The Long NFT History in Brief Guide
You probably wouldn’t believe that the concept of “non-interchangeability” (NFT stands for a non-fungible token) came back in 1993 when some of you maybe weren’t born yet. What about the one-of-a-kind hype on NFT in 2021? Okay, out with the misconceptions. Time to unveil all the cards and delve into the long history of the NFT.
Don’t worry, you won’t see a 200-page history book here :) OneArt values your time and has prepared a concise but informative guide. Let’s get started.
It all starts in…
1993: Hal Finney
As a Bitcoin legend and successful cryptographer, Hal Finney outlined the concept of “online crypto art” back in 1993. The idea was to create “cryptographic trading cards for exchange and sale,” which is similar to today’s NFT concept. However, the terms cryptocurrency and crypto art were still unknown back then.
2012–2013: Colored Coins
It’s hard to state what year could be considered the beginning of the NFT. But if 1993 is just the very rudiments of the future concept of crypto, then 2012 is instead the beginning of the idea of NFT (digital assets) as we know it today.
The thing is, colored coins are bitcoin-based tokens issued in 2012–2013. They represented real assets on the blockchain and confirmed ownership of those assets: from precious metals to cars or real estate. The idea of using cutting-edge technology as blockchain for real assets was considered embryonic but rather raw. Nevertheless, the fundamentals are not to be underestimated.
2014: Quantum + Counterparty
The first NFT-based art masterpiece was generated by Kevin McCoy in 2014. The digital artist minted a pixelated image — Quantum — the only one of its kind digital art object on the market today (valued at about $7 million).
Then in the same year, a Bitcoin-based P2P financial platform, Counterparty, was created, allowing users to generate assets and tradable currencies through a decentralized exchange.
2015: Spells of Genesis
2015 was a watershed year in terms of the evolution of the gaming sector, which turned out to be blockchain-driven. Spells of Genesis developers partnered up with Counterparty to release in-game assets. Also, game creators launched their currency — BitCrystals.
It takes the gaming sector to a new level and becomes the basis of the “play-to-earn” concept that is so mainstream today.
2016: Meme time
2016 can be called the beginning of the integration of memes and blockchain. The now famous Rare Pepes meme became iconic in this respect. The Counterparty platform became the basis for adding assets to this “Crazy Frog” meme, which became the ancestor of that very crypto art. This year opened up new opportunities for digital artists who were able to monetize their artwork — digital art started to gain value.
2017–2021: NFT rebirth
In 2014, the Ethereum blockchain was introduced, soon releasing token standards that allow developers to create tokens. It became the reason for one of today’s landmark NFT collections emergence — Cryptopunks.
- Cryptopunks
John Watkinson and Matt Hall, the founders of Larva Labs, picked up the Rare Pepes meme craze. In 2017, they created an Ethereum-based collection of 10,000 unique characters — Cryptopunks with a total value of $2.05 billion in all sales today. The project was made based on the ERC-20 token standard ( although many NFT experts consider the project a hybrid of 2 token standards — ERC-20 and ERC-721).
- CryptoKitties
CryptoKitties, a blockchain-driven game released in 2017 by Axiom Zen, has become a true sensation in the NFT industry. Its popularity skyrocketed to the extent that CNBC and Fox News even mentioned it.
The game allows you to breed, acquire, and trade virtual kitties (NFTs) using Ethereum.
The NFT hype in 2021 led to a surge in sales of the NFT CryptoKitties collection:
NFT-based games
Between 2018 and 2021, NFT begins to integrate into the gaming sector, where virtual world platforms such as Decentraland, Roblox, Sandbox, and others start to implement NFT for in-game trading and the creation of unique game spaces. The constant emergence of NFT and metaverse projects is changing the game concept from “play-to-entertain” to “play-to-earn”, fundamentally transforming the game industry.
You can learn more about how NFTs are affecting the gaming sector from our article.
NFT popularity blow-up
The year 2021 takes over the whole NFT industry boom…
Continue reading on our new blog: https://oneart.digital/en/blog/the-history-of-nft#nft-popularity-blow-up
