NFTs, Non-Fungible Tokens in other words Non-Replaceable Tokens. Innovation is inevitable, it has always been that way, no individual or mass group can stop that, they can maybe control the direction of it, but not whether it moves or not.

One of the latest forms of technological innovation is called NFTs. An NFT could be almost
anything, a painting, a short video, or a picture of a tweet just to mention a few.

You could say that NFTs mimic the existence of art and originality. It is in our DNA to put more
value on something that many people love but can’t exactly own. For example, a famous
painting by Pablo Picasso could be universally loved and regarded as a masterpiece.
For many, this painting will hold more value because as much as they are copies of it,
having the original copy will mean more.

The token part of the name (NFT) is related to the blockchain, a blockchain is somewhat of a complicated system that will be explained thoroughly in a different upcoming article.

In the United States of America, the basketball league (NBA) turned short videos of the fans’ favourite moments of different games into NFTs. This doesn’t necessarily mean that other
people can’t watch that short video, but it just means that you own it. Same applies to paintings, pictures are all over the internet, but the originals are usually in museums or owned by some wealthy individuals for any kind of reason

The impact of NFTs

The impact it has had on human beings has been massive. People have treated NFTs as the modern form of art. Many buy into these believing that the value will appreciate over the course of many years. Others buy them simply for the love of different sports, paintings, and anything else
turned into an NFT.

It is not all about fortune and grace with NFTs as the value of an NFT could drop dismally. This is usually out of your control as anything could happen, it could just be an overflow of that certain kind of NFT, or the creator could do something unpleasant in the eyes of the public.

Overall it is innovation, and it has a chance to fully replace what we have known paintings
and drawings to represent. Just as mentioned above, the modern Monalisa could
come from an NFT.

The impact of NFTs in South Africa

Several African countries have a lot of space for growth in many technological departments. It is no different with South Africa and NFTs. Quite a few notable artists have started turning their art into NFTs. For example, Burger King and Pepsi recently collaborated on the “X Marks the Drop” NFT campaign. This campaign will see South Africans go on a hunt for virtual tokens with an
opportunity to win an original piece of African Ginger art, and an NFT worth $25,000
(approximately R428,000).

Another artist committing to NFTs is South African rapper and producer, Anatii. He decided to release his single through NFT. Many of his fans were not supportive of this decision but he
did not seem fazed by this, he believes that he sees the bigger picture.

Just like many organisations are doing abroad, South Africa could look deeply into its history and find ways to make several NFTs, this could include old music videos, old pictures, or just
celebrated moments in South African sports history.