Many people were confused when Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s creator, sold his first tweet for $2.9 million as a non-fungible token (NFT). Despite this, NFTs have continued to rise in popularity, drawing interest from various sectors, including banks. CBInsights reports that by the end of the third quarter of 2021, NFT businesses had raised over $1 billion.
It’s normal to be confused about what an NFT is. According to Forrester’s findings, over 28% of individuals in the United States who have heard of NFTs do not know what they are. Tokenized in digital form and recorded on a distributed ledger, an NFT is a novel form of a digital certificate. Digital currencies like Bitcoin are only possible because of blockchain technology. An NFT can be a digital representation of something else, such as a work of art, photograph, piece of music, game, collectible, or a new work of art that has never existed in any other medium. However, unlike bitcoin, each NFT is a standalone token that cannot be traded for another of its kind.
Since NFTs are gaining so much traction, there has been a corresponding uptick in the discussion of blockchain technology. After all, it’s thanks to technology that we can rethink the distribution, sale, and sharing of digital products and materials. Fundamentally, it alters the concept of digital property ownership. From the world of sports and entertainment to those fashion and economics, the impact is widespread. The NBA, for example, has successfully released NBA Top Shot, a collection of NFT blockchain collectibles. As of last year, Adidas NFT sales were over $22 million.
A new asset class?
NFTs and the underlying blockchain technology can radically alter the financial services provided by banks and other financial institutions. Bank of America speculates that NFTs might give rise to a new type of digital asset. NFTs and blockchain technology have the potential to be more valuable than Bitcoin’s current market valuation of $900 billion. However, the advantages of blockchain need to be thoroughly investigated before their potential influence on the financial industry can be properly accepted.
In the metaverse and beyond, NFTs keep financial data safe and secure.
Blockchain’s greatest strength is that on-chain data encoded into an NFT cannot be tampered with, counterfeited, or accessed by anybody who does not have the corresponding cryptographic keys. Even if a hacker stole an NFT, its path could still be traced and verified, making it extremely secure.
This presents a golden opportunity for banks and other organizations responsible for protecting private information. Even though there are several safeguards in place to prevent it, document fraud is nevertheless a significant problem in highly regulated industries like trade finance. However, NFTs can provide a link to the location of this information that is kept off-chain. By doing so, a permanent record of where priceless possessions are kept is made.
Similarly, NFTs share this quality with the metaverse. If the metaverse’s promise is ever going to be realized, then NFTs will have to play a larger role in that. Blockchain technology can provide a more solid groundwork for interactions with customers as financial institutions begin to spend more in the metaverse. Distributed ledgers will be useful in preserving the integrity of all data.
NFTs hold the key to facilitating development in Defi and related fintech.
Financial institutions have much to gain from using blockchain technology beyond increased safety. There will be less hassle in purchasing because of more automation, and you’ll be able to tailor your banking services to your specific needs. The widespread use of NFTs will make the transition to decentralized finance (Defi) simpler and clearer for all stakeholders.
NFTs and Defi, when used together, will lead to new developments in the financial sector. NFT-related funds, such as NFTX, are appearing in the wake of the rising value of NFTs, just like blockchain-related funds did.
NFTs may become more collateralized in the future.
The usage of NFTs as security for loans has begun. In order to interact with NFT owners interested in borrowing money by collateralizing their NFTs. Since digital assets are not often collateralized for loans, lenders may demand significantly higher interest rates, and borrowers can access funds without selling their digital assets.
Opportunities for digital collateralization abound in the future, especially when the third generation of the internet, Web3, is built on blockchain technology. Almost everything that occurs today, including financial transactions, has a digital counterpart. Therefore anything that can be represented digitally may be used as a form of conceptual collateral.
Crypto Volatility
Bitcoin and Ethereum have both had significant price drops recently, indicating that the cryptocurrency markets have recently been quite volatile. Volume has been growing while NFT prices have been falling, suggesting that investors and collectors are snapping these tokens at a discount.
There may be no way to see into the future, but it’s easy to see how NFTs, and the blockchain, will play a significant role in shaping the financial sector. As more banks and other financial institutions begin to employ NFTs as investment vehicles, those with a well-defined NFT strategy will be in the best position to profit.