NFT – The Next Big Thing in Internet!

About the Author:
Yu-Che Chang
ShowEasy Co., Inc.

The CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, put his first tweet up for digital auction as an NFT on March 5th. After it spent over two weeks on the market, Dorset sold his first tweet as an NFT for over USD 2.9 million on March 21th. Because of the news spreading, more and more people start to focus and pay more attention on the NFT market. Would it become another opportunity topic for MICE industry?

What is NFT?

According to the Wikipedia, NFT is an abbreviation for non-fungible token. NFT is a unique and non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger. NFTs can be associated with reproducible digital files such as photos, videos, and audio. NFTs use a digital ledger to provide a public certificate of authenticity or proof of ownership, but do not restrict the sharing or copying of the underlying digital files. The lack of interchangeability (fungibility) distinguishes NFTs from blockchain cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin.

What industry has started to use NFT?

- Art
Digital art was an early use case for NFTs, because of the blockchain's ability to assure the unique signature and ownership of NFTs. One of the most famous digital artworks is Everydays: the First 5000 days ("en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…") by artist Mile Winkelmann, sold for USD 69.3 million in 2021.

- Game
Because of the its unique and non-interchangeable features. NFTs are used in game for trading such as digital plots of land. It allows gamer to trade their asset on the third-part marketplace.

- Sport
If you are the NBA fans, you might collect NBA card when you were youth. Today, everything is in the internet and NBA card also follow the trend. On October 2020, based on the NFT technology, NBA launch NBA Top Shot to the market. NBA Top Shot is a line of officially licensed, collectible NFTs (made by CryptoKitties creator Dapper Labs) showcasing the best moments from NBA games. Until march 2021, it has generated 483 million revenue for NBA.

Beside the Art, Game and Sport industry start to use NFT, NFT are also used in Music, Film, and concert ticket. In 2020, we have seen many events are moved to online or hold hybrid event. After the online event, will NFT become the next big thing in MICE industry? I believe the NFT will be another opportunity for MICE industry.

Citations:
Locke, T. (2021, March 24). Jack Dorsey sells his first tweet ever as an NFT for over $2.9 million. CNBC. Retrieved December 28, 2021, from "cnbc.com/2021/03/22/…"

Wikimedia Foundation. (2021, December 27). Non-fungible token. Wikipedia. Retrieved December 28, 2021, from "en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…"