Marta Rentel, known as Martirenti, is a very popular Polish instagramer. Her fame allowed her to sell the first NFT she put up for almost a million pln.

What’s weird about it? Well, the influencer, by providing the purchaser with the token, gave the right to her digital love. In addition she would invite the lucky person on a date, which would take place in real life. It is hard to find sense and logic in such an action, but Martirenti explains it among other things as a desire to be remembered by users for a long time.

So what is the so-called NFT? From the English “Non-Fungible Token” most simply translated as “non-exchangeable token”, it is a unique digital or real-world asset mirrored on the blockchain that has no identical counterpart.

It can serve as a proof of authenticity because it is impossible to transfer it without the owner’s permission, and there is no copying option. It is not exchangeable, which is why it is so different from traditional cryptocurrencies. The most popular token support standard is ERC-20, ERC-223, ERC-721, ERC-777 and ERC-1155 are also available, still being upgraded and secured.

NFTs were first mentioned in 2012, but gained a lot of popularity in 2017 thanks to the game CryptoKitties, which was based on the adoption, replication and trading of virtual cats. The price of some of them reached up to 100 thousand dollars, in which many people saw the possibility of quick and easy profit.

The real craze for NFT came in 2021, when creators releasing their works also made sure that each one had a digital equivalent. Buyers began to recognize their uniqueness and collector value, for which they are willing to pay more and more. Since this year, the Non-Fungible Token has been discussed not only on specialized portals, but also in the mainstream media.

An interesting fact is that a given asset for a small amount can be created by any user. It does not matter if it is a sportsman, a person from the fashion industry or a celebrity. Created tokens gain a collector’s value, appreciated over time. Very popular resources are, for example:

“Everydays: The First 5000 Days”: 5000 graphics created and published daily, starting May 1, 2007. The work was authored by Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann and sold for a staggering $69.3 million. The artwork ranks as the most expensive NFT sold to date.

“5000.0 ETH-Cover-NFT” insurance based on Yearn. Finance’s project, called yInsure.Finance. The policy, which protects the buyer against errors in Curve.fi’s 5000 Ethereum smart contracts, is currently valued at 2.9 million.

“EtherRock”: a rock collection, released on blockchain in 2017, which is one of the oldest tokens. A rock from this collection not long ago sold for $1.3 million, granting the buyer the opportunity to be the proud owner of one of the 100 NFT rocks worldwide.

“Collezione Genesi”: an exclusive NFT fashion collection launched by fashion house Dolce & Gabbana (D&G). It will be available on the exclusive UNXD exchange, and a luxury auction will make the purchase possible. The entire collection will be exhibited at the Alta Moda fashion show in Venice.

Jack Dorsey: co-founder of Twitter, who put his first tweet up for sale in March 2021. The price of the asset reached $2.5 million, which the author donated to charity.

NFT is already reaching most of both industries and zones of everyday life, the number of applications is increasing every day. Tangible assets via tokens are being transferred to the digital world, creating the potential to go beyond the blockchain realm and heralding a revolution in today’s economy.

Encrypted transactions may in the future also find application in physical goods (cars, clothes, housing), offering solutions based on the latest technologies.