Introduction to NFTs
Understand what are NFTs, the technologies that underpin them, their use cases, the ecosystem and the challenges of their adoption.
About the course
The NFT market is now valued at over $40 billion. Trading value of NFTs has grown by over 12,000% in the last year, with sales volumes totalling $24.9 billion in 2021. An art piece from an artist named Beeple sold for over $69 million in the same year and the world’s biggest brands are now getting into the NFT space. Without question, 2021 was the year of the NFT. But what are they? How do they work? And what makes them valuable? This short course will guide you through the noise and provide you with the right foundation to understand the world of NFTs.
Difficulty: Foundation
Duration: 60mins
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With this online course, you will:
- Understand what NFT’s are and how they work
- Understand why NFT have value, and how they are transforming digital ownership
- Discover the range of use cases in a number of domains and investigate the range of projects and applications in the space
- Uncover the challenges, opportunities and future outlook of this nascent technology
Skills
Fintech
Digital Assets
Blockchain
NFT
Metaverse
The expert you’ll be learning from
Elijah Deas
Product Lead, CFTE
Elijah holds an Undergraduate degree in Economics and a Master’s degree in Computer Science. He worked in the Open Innovation unit of the SIX Swiss Stock Exchange before joining CFTE, where he now currently sits as Product Lead. At CFTE, Elijah develops product and content roadmaps and works closely with CFTE’s expert network to create world-leading content in the areas of Finance and Technology. Elijah has designed and developed a number of real-world NFT projects and has written research on the impact of distributed technologies on financial markets.
Course Content
In this chapter, we will introduce the concept of non-fungibility and how NFTs really bring this concept to digital assets. We will explore some of the reasons why NFTs really can push the boundaries of what is possible in a digital world. Then, we will have a glance of the history behind these strange digital assets, and outline some of the landmark projects that paved the way for the innovation we see today.
In this chapter, we will discuss the technologies that underpin NFTs and look into 3 main areas, blockchain, tokens, and smart contracts. We will then see how these technologies facilitate the valuable properties of NFT such as, transparency, transferability and of course, uniqueness.
In this chapter, we will look into three of the main early use cases; Art, Gaming and the Metaverse. We will see how art has become one of the primary use cases for NFTs, and outline two of the largest NFT art collections; Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks. Then, we will look at CryptoKitties and see how this strange but pioneering application utilises NFTs to create a collectable game around digital pets, and also Axie Infinity, who have built upon the innovations of CryptoKitties to create a more immersive gaming experience with NFTs at the core. Finally, we will look into the Metaverse and see how NFTs are a useful tool to mimic features of the physical world, in new, digital universes.
In this chapter, we will look at three key pillars to the ecosystem: Networks, marketplaces and wallets. We will look into the main players and understand how they combine to create an open ecosystem for creators and market participants. We will then investigate the investments that have been made into the NFT market, looking into the incredible growth in 2021.
In this final chapter, we will look into some of the limitations and challenges of the adoption of NFTs. We will look at technical literacy, network scalability and regulation as well as discussing the number of scams and fraudulent activity that is common in the ecosystem.
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FAQ
CFTE’s brand new online learning platform! THINK produces and delivers dozens of bite-sized courses which will allow you to get a good understanding and be constantly updated about everything concerning Fintech!
Disruptive technologies and innovations don’t come on their own. They bring significant transformations and challenges both in terms of culture, people, jobs, environment and governance. Therefore we believe these topics can’t be separated from one another.
The courses offered on THINK have slightly different approaches to the topics. You’ll find evergreen foundational-level courses which will help you get a good understanding without any prior knowledge, but you’ll also find courses that explore the players in the respective ecosystems, courses that explore the regulations of a certain field and even courses that dive deep into specific companies’ way of operating!
THINK is meant for all those professionals who want to be kept up to date with the latest developments in these fields, but don’t necessarily have the time to go through countless articles or newspapers.
Technology is deeply transforming the way financial institutions do business and manage operations. Understanding these shifts will allow you to benefit from them, and not miss out on any potential opportunities for you and your organisation.
Users and customers nowadays are more aware than ever about the environmental and social impact of their choices, as a consequence companies are putting more attention on these topics even at the cost of reduced financial performances.
Digital Assets, Blockchain, Decentralisation and Web3 are still in a very early stage. They may reshape and revolutionise our current business models, therefore we believe it’s worth paying special attention to the innovations they bring to the table.
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