- CryptoKitties: The first NFT to become mainstream
CryptoKitties is an Ethereum-based game that allows users to collect and breed virtual cats. The tokens of the game are irreplaceable, because each token represents the only digital cat on the blockchain. These digital cats differ in appearance and features. Considering the nature of these tokens, every digital cat represented by NFT cannot be copied, destroyed or taken away.
To start breeding digital cats, users need to deposit ether (ETH) in the game's official wallet Dapper. There are two ways to breed new kittens: breed two of your own kittens or father breeds. Users can get their first kitten by buying goods in the market or bidding for kittens in the game's "discount" system.
Experienced CryptoKitties players are committed to collecting as many valuable digital cats as possible. The value of each kitten depends on its rarity.
"Generation 0" is the rarest kitten, with a fixed supply of 50,000. This makes Gen 0 kittens scarce, and their value increases over time. In addition, kittens with low ID numbers are also regarded as rare kittens, including Exclusive cats or Founder cats, both of which can be traded at higher prices on the CryptoKitties market.
CryptoKitties is the first NFT protocol to attract mainstream attention at the end of 2017. Since users can breed rare cats and resell new kitty for profit, the game has attracted great attention.
Although the "prime time" of CryptoKitties has passed, the game still retains its iconic status as the leading protocol in the NFT field. Currently, the total historical transaction volume of CryptoKitties exceeds 66,000 ETH, which at the time of writing, is approximately $32.8 million, and nearly 2 million NFT assets have been created.
- Decentraland: Decentralized virtual world
Decentraland, powered by the Ethereum blockchain, is a decentralized virtual world that allows users to use custom avatars and trade collectibles to participate in the governance process of the virtual world.
To start exploring Decentraland, users first need to connect to a web browser using their encrypted wallet. Then, users can select and customize their avatars, and provide each avatar with a virtual passport representing their identity in Decentraland. After the user completes the initial setting of the avatar, he can start to build his own community and purchase rare digital assets.
Participation in Decentraland requires both NFT and FT. MANA is the digital currency used in the Decentraland market. Each MANA token can be exchanged with another MANA token.
You can buy MANA from the exchange, and then users can use MANA to buy land, in-game items, and even unique names on the market. In addition to the Decentraland market, users can also purchase supported items on the NFT market (such as OpenSea).
Decentraland also uses NFT LAND to represent the ownership of packages and real estate. LAND is an irreplaceable digital asset maintained by an Ethereum smart contract, which represents the virtual land in Decentraland. Each LAND token represents a unique piece of land that can be traded on the Decentraland market.
Users can also vote on Decentraland governance, and their voting rights come from three aspects:
* Packaged MANA: MANA is converted to WMANA, each WMANA is equal to one voting unit
- Land parcel: Each parcel is equal to 2,000 voting units
- Class: Each class is equal to 2,000 voting units
Users can vote on various governance topics, including:
* Functions and upgrades of land and plots
* Market fees
* Assign MANA to development work
* Add new wearable devices to the Decentraland world, builders and markets
Decentraland currently has 147,830 ETH ($2.48 million) in trading volume and already has 96,000 game assets.
- Rarible: The market for digital collectibles
Rarible is an NFT market created by Alexander Salnikov and Alexei Falin in January 2020. Allow users to mint, buy and sell their rare digital collectibles. Rarible supports a variety of digital collectibles and products, including digital art, domain names, DeFi insurance policies, memes and metaverse.
The casting of digital collectibles in Rarible is relatively simple. Users can first upload collections in any supported digital form (graphics, audio, etc.), and then add descriptions and pricing details. After that, users need to connect with their Ethereum wallet to approve the minting transaction.
The NFT casting function attracts content creators and artists, they can publish trailers of their content, and the full version can be provided to users only after purchasing the relevant NFT.
Due to its governance token RARI, Rarible has gained widespread popularity in the crypto community. Although the recent hype about governance tokens originated in the DeFi field, Rarible was the first NFT protocol to issue its own governance token.
The launch of RARI is the first step towards Rarible's ultimate goal: the creation of Rarible's decentralized autonomous organization. As holders of RARI, users can submit system upgrade proposals and vote on them, including decisions on Rarible transaction fees and new features.
At the time of writing, Rarible's historical transaction volume has exceeded 67,000 ETH, or $113 million.
- SuperRare: the market for single-version digital art works
SuperRare was founded by John Crain in 2017. It is a digital art market where artists can tokenize and monetize their real single-page artworks as collectible digital products. Every artwork on SuperRare is represented by an ERC-721 token, which is protected by a password and can be traced back on the blockchain.
When an artist publishes an authenticated digital artwork on SuperRare, his artwork will be authenticated on the Ethereum blockchain to prevent forgery and provide historical origin. In addition, artists can use virtual reality galleries and digital displays to display their works in SuperRare. On the other hand, art collectors can buy art on SuperRare and then resell NFT on secondary markets such as OpenSea. All transactions on SuperRare are conducted via Ether, and buyers need to pay a 3% transaction fee for all purchases.
Similar to traditional art museums, SuperRare also collects commissions from artists. For a sale, the artist receives 85% of the income, while SuperRare retains 15%. For the second sale, the artist will receive a 10% royalty.
SuperRare describes itself as a combination of Instagram and Christie's. Its "Activity" tab has a similar interface to the former, while its market is like the latter. Art collectors can bid on digital art works online.
So far, SuperRare's historical transaction volume has exceeded 28,913 ETH (calculated at the current ETH price, approximately US$48.6 million), and the platform has sold more than 20,000 digital art works.
9.Ethereum Name Services: Leading Domain Name NFT
The Ethereum Name Service was established by the Ethereum Foundation in May 2017. It is a distributed and scalable naming system based on the Ethereum blockchain. The agreement has more than 190,000 registered names and has integrated more than 100 wallets and decentralized applications to date.
The local TLD (ie top-level domain) is ".ETH" on the ENS. These ".ETH" domain names are unique and irreplaceable. They are represented by ERC-721-compliant NFTs and can be purchased and traded on NFT markets such as OpenSea and Rarible.
Since these domain names follow the ERC-721 NFT standard, they can also be seamlessly inserted into the NFT market and wallet interface, thereby enhancing the integration of NFT and DeFi.
According to OpenSea data, the Ethereum name service is the leading NFT in this field, with a historical transaction volume of more than 7,119 ETH ($12 million) and more than 31,000 owners.
Among the top five NFTs in virtual world domain names, ENS ranks first. Source: OpenSea
NFT will gain mainstream adoption in 2021
2020 has laid a solid foundation for NFTs, and in 2021, they have become mainstream in major partnerships in fields such as sports and digital art. Football and basketball fans saw the value of NFT through NBA Top Shot and Sorare, and Beeple sold his digital art for a record $69.3 million, which shocked the art world. Looking to the future, UFC and MotoGP also plan to bring their huge fan base into the NFT field, and we can look forward to the further prosperity of NFT.---