Most people are unaware of the long history of non-fungible tokens. Our future is filled with unlimited possibilities as we transition from an experimental to a more mainstream era.

Today’s internet is plagued by problems that NFTs and Ethereum can solve with ease. NFTs include collectibles, video games, digital artwork, event tickets, URLs, and even contract documentation for various kinds of property ownership.

As developers and entrepreneurs move into the world of Web 3.0, NFTs are impossible to ignore. Despite the temptation to label NFTs as just digital art, their utility extends well beyond digital artifacts and social media profile images.

Due to every updated digitalization, it is necessary to replicate physical properties such as rarity, exclusivity, and ownership certificates. Additionally, digital items often only work within the framework of their products. For instance, loyalty points from one company can’t be exchanged for credit from another platform, even if there is a market for them.

NFT’s Add Value to Today’s Innovative Space

It was not until 2012 that the driving force behind NFTs was first conceived when Meni Rosenfield introduced the ‘Colored Coins’ concept to the Bitcoin blockchain in his paper.

It was Colored Coins that brought Bitcoin one step closer to its full potential. Using Colored Coins, real-world assets can be represented and managed on a blockchain using a class of methods that prove ownership, much like Bitcoins, with the added feature of defining their use, making them distinct from one another.

The first-known NFT ‘Quantum’ on the NameCoin blockchain was minted by digital artist Kevin McCoy on May 3rd, 2014. In ‘Quantum,’ pixelated octagons pulsate hypnotically, changing color in a manner similar to that of an octopus.

On August 16, 2016, Counterparty joined forces with the well-known trading card game Force of Will in launching their cards on Counterparty. Among the top card games in North America, Force of Will ranked fourth, just behind Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Magic: The Gathering.

Additionally, 2016 gave birth to the meme era and saw the release of a host of Rare Pepes NFTs on Counterparty. The Rare Pepe Meme Directory offers “experts” that certify the rareness of Pepe memes on the Bitcoin blockchain. Apart from its peculiarity, it illustrates the fact that people want unique items when it comes to digital purchases.

In 2017, Matt Hall and John Watkinson brought NFT art to a whole new level with CryptoPunks. Using pixelated avatars that resemble punk rock, they created 10,000 NFTs unique to each other.

In the beginning, few people claimed these NFTs, even though they were free. However, after Mashable published an article about CryptoPunks, things changed drastically. Amazingly, it took only 24 hours for all 9,000 CryptoPunks to be redeemed after that, something truly unexpected happened: the original claimants began selling their CryptoPunks on the secondary market. It cost US$170,000 to sell a CryptoPunk NFT at the end of 2017.

SuperRare was founded by John Crain in 2018. Having seen the success of CryptoPunks, Crain began designing a platform to help artists generate income and sell digital art NFTs.

Over the course of 2018, NFTs slowly but surely gained popularity, primarily through metaverse and gaming projects. With its decentralized Ethereum-based VR platform, Decentraland (MANA) was the first to enter this market. There are many things gamers can do in Decentraland, including exploring, constructing, playing games, and gathering items. Suppose you were playing Minecraft, but the things you built, found and earned would also be yours.

One of the SuperRare artists named Coldie sold an art NFT for $1000 in 2019. Previously, there had never been a 4-digit art NFT on SuperRare. Everyone was talking about it. He was known as “King Coldie” by fellow artists and collectors. By 2020, SuperRare had reached six digits. Matt Kane, a company artist, sold an NFT of a digital artwork in which the image changed with the price of Bitcoin.

It was not until the summer of 2021 that NFTs started to gain widespread media attention, with articles appearing in a variety of top-tier publications. In the past few months, NFTs have become increasingly popular as more and more people are eager to learn more and participate.

In fact, a graph shows that NFTs’ average value has increased in two distinct spurts since 2021. By the month of May, prices had climbed to approximately $200 per NFT, and they had remained around that level for several months before rising again later in the year, peaking at almost $1000 in November.

NFTs are frequently associated with the art world, but they can be applied in many different ways. It is possible for NFT assets to take the form of digital art, artifacts, a creative response to music, a combination of all three, or entirely new and unexplored compositions. Now, NFTs are being adapted and used in innovative ways by creators to push the boundaries of creativity.

NFT & Games — The Modern Gaming Experience

Although the NFT space has experienced massive growth recently, it is still young, and it is only going to grow in the future. In fact, we believe that as more people recognize NFTs’ potential to make a real difference in many aspects of our current lives, the NFT space is set to grow.

With everything we just mentioned about the history of NFT, no one would be surprised to learn that the gaming industry was one of the first industries that adopted NFTs in the world.

A gamer’s digital identity encompasses their personal history, background, accomplishments, relationships, communities, and status. It is not uncommon for gamers to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on games, including outfits for their avatars, boosts to enhance their performance, and unlockable content to explore new settings.

As we all know, game developers and players used to have a very simple relationship. Games were developed and created by game studios, and they were played by gamers. The production and purchase of computer games were more or less the same as any other product. However, over time, the relationship between them has changed.

With the rise of the internet, online communities developed to share mods for real-time strategy games such as Command & Conquer. Nowadays, many games feature an online community that has become their defining feature. But despite changes in the game, the industry remains the same. Gaming communities deserve a better gaming industry that values their contributions using more than just words.

At Ajuna, we understand the need for a change, and so we use blockchain-based games as decentralized alternatives where gamers contribute to the industry’s growth while having a say in it.

Players contribute value to the ecosystem through their gameplay and receive digital assets from NFTs in our AAA and upcoming games. The Ajuna network also empowers developers and gamers to share in the value they create through a decentralized ownership and control system for in-game assets.

Ajuna is a decentralized gaming platform designed to provide gamers with real value without sacrificing gameplay. Using the technology of the world’s leading development engines — Unity and Unreal — Ajuna seamlessly integrates blockchain assets into games. It is now possible for gamers to spend real money on real games and get real value at the same time.

Contact us, and our team of experts will help you make the most of blockchain-based assets for your game.