NFT 2.0: The Next Evolution in NFTs

It’s time for NFT 2.0. Those who have not dipped their toes in NFT 1.0 already may say that NFT 2.0 came too quickly, but non-fungible tokens do have the capacity to surprise. If 2021 was a milestone for NFTs, 2022 and beyond will be its technological seven-mile step. Considering that a handful of the NFT 2.0 projects are now fighting for a place in the global spotlight, we have picked out and covered the most interesting among these, so make sure you check them out below!

Shooting High with CXIP

CXIP (pronounced “chip”) is a marketplace-agnostic NFT minting platform that wants to put the power back into the hands of NFT creators. CXIP seeks to solve an age-old problem with the royalties being locked to the platform on which you mint your NFTs. In other words, if you try to take your OpenSea NFT and sell it on a different platform, the original creator on OpenSea will not get royalties.

To achieve this, each NFT minted on CXIP will be fully covered by a personal smart contract, copyrighted, and be given proof of provenance. This is what enables CXIP’s key feature – its PA1D system that makes sure the creators have full control of their NFTs and get royalties no matter where they are sold.

CXIP aims to imbue each minted NFT with an air of authenticity and greatly improved commercial potential. As such, it hopes to profit from the rise of the metaverse in which the best among the NFTs will become rare and luxury items, not unlike anything made by Chanel or Rolex brands.

Infinity Is the Limit

Now for something a bit different compared with CXIP – Infinity is all about NFT discovery and evaluation. It is a community-owned NFT marketplace whose mission is to organically support an ecosystem in which the NFTs are developed, owned, and traded with the help of a DAO-controlled system. Infinity posits itself as a viable alternative to OpenSea and its more centralized brethren such as Rarible, with a bonus feature of having a treasury and a dedicated protocol. Infinity also supports ‘programmable NFTs’, which many claim are the next evolution in NFT utility.

What sets Infinity apart from its immediate competitors is the opportunity for all those who make transactions on the platform to profit directly from that platform’s future success. Infinity will take a 1.5% transaction cut for each NFT purchase and sale and forward it to its community-run treasury. In turn, this treasury will support the platform’s development which, again, should translate into personal benefits for each member of its community.

Its native $NFT token is the main cog in its wheel of protocol-driven control, governance, and treasury. In addition, its holders will get early access to special discounts, features, and NFT drops.

To broaden its appeal and community-focused credentials, Infinity will also offer lower transaction fees compared to its competitors. Once the marketplace secures stable enough liquidity, Infinity will start introducing new features such as those used for fractionalization, 3^rd party integrations, and evaluation.

Tokenized Music, Games and Esports with Tezos

Tezos has built a name for itself as a decentralized open-source blockchain, but did you know that they are carving a niche in the NFT space as well? With substantial blockchain experience under its belt, Tezos wants to become a sustainable platform for artists, organizations, and entertainers who have recently jumped on the NFT bandwagon.

One of these heavy hitters is game giant Ubisoft, whose games will be now peppered with Digits – collectible pieces from its various game worlds. Touted as the “first NFTs playable in AAA games”, these Digits will take the form of in-game items such as vehicles and weapons. Early adopters on the new platform called Ubisoft Quartz will gain access to NFT drops and other rewards, with Tezos serving as the technical foundation based on its impressive energy-efficient features.

Mike Shinoda of the famous rock band Linkin Park has also placed his trust in Tezos as an engine that powers his NFT music project called Ziggurats. It encompasses a set of 5,000 mini mixtapes with unique NFT cover art and music, yet with the same lyrics.

Tezos’ push into the NFT world is now encompassing the gaming realms as well. This blockchain provided the technical backbone for the NFTs of the EVE Online Alliance Tournament XVII.  A curiosity: these NFTs were a testament to the players’ skill in what is described as “NFT collectible kills”.

Finally, the NFT marketplace Rarible has recently announced its integration with Tezos. This means that its NFTs will now be a part of the Rarible marketplace which will also support the project launched on this blockchain in the future.

Photochromic’s Proof-of-Life

Now, PhotoChromic is a rather unique project, even in the NFT world in which uniqueness is the name of the game. Launched in 2020, it is an identity verification solution that employs NFTs as personal identifiers on the blockchain. Combining the governmental ID and biometrical data as proof of your identity, Photochromic creates a proof-of-life system in which your very identity becomes a secure and tamperproof NFT. Thus designed, your personal NFT serves as a full-blown ID document, which is used to link you to ownership of digital and physical assets, for example.

Security is essential if this project is to succeed, which is why the team behind the project sees it as a solution to two equally important issues – privacy protection and identity theft. The problem with privacy is made even worse with corporations getting rich by using people’s personal data.

Instead of this, Photochromic offers full NFT tokenization of your identity with the final result being the set of easily managed and programmable personal ID data that is left in full control of its owner.

This means that it cannot be sold to third parties and the access for the purpose of verification is done on-chain only.

Conclusion

NFTs are an emerging technology and their use cases are evolving hand-in-hand with their technical capabilities. The projects we presented above have the power to change the way we interact with online content, games, music, and marketplaces as consumers. With an expanding set of applications, NFT 2.0 will easily find its place in times of increasingly merged virtual and physical realities, promising many exciting things to come from the communities and projects blooming under the NFT canopy.