NFTs Are Disrupting The Way We Do Business And Build Communities

Cenk Sidar is the co-founder and CEO of Enquire AI.

The term “NFT” is one of the buzziest of the past year. If you’ve heard the phrase but still aren’t exactly sure what a nonfungible token is, think of it like this. NFTs are more than just Apes, Punks or various profile pictures people pay thousands of dollars for. Imagine your most prized possession. It could be a painting, a rare album by your favorite artist or even your car. Now, how can you prove your ownership of these items? For your car, you probably have a title. The painting, a certificate of authenticity or even something as simple as a receipt.

While the examples outlined above are physical, NFTs are purely digital assets. They can be almost anything—pictures, drawings, videos, audio, a contract—JPEGs are just examples. The key thing to remember is that NFT ownership is authenticated by what you can’t see. These unique digital assets are built using blockchain technology that cannot be altered or duplicated (hence the nonfungible terminology). It’s kind of like a public ledger that offers proof of the asset’s legitimacy and ownership. This is a revolutionary technology that could transform equity ownership and dividend sharing in business organizations.

And it’s this backend technology that makes NFTs more than just cool artwork or the latest fad that will quickly fade into obscurity. NFTs are a transformational tool that will fundamentally change the way we do business moving forward.

Perhaps the biggest untapped potential for NFTs and all Web3 is the ability to build and foster authentic communities that thrive at the intersection of virtual and physical worlds.

At their core, NFTs are about communities of like-minded people. Attaching tangible utilities to NFT ownership, you can create deeper, richer communities of people with common interests. In doing so, NFT ownership essentially becomes a next-generation membership card.

What utilities can you attach to an NFT? Practically anything, depending on the minting organization’s objectives, all of which can be determined by its members. It could be access to networking opportunities, discounts on merchandise or tickets to real-life member gatherings. The opportunities are endless.

Two recent NFT launches that best exemplify the power of NFTs and Web3’s community-building power are FlyFish Club and DAOBnB.

FlyFish Club is the world’s first member’s only private dining club, where membership is gained through the purchase of an NFT. Owners of the NFT get access to the physical restaurant, which is slated to open in New York City in 2023, as well as other culinary and social experiences, all of which are specifically curated and accessible for FlyFish Club members.

DAOBnB is a real estate collective that manages over 500 short-term rental units throughout the country. The property’s ownership is distributed among holders of NFTs minted by DAOBnB. In addition to an income-generating opportunity for its members, DAOBnB NFT owners also receive complimentary stays at the organization’s properties.

In some ways, FlyFish Club and DAOBnB are fresh takes on established concepts. We’ve put a premium on exclusivity and access seemingly forever. Private dining clubs have been around for at least two centuries. There are countless timeshare companies with properties around the world. What sets Web3-based communities apart from traditional iterations of private clubs or timeshares is that power lies with the membership owners, not just a select, centralized few individuals. Since ownership of an NFT is the actual membership card, you can sell one if you see fit. Some people who bought one of the original NFTs minted by FlyFish Club have already sold their memberships on OpenSea, a leading NFT marketplace.

These are just two of the countless numbers of projects that are innovating in the Web3 space, modernizing existing concepts or creating new business models entirely. Perhaps most importantly, these NFT-based projects are creating real communities that drive actual value for their members.

In the future, it’s easy to imagine a world where sports teams use NFTs as their season tickets, essentially making ticket holders members. On a broader scale, NFT-based decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) can operate entire businesses or even acquire other entities. The recently launched Blockbuster DAO aims to buy Blockbuster Video and turn it into a streaming film studio, sharing ownership with its members.

Web3 is still in its infancy, but it’s already opened a world of possibilities for everyone from artists to entrepreneurs. As we’ve seen with FlyFish Club, DAOBnB, Bored Ape Yacht Club and more, success is driven by an engaged community of members.

Despite the burgeoning nature of Web3, it’s already attracting large deals worth billions. In March, Yuga Labs, maker of Bored Apes Yacht Club, acquired the rights to CryptoPunks, one of the most popular NFT collections on the market. The combined value of Bored Apes and CryptoPunks collections is over $3 billion as of this writing.

NextWaveDAO is another great example of a decentralized community powering up various Web3 projects. It will allow people to meet in metaverses, pitch each project and build the first virtual web3 incubator. As a contributor to NextWave, I’ve been able to meet many like-minded industry leaders and projects so that early engagement for Web3 has become possible for me individually.

What you see when looking at the early success of Web3 projects like these is a glimpse into a fully immersive digital future. NFTs have the potential to revolutionize how we interact with each other and build community. By leveraging Web3 technology, we can see the true potential of these digital assets in terms of their impact on our real lives. Blockchain is the future that will enable us to build truly global communities with trust and transparency at their core.

The most exciting part? We’re only scratching the surface on unlocking the true power of NFTs and Web3.

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