Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have come a long way in a relatively short period of time. In 2017, the NFT project CryptoKitties made headlines as the largest decentralized application on the Ethereum network. While CryptoKitties accounted for a notable portion of Ethereum transaction volume in 2017, these NFTs mainly served as digital collectibles geared toward the crypto community.
It wasn’t until March 2021 when NFT artwork started gaining traction due to the financial potential behind these creations. This was demonstrated when digital artist Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, sold his NFT piece titled “Everydays: The First 5,000 Days,” which raised over $69 million through Christie’s auction house. Following Beeple’s sale, artwork NFTs started becoming more popular, attracting a larger audience of both creators and fans.
Web3 enables community storytelling through NFTs
Fast forward almost a year later, and the rise of Web3 has given creators additional opportunities to make nonfungible tokens that have utility in virtual ecosystems. This has also allowed NFTs to extend beyond just aesthetically pleasing images, giving rise to community building through new forms of storytelling within different mediums.
To put this in perspective, Yat Siu, co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands — a Hong Kong-based gaming and venture capital company — told Cointelegraph that collaborative narrative forms, like fan fiction and YouTube videos, became quite popular with the development of Web2. “But, what was missing was an efficient way to share collaborative efforts for recognition and economic benefit in a scalable and equitable manner. Web3 can help to change that,” Siu said.
Siu believes that Web3 has made it possible for content creators such as writers, artists, film directors and others to collaborate with individuals on various creative efforts. Siu shared that this is partly due to the fact that Web3 content contributions to be tracked on-chain:
“This opens up so many possibilities for collaborative…..
