Non-Fungible Tokens
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are unique digital assets that represent ownership or proof of authenticity of a specific item, such as art, collectibles, or virtual goods, using blockchain technology. Unlike cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which are fungible and interchangeable, each NFT has distinct properties and cannot be exchanged on a one-to-one basis. They are typically built on smart contract platforms, with Ethereum being the most common, using standards like ERC-721 or ERC-1155 to define their uniqueness and metadata.
Developers should learn about NFTs to build applications in the growing fields of digital art, gaming, and decentralized finance, where they enable verifiable ownership and scarcity of digital items. This is crucial for creating marketplaces, virtual worlds, or tokenized assets that require unique, tradable identifiers on blockchains. Understanding NFTs also helps in integrating blockchain features into web and mobile apps, such as for authentication or digital rights management.