NFT — An Acronym for AllSo just what is an NFT — NON-FUNGIBLE TOKEN?We have begun to notice this new term in our acronymical tautology.Another set of letters to add to the 3 letters that carry with it, meaning beyond their simple form. I wonder if someone were to etch NFT on some cave wall somewhere for a future archeologist to find, what would be the fantastical story that would be surmised?Goodness me, how would our future archeologist describe this etching? Would she know that NFT had a connotation of “non-fungible token?” Would she rather say it meant “Not For Tourists,” or the “National Film Theatre, or how about “No Free Tickets” or simply a phrase “No Further Text?”How did this new meaning come into existence, and will it stay among us?Etheria and Devcon 1; London 2015At Devcon 1, 457 purchasable and tradable NFT hexagonal tiles went unsold. The first NFTs on the Ethereum Network. But today, those same tiles went for a total of $1.4 Million. They would have cost you $0.43 each back then.I wonder if now our new linguistic phraseology will become “A token for your thoughts” rather than “A penny for your thoughts.” With this in mind, where do my thoughts and yours go into the future? How do we both understand this new way of collecting, transacting, enjoying, and exchanging?Let us first look at the last word first in NFT. A token is a representation of something. I remember when I was young how I would receive a “token” to ride the CTA bus in Chicago. It represented money but was specific to the Chicago Transit Authority.I guess, one could say coins, and even paper currency are tokens representing a value against a desired tangible item. It would seem we use tokens for everything, from religious artifacts to ceremonial events, to game pieces, to birthday cards and cakes, and even wedding rings. These are all tokens of sorts. Used and understood, some deeply, some in passing, but representations nonetheless of something other than their mere tokenisation. Tokens are then, frankly, used in everyday life. Quite normal and readily accepted in all cultures and all people groups.Let us not confuse “tokenism” with a “token” representing something. Language is strange and vague, and often we attribute our view to a word or phrase that is not what is meant. For example, the “Smurfette Principle,” as it has been practiced in media, is to include only one woman in an entirely male ensemble; Miss Piggy, in the Muppets, Princess Leia, in Star Wars, Penny, in the Big Bang Theory, Elanie, in Seinfeld. These and others are prime examples of “tokenism.”“Tokenism vs. Tokenisation”Hence, “tokenism” is NOT tokenisation of something tangible and real. Tokens may represent some musical score, some artifact of history, some thought written in time and space, some code, some item, some collectible, and the list goes on; these are certainly what an NFT is beginning to accomplish.Our next word is fungible. It is typically an adjective and simply means “capable of used in place of another, capable of being replaced.” It started in law around 1818, and as usually true, it is derived from the Latin fungi.Not a lot of help, but fungibility simple means if you lend me, let’s say a ten-dollar bill, and I returned to you one five-dollar bill and five one-dollar bills, you would not care if this occurred. You would accept that the fungible exchange was virtually the same.However, if you handed me a diamond and said, “would you keep this safe for a while,” and when you returned, I handed you another diamond of the same size you would not accept that exchange because the original diamond was unique, in grade, colour, cut and very non-fungible. It was a one-of-a-kind item.So, here we have it. A Non-Fungible Token is a representation of something that cannot be duplicated. It is a one-off.Enter the age of distributed immutable records. A chain of events, open to public scrutiny, and yet completely and uniquely identifiable. In a sense, each transaction on a ledger, let’s say your checking account or ATM card is a non-fungible event, and in a very real sense, it is recorded in a tokenised way. The number you see represents a purchase often or a bill payment etc. It is not real in any sense other than for the ledger it is contained within. Understandable for sure and quite sensible as well. However, it is in another way completely secretive, unique, and your own, not available to anyone or everyone. In that sense, your ledger bank account is very non-fungible and changes from month to month in varied ways.What is unique in the world of NFT’s is they are registered in a way that all may see what they represent and who has the control of the object of interest. So, although the item or object is one-of-a-kind, and non-fungible, the token representing it is in full view of anyone who may want to see. A blockchain transaction may be may be written similar to a certificate of ownership or a claim.Fungibility is not the same as liquidity. It is important to remember this when considering an NFT purchase with a liquid asset, such as; fiat currency, crypto, or for that matter, any assets that have liquidity, such as real estate, etc.The other word we might consider is interchangeability. We may be able to interchange one NFT for another like we did with sports cards or marbles when we were young, but the value then becomes in the eye of the beholder. NFT’s could have such interchangeability but do not normally display such yet. Hence, NFT exchanges are being deployed to allow for NFTs to be traded.Of course, many wealthy worldwide have always enjoyed the tax haven that art and collectibles provided, while they enjoyed the beauty of their holdings. Art generally increases in value, even during difficult financial times, during war and unrest, and even when times are smooth sailing.The concept of an NFT as a tax haven is yet to be explored but certainly has its merits.NFT’s also allow an owner the ability to let others enjoy the art, collectibles, music scores, historic documents, movies, etc., while they collect a small fee. This avenue is yet to be explored, sufficient to say the reciprocal of that is in play presently. Let us say I am a songwriter and musician, and I determine to sell small fractions or allotments of my newly formed work to my loyal fans and self-fund in this manner. A given allotment is revealed, and each NFT buyer is given a smart contract that assures them of their ownership. Liken this to shares of stock, but now easily converted into works of art, music, code, even recipes. There will be a plethora of new NFT’s that will allow individuals the ability to buy, sell and participate without the burden of a broker, music label, or possibly even a movie production and distribution company. We should see NFT’s as a new and more consistent way to provide crowdfunding with known attributes and identifiable and open distributed ledgers.https://blockclaim.asteroid.org/#/blockclaim-selectionSome ideas are naturally NFT’s, such as a unique project which registers claims to asteroids, 0ver 937,00 asteroids have been cataloged and valued in a 2-year project called BlockClaims (Asteroid.org). This NFT is potentially a game-changer. Where individuals use an NFT based registration system to secure a claim on the mineral value of an asteroid.In fact, NFT’s maybe a better way to register a URL, such as a dot com name.Or how about Dodo (dodonft.io), where an NFT is split across multiple owners. It is stated as a transformative tech, where there is a shift of the balance of power from the few to the many. This is a rebalancing of economics, and it will make gains more accessible to all.Another unique attribute may be to tie or “tokenise” crucial documents such as birth certificates, licenses, diplomas, real-estate titles, medical records, and patents, etc., where you are able to provide an unequivocal right of ownership in a transparent distributed ledger technology.It appears NFTs, in some form, will be with us for the long haul. Interesting applications will find their way into mainstream venues. As with any new tech, hyperbole and the promise of new horizons will certainly be part of the rhetoric, but all-in-all, NFTs can be a way into a more democratized future.NFT — An Acronym for All was originally published in The Capital on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.