Welcome to the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR). If you aren’t familiar with NFTs, you’re not alone. A non-fungible token (NFT or token) is a unique digital certificate registered on a blockchain that is minted and used to record the ownership of a one-of-a-kind asset, digital or real, that has value. Most commonly, NFTs record ownership of digital assets such as photographs, drawings, videos, 3D animations, audio files, and video game items. However, NFTs can also record the ownership of practical assets like physical artwork, real estate, or cars.

While NFTs are still an emerging digital asset class, they have demonstrated the potential to be highly lucrative, capturing the attention of consumers and investors globally. As of January 2022, eight years after the minting of the first NFT in 2014, the total market capitalization of NFTs was about $31.4 billion. Minting is the process through which artwork, collectibles, music, film, domains, or other items are added to the Ethereum blockchain. With continued interest on the rise, the NFT market cap could expand to more than $35 billion for 2022 and over $80 billion for 2025.