• Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin revealed that he did not expect non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to be as successful as they are today.
• DeFi protocols such as MakerDAO, Lido Finance and Uniswap have become popular in recent years, controlling billions of dollars worth of assets.
• NFTs are a unique type of asset which can be transferred on public blockchain networks and comply with standards like ERC-721.
Ethereum Co-Founder Surprised by Success of NFTs
Vitalik Buterin, one of the six co-founders of Ethereum, has revealed that he did not expect non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to gain such traction in the market. During a podcast interview, Vitalik said that while he had predicted certain applications like decentralized finance (DeFi), NFTs were not among them.
Growth of DeFi Protocols
In the last few years, DeFi protocols such as MakerDAO, Lido Finance and Uniswap have become popular for their ability to let users lend and borrow digital assets without involving third parties. Uniswap has also recently introduced support for NFTs. According to reports, the launch of Uniswap in late 2018 ushered in this era of decentralized finance and by early 2020 its total value locked was above $1 billion USD.
What are Non Fungible Tokens?
Non fungible tokens or NFTs allow users to create unique assets which can be transferred on public blockchain networks similar to fungible tokens (e.g., cryptocurrencies). These generally comply with ERC-721 standard and provide more utility than traditional cryptoassets due to their uniqueness and rarity.
Impact of NFTs
The success of NFTs has been significant since its introduction in 2017 by CryptoKitties – an Ethereum game where users bought digital cats using Ether. Today it is used for gaming, art collectables, virtual real estate etc., forming an industry worth billions annually which continues to grow rapidly every day thanks largely to platforms such as OpenSea & Rarible allowing anyone to create & trade these digital assets easily & safely without any coding knowledge required!
Conclusion
The success story behind non-fungible tokens could not have been written without Ethereum’s smart contract technology enabling trustless peer-to-peer transactions amongst numerous participants within seconds at minimal fees – something that was previously impossible until now! It would definitely be interesting what further use cases will arise out of this revolutionary technology in future!
