The key to NFTs is that they can be transferred from one person or entity to another without the need for a third-party intermediary. This means you can transfer your NFTs to someone else without them having to trust you in any way.
You just send them some money and they give it back. This is great because it eliminates the need for middlemen and allows you to avoid the risk of getting ripped off by scammers. It also makes transferring large amounts of value very easy.
We are still in the very early stages of NFTs, and many different use cases are yet to be explored.
The sky is the limit, so let's explore some of those use cases…
Open Assets Project
The Open Assets Project is a new initiative by the Decentralized ID Foundation.
It intends to provide a standardized framework for the creation and transfer of digital items. This framework will be simple enough to be accessible to all, but complex enough to allow for interesting uses. The initial focus is on visual assets, such as 3D models, textures, animations, and so on.
CryptoKitties
CryptoKitties is a new kind of digital collectible that lives on the blockchain. You can purchase, sell, and trade these kitties for cryptocurrency or even real-world money. The visual design and art direction of these kitties are top-notch. They have a wide variety of kitties with interesting appearances and poses.
The quality of the art is consistent, which is impressive given the wide range of kitties available. CryptoKitties is a game. You buy, sell and trade kitties. You can also breed kitties, which yields a new Kitty with a different appearance and personality type. You can collect all kinds of kitties, from rare, highly sought after ones to common ones.
CryptoKitties also has its blockchain. Kitties have a unique ID that is stored on it. When you buy or sell kitties, a transaction is made on the blockchain which confirms the deal.
Ownership of a Kitty is managed using Kitty's ID, a 30-character string of alphanumeric characters. These alphanumeric characters make up Kitty's genome. You can breed kitties with different Genomes, which yield different Kitties with different appearances, personalities, and attributes.
Genes for different traits can be bred together, so you can have a Kitty with perfect intelligence combined with long legs for instance. There is also a limited supply of these kitties. Only so many can be made, so when you breed a Kitty it becomes rarer. The rarer the Kitty, the more valuable it is. CryptoKitties has proven to be a huge success.
It's the most well known NFT project, and for good reason: it's fun!
Casper
Casper is another NFT project. It's not as well known as other projects such as CryptoKitties, but it's growing in popularity. Casper is an Ethereum-based platform that allows for the creation of smart contracts. These smart contracts can be created like any other smart contract. However, Casper also has a built-in mechanism that manages interoperability with real-world currency.
This mechanism incentivizes the creation of validators. Validators are users that have a certain amount of real-world currency tied to an account. This account is then responsible for approving deals made on the smart contract.
The amount of real-world currency required as a validator is not high, which means that it does not cost a large amount to stake a claim as a validator. The validators are incentivized to make sure the smart contract works in the best interest of all parties involved. This is done through a risk analysis.
If a smart contract contains monetary liabilities, the validator will lose their stake. It is possible to invoke a soft fork that decreases the required amount of stake needed to be a validator, but this is incredibly rare. Casper is prepared to defend against attacks that could be made on the protocol, such as a 51% attack. If an attacker gains more than 50% of the network's computational power, they could make changes to the protocol that would prevent the network from automatically rejecting invalid blocks.
This would effectively allow an attacker to "roll back" the blockchain to an arbitrary point in time. Casper uses an algorithm called "Vitalik's Atomic Cross-Chain Swaps" to prevent this from happening. It requires each party to transact with each other on separate chains, and then perform the ACHS on one of the chains (Atomic Swap).
This requires both sides to run a full node that verifies the other side's chain, essentially "chaining" the two networks together to create a single transactional network. Casper is still in its development stages but is set to go into production soon. For more information, you can check out their website or send them a message on Telegram.
There are several other projects in the works for Smart Contract Platforms. Some of these projects, such as TrueBit and Hashgraph, are attempting to resolve some of the issues that Casper is trying to solve. Others, such as the one I intend to create, attempt to incorporate different elements of different consensus mechanisms.
Decentralized Storage
Imagine you want to store a file on the blockchain. How would you go about it? Well, first you'd need a token that represented some file storage on the network.
This token would need to be able to purchase enough bandwidth and storage to store a single file. Then, you'd need a dApp that could be used to manage your file storage.
Most likely, the files you store on the blockchain would have no size limit. However, such a file could only currently be cached on one machine. You may need to take periodic backups of your files, which would require you to store a second copy of the file on another location on the blockchain. With all of this in place, you could begin using the file storage network.
I imagine there are a few ways to address this issue. Some projects are experimenting with using parallel chains to address the scalability problem. Instead of creating a new blockchain for every instance of file storage, several blockchains are created and stored side by side. Then, a method is needed to choose which chain to use for a specific action.
Some methods could involve examining the transaction hash (the unique identifier of a transaction on a specific blockchain) and the fee required for the action. Another method would be to use a powerful voting system.
Validators could be required to vote for one chain or another, based on which they believe would provide the most effective solution to the scalability problem. There are a few other methods in the works, but these are some of the most promising.
I don't have any experience in this field except what I've gathered from researching the subject on the internet. As such, I'm not going to pretend to have any real opinion on this issue. All I can say is that I'm going to be creating a new coin that attempts to address some of these issues. If I get enough demand for it, I'll release it once it's further along in development. I can't reveal too much about it just yet, but I will say that it's a continuation of my work on the Tulan project but is going to be a total Breakthrough in Coin Design. It's a shame so many projects are creaming off the success of the Tulan when they have nothing to do with it when in reality it's just me making good on my own.
Anyway, that's all I've got for now. I'll be sure to keep you guys updated on the status of the Tulan as well.
Speaking of which... The Tulan Wallet is Complete! I've finished creating the Tulan Wallet!
It's currently in the testing phase, but if all goes well, it'll be ready for release soon.
The wallet features:
- Multiple accounts with multiple privacy settings
- Encryption of private keys (optional)
- Multiple fiat and cryptocurrency exchanges connected to the wallet
- Convertible Tulan funds and access to the Tulan Exchange
- Hardware wallet support (TBA) As well as other useful features.
Remember, the wallet is completely free and will remain that way. There are no ads, donations, or paywalls. There are also no plans to make it into a for-profit venture. It exists to provide a good product for the community. I'll be sure to provide updated information about the wallet as it develops further.
