More Than Just Collectibles: Top Utility-Driven NFTs Transforming Industries

Table of Contents

• Real Estate NFTs
• Bitcoin Mining NFTs
• Domain Name NFTs
• Digital Identity NFTs
• Music Royalty NFTs
• Closing Thoughts

Almost everyone must have noticed how NFTs have taken over the digital world. What started as fun digital artwork and collector's items is now playing a big role across various sectors with extremely useful applications. While NFTs are often used interchangeably with digital collectibles, this is not only incorrect but also misleading since the NFT technology has practically limitless uses and is not limited to digital collectibles alone. Here, we'll showcase the top NFTs offering much more than rights of ownership but also tangible and practical benefits as well as the potential to transform industries beyond crypto. 

Real Estate NFTs

Essentially, real estate NFTs are a revolutionary concept in property investment, which involves the use of non-fungible tokens to represent fractional ownership of properties. It's important to clarify that when we discuss real estate NFTs, we're not referring to virtual land NFTs in a metaverse. Instead, these NFTs represent actual, tangible properties in the real world—making the term "real estate" quite literally real. Each NFT is tied to a genuine piece of property, merging the reliability of physical real estate investment with the efficiency and transparency of digital technology. 

With real estate tokenization, it’s possible to buy and trade portions of properties without need for large amounts of capital. Think about owning a piece of a building or land through an NFT without having to empty your savings account. Thanks to NFTs fracturing real estate investments, that dream is now a reality for many investors. 

Among the most notable projects in this sector, Metropoly stands out as the world’s first NFT marketplace backed by real-world properties which democratizes access to property investment, traditionally a high-entry market. It enables users to invest in actual, income-generating properties by purchasing fractional ownership represented by NFTs, allowing participation from as little as $100 USD. 

Source: Metropoly 

These NFTs not only certify ownership but also ensure a stake in the rental income of properties hand-selected by Metropoly’s team of real estate experts. Each property listed undergoes a rigorous vetting process by a specialized team to ensure only high-quality properties make it to the marketplace. Once approved, properties are offered to investors on the Launchpad for a limited time to mint NFTs, which embed all critical property details in their metadata for enhanced security and transparency in trading.

Bitcoin Mining NFTs

Bitcoin Mining NFTs represent a novel concept that attaches actual hash power utilized for Bitcoin mining to each GoMining NFT, empowering holders to earn mining rewards daily depending on the amount of hash rate they own.

It is believed that GoMining was the first to fuse real Bitcoin mining power with the world of NFTs, making a totally new and innovative product. Holders of GoMining's NFTs hold a tangible proof-of-ownership in hash rates, enabling them to reap consistent returns and benefit from scalable mining operations. The foundation of GoMining's robust infrastructure—across 9 data centers with 350 MW power capacity and 99% uptime—alongside its deep blockchain experience, culminates in a notable market capitalization of over $140 million.

Source: GoMining 

GoMining NFTs are uniquely positioned to offer the market’s lowest entry threshold of only 1 TH/s available for less than $30. Further, owners can scale up to 5,000 TH/s per each NFT, which equals to a shell of mining devices in terms of power output. Furthermore, GoMining has placed a strategic emphasis on developing NFTs that align with energy-efficient mining practices, offering a capability to upgrade their NFT miners to the highest standards inherent in the most modern physical mining devices. Energy efficiency isn't just a feature—it's integral to the profitability and sustainability of GoMining NFTs. It directly impacts the electricity fees deducted from mining rewards, where greater efficiency translates to lower costs and higher net rewards. 

Enhancing the allure of GoMining, the platform's NFTs leverage economically priced electricity from strategically located mining centers. These centers, chosen for their cost-effective energy sources, support the NFTs, providing a backbone of affordable power that, when paired with the NFT miners' high efficiency, positions GoMining as an effortlessly accessible and notably economical pathway to Bitcoin mining.

Additionally, computing power stands as a cornerstone feature of GoMining NFTs, with each token representing real mining power in terahash per second (TH/s). Holders can upgrade their NFT's anytime they want in only a matter of clicks to amplify their mining rewards potential. This operation is done within the GoMining platform, making additional computing power measured in TH/s or higher energy efficiency available from day one. Just consider the difficulties involved if it were necessary to upgrade a physical mining operation – this would be way more time-consuming and expensive. 

GoMining NFTs are tradeable on public marketplaces such as OpenSea, enhancing their liquidity. Moreover, the introduction of NFT collections by GoMining allows for unique digital miners to be crafted, sold, and traded, combining the utility of mining with the collectible quality of NFTs. This aspect caters to the collector's market while still offering functional value in the form of mining power. 

The GoMining team consistently and diligently works to enhance their product offerings, regularly introducing innovative features and solutions. Thus, in recent months, they've launched the infinite Mine Box collection, enabling users to personally select functional attributes for their NFT at the time of purchase. Additionally, they've introduced their first NFT collection on the TON blockchain.

Domain Name NFTs

Domain name NFTs, similar to.com domains, can act as identifiers for decentralized websites and also replace complicated cryptocurrency wallet addresses – which represent a random combination of 30+ letters and digits – with human-readable characters. 

An NFT representing a domain name can be purchased and traded on a marketplace, granting the NFT holder the rights to use the domain name for a designated duration. In addition to proving ownership, NFT domain names offer security, authentication, and monetization opportunities.

One of the most prominent platforms in this field is Ethereum Name Service, which is a decentralized protocol, conforming to open-source standards and using a set of decentralized smart contracts that translate hard-to-grasp blockchain addresses into human-readable names. Users can utilize their ENS name to store all of their addresses and receive any cryptocurrency, token, or NFT.

Source: Ens.Domains

Now, instead of long and tricky alphanumeric wallet addresses, users can take advantage of easy-to-remember names like "alice.eth" to make transactions smoother. As of now, with over 2.14 million names registered, 432 integrations, and 800,000 owners, ENS is firmly establishing itself as a critical tool for users seeking to make blockchain technology more usable and accessible.

However, in the expanding universe of domain name NFTs, Ethereum isn’t the only player – various blockchains offer this capability. For example, the TON DNS service by The Open Network (TON) gives crypto wallets, smart contracts, and websites short readable names, garnering a significant traction in the market, seeing a sales volume of 6.4 million TON so far. With a diverse spread of holders, the ownership stats reveal a healthy distribution and engagement within the community. 

Besides domain names, the world of NFTs is embracing phone numbers and usernames as unique assets that can be owned, sold, or transferred with the assurance of blockchain technology. 

Digital Identity NFTs

As an extension of the previous sphere, digital identity NFTs are blockchain-based representations of one's identity—such as their name, date of birth, nationality, or even biometric data. Each NFT is unique and securely linked to only one individual, ensuring that the digital identity is distinct and verifiable. Digital identity NFTs simplify the verification process because since the data is stored on the blockchain, it can be instantly verified anywhere in the world without the need for third-party verification services, eliminating the risks and vulnerabilities associated with centralized architectures.

These NFTs can be designed to be interoperable across various platforms and services, meaning that an individual could potentially use a single digital identity NFT to access multiple services ranging from financial institutions to social media platforms, streamlining the user experience significantly. The immutability of blockchain technology ensures that once an identity is registered as an NFT, it cannot be altered, reducing the potential for identity theft and fraud.

In this regard, Photochromic stands out; stepping up as a key player in crafting secure and controllable digital identities via groundbreaking NFT tech. They promise more security without sacrificing user-friendliness. With this fresh take, managing who you are online becomes a breeze across multiple platforms for anyone diving into Web 3.0.

Source: Photochromic

It offers a solution that lets users effortlessly manage how they appear online—from professional opportunities and daily social updates to all your banking activities. With just a few clicks, users get to merge their identities with their internet profiles confidently. 

Being a partner of the above-mentioned Ethereum Name Service (ENS), Photochromic also allows users to create or use an existing address which acts as a biometrically verified, human-readable name on the blockchain.

Moreover, participants in the metaverse and other digital environments can control their appearance and the layers of their digital lives, crafting their identity as they see fit.

Music Royalty NFTs

Music Royalty NFTs are non-fungible tokens that represent a stake in the royalties of a music track or album. When an artist mints an NFT for a piece of music, they are essentially creating a digital asset that holds value based on future royalty earnings from that music. These NFTs can include rights to streaming revenues, licensing fees, and other sources of income generated by the music. Holders of these NFTs are entitled to a share of the royalties as specified in the NFT's smart contract, which automatically executes these agreements. 

A major benefit of music royalty NFTs is the direct revenue stream to artists, bypassing traditional music industry middlemen. Also, blockchain technology ensures transparency and efficiency in royalty distributions, where smart contracts automate the royalty splits and ensure that payments are made directly and immediately to NFT holders whenever the music generates revenue.

Like any asset, the value of music royalty NFTs can appreciate over time. If the music becomes popular and generates more revenue, the value of the NFTs could increase, offering potential capital gains for the holders.

BAND Royalty is one of the outstanding projects in this field, operating a dynamic NFT ecosystem that allows NFT holders to earn royalties from a meticulously curated catalog of songs from some of the world's most celebrated artists, including Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake. When fans purchase a BR-NFT, they gain a stake in the royalties generated from this impressive catalog, receiving payments in the form of governance tokens (BSTAGE).

Source: Bandroyalty

Unique features of BAND Royalty include the involvement of fans directly in both music production and licensing processes, completely changing the way music is consumed and monetized. Holders of BR-NFTs not only earn 50% of the royalties revenue but also participate in the governance of the ecosystem through BSTAGE tokens, influencing decisions within the platform. BAND Royalty owns rights to over 50 songs from platinum-selling artists, providing a robust base for their NFTs.  By connecting artists and fans both emotionally and financially, BAND Royalty is not only envisioning a new way of experiencing music but actively building it. 

Closing Thoughts

The times when NFTs were considered just collectibles are long gone – what once seemed like mere collector's items are now pivotal in driving forward digital breakthroughs and pioneering innovations. With real estate NFTs opening the gates to accessible property investment, domain name NFTs streamlining online identity management, and music royalty NFTs challenging traditional revenue models, NFTs technology is bestowing real, actionable benefits that are set to revolutionize our digital economy. Also, by mixing NFTs with the power of Bitcoin mining, GoMining has made them appealing to a much broader audience than just those who collect art.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.