantage. Creating actual benefits for holders of your NFTs is key.
It is important to build a community and generate momentum through interesting storytelling and preparation before launch in order to be successful. A recent example is Adidas’ launch of their Meta “Capsule Collection” of NFTs, which teased a move into the metaverse with capsules containing content that has yet to be revealed.
Advertising in the Metaverse
A change is coming in how advertising and marketing is created.
Companies like LandVault (formerly Admix) make it easy for you to book ad spaces that use NFT technology on gaming and metaverse platforms. This way, your brand can be positioned in front of an audience without interrupting their in-game experience, which is a problem with traditional in-game ad mechanisms.
The consumer’s avatar is exposed to your brand in a way that is similar to window-shopping on a busy high street.
Connecting With Audiences Through Entertainment and Events
Metaverse communities are attracted to events that bring people together, like concerts and virtual marketplaces. By organizing these types of events, brands can appeal to metaverse users. In 2021, Justin Bieber held a concert on the Wave platform that was attended by 10.7 million people. Disney is also planning to build a metaverse-themed park. The metaverse entertainment and event sector is one to keep an eye on.
Travis Scott’s performance in the centralized metaverse world of Fortnite in 2020 generated 45.8 million views and $20 million in revenue from merchandise sales.
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