Delving deeper into what ERC-721 is, we can quickly define it as a . One comparison between and is that while are digital currencies that run on its own , , on the other hand, is a digital asset that runs on an existing .
Another major difference between a and a is that the latter has a more specific purpose.
A is usually geared towards a specific project and holders are given the permission to participate in this particular project.
In the past, it has all been about security and utility but in 2018, non-fungible (NFT) have emerged in the market.
To understand NFTs, it is important to first know what fungible means.
Fungibility — it is the interchangeability of a product or asset.
Non-fungible — property of an asset that makes it unique, meaning it cannot be exchanged with another asset of the same amount and same kind.
Here is an example of a fungible and non-fungible that is different from each other. A $5 bill (Fungible) and a baseball card (Non-fungible) both have significant value, but a baseball card isn’t something you can bring to a grocery to buy milk.
Non-fungible is a property that makes two items impossible to be directly exchanged even though both items have value because each non-fungible asset is designed for a unique purpose and for a specific person.
Going back to ERC-721, why would anyone want to create this kind of digital assets if they can spend it?
The answer is that ERC-721 isn’t a currency. They portray unique assets that are represented as smart contracts in the .
There was an interesting event that ushered the emergence of ERC-721. If you can still remember the game Cryptokitties that was released back in December 2018, the transactions were made through and the data was stored on the . However, the actual Cryptokitties were not actually stored on the .
ERC-721 represented these unique assets that were in the form of Cryptokitties characters. Before, nothing could symbolize unique assets like Cryptokitties until ERC-721 was introduced.
While ERC-721 has indeed changed the way games work, it would be a mistake to limit the potential of ERC-721 to simply Cryptokitties.
For instance, tracking a deed or ownership can be made easier when it is done through the . Now, any contract, document, or asset can be represented on the .
ERC-721 is still in its infancy stage. We can expect this technology to move to greater heights in the near future.
HB Wallet is one of those companies that believes in the potential of ERC-721. It has recently started to support the sending and receiving of ERC-721 within its HB Wallet app.
This makes it one of the first crypto platforms in the world to provide features for sending and receiving ERC-721 .
Published at Tue, 21 May 2019 09:40:50 +0000