It’s time to get back to basics: what are NFTs employed for in the first place?

Despite the current bear market, an abundance of high-value NFT sales has continued to dominate the field, so it’s not surprising that many people still link NFTs with financial speculation. Putting NFTs in this category appears to be the most easiest method to explain why individuals buy NFTs in the first place.
However, NFTs are so much more than that.
Brands are flocking to Web3 in part because of the need to familiarize more people with the technologies involved with it. Obviously, this includes NFTs, which have generally acted in recent years as a mechanism for creatives to completely free themselves from middlemen when it comes to generating a living off of their art. So here’s a rundown of some of the best real-world use cases for NFTs, and how they could make your life a little easier in the future.

1. Permanent Documents

In a sense, because to the powers of NFTs, one of the oldest issues of legitimizing property or money with irreversible durability is going by the wayside. What is the best example of this? Tokens of the Soul (SBTs). These are a new sort of NFT developed by Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin that are intended to serve as a comprehensive suite of useful tools for internet users to keep — and protect — their identity. So, how does this seemingly digital-first piece of technology fit into real-world NFT application cases?
If SBTs go live as planned, they have the potential to have a huge impact on everyone’s online and offline lives. SBTs enable users to access a variety of utilities, such as the ability to mint medical records, academic records, employment histories, and everything in between as an NFT. SBTs, on the other hand, are not tradeable, which distinguishes them from regular NFTs. Furthermore, SBTs are intended to be immutable, permanent records, allowing anyone to remain connected to their digital and physical existence.
Perhaps the most promising aspect of SBTs is their ability to be completely opt-in. In other words, you do not require every piece of newly minted information to be publicly attached to your physical self (or stored away where you might lose it). Furthermore, users will not be required to record every detail of their lives and accomplishments on the blockchain. Only the parts you want to keep.

2. Elections

Unfortunately, despite significant advances in technologies used to record electoral votes, these systems are still vulnerable to one major form of attack: fraud. While election issues aren’t the most pressing issue on the global agenda, widespread voter fraud remains a possibility. What’s the reason? The electronic voting systems on which democratic countries rely, the flaws and vulnerabilities of which have been widely documented on the internet since these pieces of equipment first became popular.
However, conducting the voting process digitally may not be a completely flawed premise. Enter blockchain technology and, of course, NFTs. Voting on the blockchain ensures that each vote recorded cannot be tampered with and will be kept on record indefinitely.
A Filipino citizen recognized this opportunity ahead of the 2022 Philippine elections and launched an online voting platform powered by blockchain and, of course, NFTs. What’s the catch? He was twelve years old. But he could be onto something. The results of his online voting platform mirrored those of official polls conducted in the run-up to the election, as well as the actual results of the 2022 Philippine election.

3. Property investment

NFTs did not simply enable the virtual real estate industry. They stand to benefit the IRL real estate industry as well. And it makes complete sense. After all, for most people, their home is the single most valuable investment they make in their lives. So, where do NFTs fit into this centuries-old industry?
Let’s start with precedent. Real estate NFTs aren’t a new concept; the first recorded real estate NFT transaction occurred in 2017, when TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington purchased a blockchain-backed apartment on Propy. He later auctioned off this property on the blockchain in 2021 for 36 ETH, which was worth around $93,000 at the time.
This is huge for the real estate industry. And it largely boils down to how smart contracts can be written into NFTs, potentially reducing the otherwise months-long process of buying and selling real estate to a fraction of the time. With Propy’s successful transactions, it may only be a matter of time before this new convenient reality becomes the norm in the realm of real estate.

4. official government documents

One age-old problem persists in today’s mostly cashless society. The inconvenient consequences of losing your wallet. No, not your cryptocurrency wallet (which would probably hurt just as much, if not more) — we’re talking about your physical wallet. Credit cards, debit cards, and prized Polaroid photos have all vanished. However, the loss that may sting the most in this case is the loss of your driver’s license.
But what if replacing it didn’t have to be such a hassle? That is precisely what prompted the Romanian government to create an institutional NFT marketplace. The Romanian government hopes to significantly reduce the amount of bureaucracy required to replace or update official state documents and cards by allowing citizens to mint them onto the blockchain as an NFT. It’s not the most exciting application of NFTs, but it could certainly make life easier. When you combine that with the possibility of minting land titles as NFTs, the potential to simplify society as a whole gains credibility.

5. Video games

Modern gaming typically requires you to interact digitally with some kind of screen or device, but NFT integration stands to provide players with a way to save all of their achievements and assets across all of their games, regardless of platform. But, for the time being, mainstream game developers must recognize this and implement it.
So, how does this work? Players will be able to keep — and truly own — all of their in-game rewards, assets, and collectibles if a game incorporates blockchain technology into its suite of services. Although platforms like PlayStation and Xbox do save a player’s in-game achievements across console generations, the same cannot be said for any in-game collectibles or skins they may earn. The same is true for consoles released prior to the online revolution that occurred throughout the seventh generation of game consoles.