Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Meet the Design World

The next discussion on asset ownership

In the pure sense of the term, ownership is to hold rights on assets and thus be able to keep, sell, transfer, or exchange them. We have been doing this for centuries for tangible goods, real estate, and more of any type since the dawn of humanity. As we step into a future where digital assets dominate our identity, how do we secure their ownership?

Over the past decade, the colors of owning digital assets within a standardized digital ownership ecosystem are starting to reveal their potential. Compound now the rise of blockchain and cryptocurrency, and the stage is almost set for scale transactions.

The name — or initials- to look for in this new world is NFT’s. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique, digital items with blockchain-managed ownership. Examples include collectibles, game items, digital art, event tickets, domain names, and even ownership records for physical assets. Based on the leading blog and marketplace of NFT’s, Open Sea, most discussions about non-fungible tokens begin by introducing the idea of fungibility, which is defined as “able to replace or be replaced by another identical item.” A currency is a classic example of a fungible asset. For example, five dollars is always five dollars, no matter the serial number on the specific five-dollar bill or whether it’s five dollars sitting in your bank account. The ability to replace a five-dollar bill with another five-dollar bill (or five ones, for that matter) is what makes currency fungible.

To grasp the size of this market, consider the following. Epic Games made $2.4 billion in revenue selling costumes in their free-to-play game Fortnite in 2018 alone. In addition, the market for event tickets is projected to reach $68 billion in 2025, and the market for domain names continues to see solid growth.

For those of you that your curiosity has sparked, you can visit the open sea blog for more in-depth literature as they are experts in this realm.

My main goal with this mini-article is to spark awareness to business owner creatives and designers alike worldwide that their work will soon find a place to be genuinely appreciated and monetized. Further, the door for businesses that invest in creative brand assets might bring new avenues to draw value from their brand design investments.