Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have taken the world by storm. Most people who know about NFTs think of art and collections. These are the NFTs that garner media attention due to eye-catching headlines.
NFTs have many use cases that will change various industries. Here are 5 industries that NFTs will transform.
1. Authenticity of Luxury Goods
Luxury goods have been a fast-growing market. Some examples of these products are Louis Vuitton purses and Rolex watches. These accessories can sell for tens of thousands of dollars each. People love to show off their “status” in-person and on social media. The luxury goods market is full of knockoffs and scams. The fake goods market tops $500 billion a year.This is a huge issue. People who are paying $10,000 for a Rolex want to ensure that the watch is real. By tying an NFT to the watch, buyers and sellers can verify that the watch is real and not counterfeited. When the watch gets sold, the NFT would be transferred to the new owner. Anybody can verify who the previous owners of the watch were. Shark Tank host Kevin O’Leary has been advocating for authentication NFTs: This can be applied to luxury purses, shoes and even baseball cards. This market needs a way to prove authenticity. NFTs can prove that physical items are authentic.
2. College Textbooks
Every college student knows the struggle of buying textbooks. Students pay hundreds of dollars a semester for textbooks that they will only use for a specific class for one semester. Many of these textbooks are digital, so they can’t sell them to other students after the class is over.
What if students could own and trade digital textbooks?
An NFT can be linked to a textbook that allows access to the owner. Students would be able to buy and sell textbooks with each other to save money. Not only that, but the author would be able to set a royalty that gets paid to them whenever a textbook is sold to another student. This saves money for the students while also creating a passive income stream for the author.
Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban has a great
This can be applied to any type of publication. NFT ownership benefits both the reader and the publisher.
https://twitter.com/mcuban/status/1481301870882787328?embedable=true
3. Tickets
The ticketing industry is ripe for disruption. People buy tickets off of marketplaces like
What are the benefits for the ticket holder?
- The ticket can be embedded with cool artwork that can change after the event
- The ticket serves as memorabilia, that can potentially be valuable (see
Collectible Ticket Stubs ) - NFTs can act as an event “stock”, where profits from the event can be distributed to ticket holders
- VIP tickets can have additional benefits such as access to exclusive digital content after the event
What are the benefits for the event holder?
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Revenue from tickets goes to the artist, venue, and event staff instead of ticket marketplaces
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The artist can receive royalty revenue from ticket resales
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As a real-world example, music festival
Coachella decided that they will be selling NFT collectibles with benefits such as unique on-site experiences and physical items.
We will see all types of events have NFTs for tickets and collectibles.
4. Music
Music artists are notoriously underpaid by streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. Artists must get at least 100 streams to reach a payout of $1.00. Artists need to be paid more for having people stream their music.
If the artist sold their music as NFTs, then they would be able to receive the full payment from the NFT.
Why would fans buy NFTs of their artists music instead of streaming them?
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The money would support the artist directly
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The NFT may have profit-sharing elements to become a passive income source for the owner
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NFTs can become rare collectibles that are part of album memorabilia
Music NFTs benefit both the creators and fans. I expect NFTs to drastically change the music industry.
5. Gaming
The gaming industry is growing rapidly. In a popular game called
The issue is their items are lost when they switch games or if the game shuts down. There is no way to transfer your items from game to game. Their progress is lost.
Example of Fortnite skins
NFTs solve this issue. Items in games can be represented as NFTs. Players can own their items in their wallet instead of them being siloed in that specific game. When players own their items as NFTs, then they can use their items in other games that support it. They also don’t lose the item when the game shuts down. They can transfer it to another game that supports that item.
Most games will have in-game items that are NFTs in the future. It makes sense for both the players and developers.
Other Industries will Change
NFTs will change other industries such as real estate, supply chain, intellectual property and digital identification. Any physical item that is unique and valuable will eventually be tied to an NFT. There are too many benefits to ignore this technology.
Most people think of NFTs as digital artwork. It’s more than that. It’s the tokenization of the physical world.
The implications of NFTs are astronomical. We are in the early stages of a digital renaissance. Watch this space closely because you can build a new idea to change your life forever.
Disclaimer: Any views or opinions expressed in this post are personal and belong solely to me and do not represent the views or opinions of my employer. You should not treat any opinion expressed by Josh as a specific inducement to make a particular investment or follow a particular strategy, but only as an expression of his opinion. This article is for informational purposes only.
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