The first time my partner ever told me about NFTs, he kindly peppered the conversation with the term “digital art” – a familiar concept that my uninitiated brain was able to latch onto in lieu of any semblance of tech know-how.
I didn’t really get what a token was, and I certainly didn’t get blockchain technology, but art I understand (insofar as I like to look at pretty things). It was a useful comparison – one that dredged the term NFT out of the mire of the overwhelmingly obscure, and into the realm of the vaguely comprehensible.
Art was my gateway drug into the world of NFTs.
What I discovered when I got here was a burgeoning hub of artists, both digital and traditional, who are finding a platform for their work and, with it, new audiences, new creative outlets, and, of course, new ways to pay their rent.
Key Takeaways
Art made NFTs easier to understand.
Creators use NFTs to earn and grow.
PFPs and game items show real utility.
NFTs can grant access or prove attendance.
Some even unlock real-world rewards.
NFT Utility for Artists and Creators
I’m a creative myself, and I’ve learned the hard way that the term “starving artist” is not a euphemism. Finding an audience for my creations – people who value my work and are willing to back that up with money – is an all-too-familiar struggle, so when I discovered NFTs my heart heaved a sigh of relief with what felt like the collective weight of the arts industry.
Along with providing artists with their three square meals a day, I’m seeing how NFTs are also offering new creative possibilities, by virtue of their nature.
One of the first real-world creatives I saw expand into this space was legendary Portuguese street artist Vhils, whose destructive and (literally) explosive art pieces are being captured on video and minted as NFTs. The moment of detonation that gives birth to his subtractive murals is now forever captured on the blockchain, creating what might be considered a new medium of art in the process.
That’s just the tip of the NFT iceberg though, as I’m discovering more and more. If art is the gateway drug, then what lies beyond is a whole world of possibilities. The “digital art” explanation helped immensely when I was just a hapless newbie entering the space for the first time, but now, with an impressive five-month tenure behind me, I’m not quite so hapless. (Am I hapful? Have I collected some haps along the way? Another question for another time.)
PFPs as a Fun Introduction to NFT Utility
As much as I was drawn in by pure art collections from the likes of Art of Byron and Magnta, it seems a day doesn’t go by that I don’t come across some hitherto unknown utility for this burgeoning technology. I love my pure art projects and, at the same time, it’s dawning on me that the NFT world is so much bigger than that.
So off I set to expand my horizons and discover what this utility business is all about.
I imagined I’d be travelling to the far reaches of the space – away from the comfort zone of art NFTs and into the unknown. What I actually discovered was far closer to home – a subcategory of art NFTs that have become so ubiquitous that I didn’t even consider them as a special use-case. If you’ve been around Twitter any time recently, you’ll have noticed them too – those fancy hexagonal profile pics that denote an NFT is afoot.
This is the PFP NFT, and it’s a big thing.
If, like me, you’re a senior citizen of the NFT space, you probably learned to obscure your identity on the internet the same way I did – via the groundbreaking technology of our adolescence that was MSN Messenger. Using proxy images as profile pictures is nothing new – what is new is the phenomenon of 1-of-1 NFTs being used in their stead. Some of these are generative art pieces – randomly assembling vast numbers of images from a variety of interchangeable elements, like the 10,000-strong Shnazzy’s E-Girls collection. Others are hand-drawn individual pieces, like MikeeMyk’s themed Waxy NFTs – a hot commodity in the WAX space and something I’ve been coveting since day one.
While I’m happy to stick to my own humble face on my social media profiles (for now), I do love seeing my friends flaunt their latest 1-of-1 purchases. There’s always something satisfying about finding the perfect profile picture – like the scientist Waxy being proudly displayed by a former neuroscientist. I’ve seen first-hand how competitive some of these 1-of-1 auctions can get, and there’s even a comical ongoing feud between two well-known creators over who most deserves Waxy’s sparkly unicorn 1-of-1.
Far from just being another profile picture, 1-of-1 PFPs carry a micro-culture with them, as well as being a great way to annoy your jealous friends every time they come across your profile. A little bit of good-natured ribbing is what holds a community together, after all.
Discovering NFT Utility in Blockchain Gaming
I’d figured out art, and art-as-utility (did I just coin a new term?), but I wanted to keep exploring, and to cast my eyes further afield for other uses I may have been missing out on. Once again, though, I ended up almost where I’d begun – in my own wallet.
I’d stumbled into the realm of game assets when I explored blockchain gaming for the first time, and am now acquainted enough with P2E gaming to know that it’s an enormous part of this space. Scrolling through my inventory revealed a host of matches, rocks, and branches from The Adventurer’s Guild, race-car driving animals from Costume Clash, and more hemp than a woman could need from Immersys.
It was in this scrolling frenzy that I remembered another use case that I’d somehow overlooked. While some of my game assets could be gathered in free-to-play games, others require a pass to begin playing at all. In lieu of buying the game itself, some blockchain games offer access only to holders of a pass NFT. This is especially common for games still in beta testing – to play The Adventurer’s Guild, for instance, I had first bought a beta pass. Others, like Floyd Jenkins’ Deck of Mythical Varmints, were only available to holders of a playable infantry card, which doubled as a pass.
It’s not just games that are taking advantage of this utility – any NFT can act as a pass, and it’s not uncommon to find art collections restricting drops to holders of certain existing NFTs. Others entitle holders to airdrops or to early access.
NFT Utility in Events and Proof of Attendance
I wondered what else might be sitting in my wallet that I hadn’t yet clocked as a utility NFT. As I scrolled through my collection, I started to notice a slew of assets that served a purpose beyond enabling gameplay or looking pretty.
There were a handful of NFTs that caught my eye all at once, each one sporting the same robot-faced logo, staring out at me as if to say “Remember me?” My first experience at DYGYCON – the online conference by and for the international NFT community – had left me with a wallet full of themed NFTs announcing my attendance at the event and, more specifically, which creator stalls I had visited and interacted with. This sort of NFT, I later discovered, was known as proof-of-attendance, which does what it says on the tin. I realised I’d actually made my own proof-of-attendance NFT, or at least something vaguely similar. The very first NFT I ever minted was an Early Coven Member sticker for the first 50 members of my Discord server. Unwittingly I’d been using utility NFTs for almost as long as I’d been using NFTs at all.
Redeemable Assets and Real-World NFT Utility
Beyond my DYGYCON mementos lay yet another example of a usable asset. Not long earlier, I’d been researching the environmental responsibilities of the WAX blockchain, and in the process I’d bought a carbon offset NFT which was still sitting happily in my wallet, awaiting my attention.
Launched by the WAX blockchain itself, the NFT featured artwork of a happy little seedling, along with a dollar value. For as long as the seedling sat in my wallet, it did nothing, but the moment I burned it, it would be replaced by a real-life tree (or several trees, corresponding to the dollar amount), planted somewhere in Oregon by the National Forest Foundation. I happily clicked the “Burn NFT” button, knowing my little tree friend was being transported into the ground where it belonged, and that I was one step closer to being an NFT utility aficionado.
This was just one example of a redeemable NFT – or what WAX calls a vIRL NFT. I’d heard about redeemable NFTs since before I even stepped foot in the space, but this was the first time I’d ever used one. This is where things, for me, get really interesting – where NFTs start to bridge the gap between the real and virtual worlds.
There are other, even more complex, examples of redeemable NFTs. Critter Craft – perhaps best known for their game Grubfish Royale – has minted a series of critter parts that can be blended into a redeemable Grubfish plushie. The Immersys metaverse put out IRL hoodies that could also be worn in-game. My own collection has morphed from a pure art project to one that includes redeemable jewellery NFTs.
Final Thoughts on NFT Utility: Beyond the Digital Art
Behind the hurried and somewhat limiting explanations of what NFTs actually are, there’s a whole world of utility just waiting to be discovered. Alongside my beloved Waxy collectibles and Cat Stickers, I’m apparently holding a bunch of utility NFTs that have been doing things I could never have dreamed of when I got my first “digital art” talk.
I’ll always love what this space has done for traditional and digital artists alike, and the fact that those possibilities are expanding to include game developers, events organisers, and physical makers of all kinds is what will give this space the longevity we’re all hoping for. If art was the gateway drug and utility is the follow-up, then it seems I got hooked without even realising it, and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one.
FAQs
What are NFTs?
NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are unique digital assets stored on a blockchain. They can represent art, game items, tickets, and more.
What’s a redeemable NFT?
A redeemable NFT lets you claim a physical item, like a hoodie or even a planted tree, by burning the digital token.
Can NFTs be useful beyond art?
Yes! NFTs can unlock games, prove event attendance, offer exclusive access, or even be redeemed for real items.
What is a PFP NFT?
It’s a profile picture NFT—usually 1-of-1 or part of a collection—that people use as avatars on social media.
How do artists benefit from NFTs?
Artists can earn directly from their work, reach new audiences, and explore creative formats like video or mixed media NFTs.
Multidisciplinary artist. Pagan silversmith. Figuring it out as she goes.