If somebody would’ve mentioned that the global crypto economy would blossom and become worth trillions of dollars just half a decade ago, the notion would not only be laughed at but the individual putting forth such a thought would be considered delusional. Fast forward to 2021 and we have already seen the digital asset market hit a market capitalization of $3 trillion, which is extremely impressive given that the industry is only a decade old. Not only that, in its brief existence, the sector has already achieved about 25+% of gold’s total net cap despite the precious metal having been used for many millennia as a store of value (SOV) and tradeable commodity.
That said, of the many innovations that have arisen from within this fast-evolving space — such as stablecoins, decentralized finance (DeFi) — non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have arguably been the most prominent, with the combined cap of this somewhat niche’ market already having reached the $7 billion mark. However, before proceeding any further, it would be best to define what these offerings really are. In this regard, NFTs are essentially digital receipts representing ownership of any wide range of assets spanning from physical paintings, JPEGs, pieces of music, videos or even real estate.
Due to their ability to help maximize owner revenue and earning potential — primarily via the elimination of financial intermediaries — NFTs have fast gained traction amongst a growing list of celebrities with prominent media personalities such as John Cena, Shawn Mendes, Paris Hilton (amongst many others) turning to these unique offerings in recent months.
The NFT market needs even more transparency… Here’s Why
Even though the NFT market has matured considerably since its inception, it is still, by and large, controlled by the whims of a select few platforms like OpenSea, Rarible, etc. In this regard, it bears mentioning that ecosystems such as OPENSEA feature a heavy element of centralization as was made clear earlier this year when it came to light that one of the company’s employees was illegally making use of non-public, sensitive customer-related information to facilitate insider trading.
In another somewhat similar episode, it was revealed that OpenSea’s native design featured certain intrinsic problems that could enable nefarious third-party agents to siphon off one’s crypto savings using malicious NFTs. Due to such issues, a growing army of crypto enthusiasts has been transitioning to alternatives such as Infinity, an all-in-one NFT marketplace that is designed to alleviate all of the aforementioned problems.
In fact, solely from an operational and functional standpoint, it should be highlighted that Infinity offers users extremely low transaction fee rates (i.e. 1.5%) when compared with OpenSea’s 2.5%. If that wasn’t enough, to help bolster its growing army of backers, all internal fees collected by Infinity is transferred back to its community-controlled DAO — something that is in direct opposition to OpenSea’s financial model wherein the ecosystem keeps the profits and distributes it amongst its team.
Make way for programmable NFTs
Though heavily underutilized at the moment, the programmable nature of NFTs is fast making waves globally. This is because, by employing this particular aspect of these offerings, it is possible for NFTs to not only be transferred and held by others but also used as collateral and sold across various popular marketplaces. Additionally, they also help deliver a number of operational benefits such as programmable time locks, value-based unlocks, digitally controlled vesting schedules, etc to their respective owners.
If that wasn’t enough, programmable NFTs enable users to devise advanced index funds that are capable of delivering accurate data, all while being flexible in terms of their overall design and utilitarian setup. Infinity is fully compatible with these special kinds of NFTs, allowing users who may be looking for a highly decentralized crypto ecosystem to make a seamless transition.
Lastly, Infinity is looking to establish a DAO-controlled marketplace, protocol, and treasury that is governed solely by the whims of its ever-growing sea of community members who not only get to have a say in the platform’s day-to-day operations and overall development but also grab a share of the protocol’s financial success.
