What are non-fungible tokens, NFTs?

You had finally found out more or less about what cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are, and now something new called NFT comes out, which in Spanish we usually translate as non-fungible token. Again you feel like you have to catch up with something you don’t know but that seems to be the new digital trend. Don’t worry, in this short article we offer you an introduction so that you know at least the basics. There will be time to go deeper if you are interested.
According to Wikipedia, NFTs are “a special type of cryptographic token that represents something unique.” That implies that, unlike cryptocurrencies, they cannot be exchanged. The high prices that they sometimes reach, in fact, derive from their unique character, from the “verifiable scarcity”, so they have come to be sold for millions of euros, as if they were works of art by renowned painters or sculptors. This is what the ‘non-expendable’ part of the name refers to.
Most NFTs , at least initially, were part of the Ethereum cryptocurrency blockchain . NFTs , however, are characterized by the fact that they can store more information of different types, which is not the case with an Ethereum coin . However, more and more blockchains have created their own NFTs . There is even an animated series released as an NFT that has turned out to be very lucrative.
In many respects, NFTs are sold as collectibles, whether or not they are works of art. One can buy, for example, a gif, or a video, even a tweet. Of course, everyone can download the gif and video or take a screenshot of the tweet, however only the owner of the NFT has a unique and valuable copy. It is as if you have a printed copy of a Picasso painting: clearly, it is not the same as having the original painting. Something similar happens with NFTs.
Well, as happens with those who collect trading cards, plastic reproductions of My Little Pony characters or stamps, communities are created around these collections. Exactly the same thing is already happening around NFT collectors . So yes, seen somewhat superficially but not inaccurately, NFTs are a form of digital collecting that repeats many of the collecting practices of the past. Basically, it is something new but it is familiar.