Why the current stage of NFT is the World Wide Web in the early 1990s

Author: @BennyGiang; Compiler: MetaCat

NFTs from around 2017 to 2022 are similar to websites from the early 1990s.

Early websites were often built using basic HTML and CSS by people with limited programming expertise (like myself). They tend to be static, difficult to update or extend, and are designed for a single specific purpose.

In 1989, the Web (Web is the abbreviation of "World Wide Web", also called the World Wide Web, is a network service built on the Internet that provides a graphical, easy-to-access and intuitive interface for viewers to find and browse information on the Internet. The launch of documents and hyperlinks (which organize information nodes on the Internet into an interrelated network structure) marked the beginning of the "hyperlink" era. With the launch of the first website in 1991, ease of Navigate, restructure content, and democratize shared knowledge. **

In the next stage of NFTs, they will become more and more similar to current applications (Apps) or websites,** and eventually become autonomous agents (Autonomous agents), providing enhanced functionality and better user experience! **

Assuming that NFT will move towards a more dynamic and stateful future, we can decompose the NFT on-chain stack into a structure similar to the current website:

There are already a large number of standards and protocols operating in the NFT "front-end" field, such as: ERC 4906, 7496, 721M, 721TL, etc. Mainly working on modifying artwork, metadata descriptions, features and visual content. Related projects such as: Prrf beauty, Mathcastles, area.tech, etc.

However, in the NFT “backend” space, there hasn’t been a lot of innovation in the past 6 years (2017 to present). All state logic resides either on custom contracts or on a centralized database that indexes on-chain events for gameplay and other scenarios. Unfortunately, this approach has no utility at all.

Thanks to ERC-6551, for the first time ever, we have a standardized NFT on-chain “backend”.

Custom contracts, including the ones we wrote for CryptoKitties and CHZWZRDS, are great, but there’s nothing inherently uncomposable about them.

TBA is the universal account/utility layer for NFTs.

What does all this have to do with hyperlinks and 1990s websites?

NFTs and websites will both have a similar boom.

No one knows what the NFT/website does or does, but everyone knows it will change everything.

If everyone gives up on websites/Internet after the Internet bubble bursts, then we will miss the opportunity to have more interesting applications/products that are really important in the long term, such as: ebay, google, facebook, uber, airbnb, etc.

The past can sometimes predict the future.

In its infancy, NFT still has huge potential for growth, but it must work harder to differentiate itself from the start:

-Number Uniqueness

- Items that can be owned

- Verifiable History

Image Source:

We are about to witness the explosion of the "hyperlink" era (or hypermedia/encrypted media as @js_horne calls it).

NFTs begin to link other on-chain tokens and create what we call a token graph of ownership and relationships, thereby achieving "on-chain" hyperlinks.

Hyperlinks radically enhance websites, what Wikipedia is to the information superhighway. They generate context by connecting relevant content. Replace "NFT" with "website" and the meaning becomes obvious.

NFTs will naturally start to link to other on-chain objects/tokens via:

ERC-6551 gives more meaning, depth, and narrative to our shared on-chain history, just like how hyperlinks provide important contextual information to the web.

In a few years, you won’t be calling NFTs “overpriced JPEGs” anymore. They will become an internet-native paradigm powered by blockchain. Create ever-enriching fantastic experiences that flow seamlessly from one token to another. What’s more, that’s when the fun begins!