Coming from a DeFi native background, I was skeptical about NFTs, especially “collectible arts”…until I discovered loot . Witnessing the uprise of loot and its ecosystem, I’m feeling emotions I haven’t felt since the summer of 2020.Enter NFTMiningRewards, a liquidity mining reward contract using NFTs as collaterals: https://github.com/yuming0x/NFTMiningRewards

It’s modified on top of the well-known StakingRewards https://etherscan.io/address/0x7FBa4B8Dc5E7616e59622806932DBea72537A56b#code contract, with changes for staking/withdrawing NFT, and added interface for calculating a custom score for an NFT’s token ID. The score of each NFT token ID is then used as the variant for reward distribution. The interface is flexible enough for any custom scoring logic.An obvious more optimal approach is to use loots https://github.com/bpierre/loot-rarity traits to score different bags.

Tech Implementation

An example implementation is created for Loot which assigns the score of a bag with the uint256 representation of its string.

NFTs has taken CT by storm, you can’t make it through 3 tweets without seeing something related to NFTs. Comin from a DeFi native background, I was skeptical about NFTs, especially “collectible…

Inspirational

Yield Farming with Loot & NFTs. NFTs has taken CT by storm, you can’t… | by yuming0x | Sep, 2021 | Medium

An NFT is essentially a <a href="https://forkast.news/tokens-nfts-tokenization/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">digital token </a>representing a totally unique asset, such as a piece of <a href="https://forkast.news/nfts-phillips-asia-art-scene/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">fine art </a>or <a href="https://forkast.news/tokenized-commercial-real-estate-investment/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">real estate </a>. When represented by an NFT, an asset can be easily traded digitally across the world on blockchain technology. <a href="https://www.nft.kred/events/tickets" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">NFT concert ticket </a>s and <a href="https://airwaysmag.com/airlines/airbaltic-first-to-issue-nft/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">plane tickets </a>are already beginning to pull the technology away from solely being about art trading and into other practical use cases.&nbsp;

NFTs move beyond art and collectibles

DeFi is a form of finance that removes central financial intermediaries to offer traditional financial instruments that utilize smart contracts on blockchains. users can bypass strict requirements of banks and engage in <a href="https://forkast.news/cryptocurrency-loans-regulations-tax-issues/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">peer-to-peer lending </a>with other people around the world.&nbsp;

DeFi’s Next Steps

In <a href="https://forkast.news/why-el-salvadors-bitcoin-law-shake-up-btc-investments-everywhere/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">El Salvador, Bitcoin will become legal tender </a>from September 2021, with President Nayib Bukele aiming to help the population send remittances internationally, among other uses. Before this, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/venezuelas-economy-regresses-crypto-fills-gaps-2021-06-22/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Venezuelan citizens have also adopted digital assets </a>as a means to escape the hyperinflation of fiat currency. developing countries have been seen to spearhead the use of crypto currencies in an effort to bank large “unbanked” populations.In the U.S. Congressman José Luis Ramón <a href="https://twitter.com/JoseLuisRamonOk/status/1412508262918918153" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">recently presented a bil</a> to allow employees to receive their salary in cryptocurrencies.

The prosperous future of crypto

A <a href="https://forkast.news/cbdc-dcep-hong-kong-australia-global-race-national-digital-currency/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">central bank digital currency (CBDC) </a>uses a digital token to represent the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/central-bank-digital-currency-cbdc.asp" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">virtual form of a fiat currenc </a>y.In China, Non-cash payments are increasing by over <a href="https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-06-03/China-s-non-cash-payments-soar-in-the-first-quarter-of-2021-10LTOVow26A/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">20% year on year </a>, according to the People’s Bank of China.The European Central Bank has <a href="https://twitter.com/ecb/status/1409851396795645966" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">outlined their support </a>of a <a href="https://forkast.news/headlines/euro-cbdc-looks-to-leave-bitcoin-in-dust/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Euro CBDC </a>, detailing <a href="https://www.ecb.europa.eu/home/search/html/central_bank_digital_currencies_cbdc.en.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">their plans </a>to begin working on its implementation.EDCs like the one Amazon is <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/amazon-digital-currency-mexico" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reportedly preparing to release </a>in Mexico and <a href="https://forkast.news/headlines/facebook-reins-in-crypto-ambitions-with-u-s-dollar-stablecoin-launch/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Facebook-backed Diem </a>promise to make it easier and cheaper for people to transfer money.

CBDC’s become commonplace

The rise of massively influential blockchain applications are set to change how we communicate and operate as a society. Throughout the pandemic, we have seen innovative uses of <a href="https://forkast.news/blockchain-vaccines-development-safety-distribution/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">blockchain technology to track vaccine cold storage and delivery </a>and to <a href="https://forkast.news/blockchain-telehealth-platform-coronavirus-solve-care-pradeep-goel/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">store medical information </a>and <a href="https://forkast.news/how-nfts-can-track-patient-consent-clinical-trials/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">testing data </a>. will need to address <a href="https://forkast.news/defi-liquid-staking-interoparibility/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">issues such as interoperability </a>between different blockchains. Right now, different blockchain applications and ecosystems are siloed, hindering mainstream adoption and scalability.

Tip of the iceberg

The next half decade will see mass adoption of blockchain technology, writes Max Kordek of Lisk. Here are the leading use cases.

Classic

Blockchain Applications That Will Change The World In The Next 5 Years

NFTs seem to have entered the mainstream. But the technology remains confusing and inaccessible to normal Americans. 
Millions of dollars are poured into this emerging market for digital goods, which has rapidly increased the careers of some independent NFT creators.

Brands are excited about NFTs (non-fungible tokens)

Money & Investments

NFTs have no physical or tangible value. The technology of NFTs codifies and enforces a metric of scarcity on a digital file. 
<ul>
<li>Functional value (What can I use this for?)**:** Most of the discussion around NFTs is about how you will use the NFTs, show people your cryptocurrency wallet, and your taste in art or music.</li>
<li>Hedonic value (How much do I like this thing, in and of itself?)**:** Things that were once treated as interchangeable on the digital space, like a virtual collectable, are existing with the added value of where you got it from.</li>
</ul>

The value of NFTs

Digital scarcity can be seen as a supply and demand phenomenon. The NFT technology gives you the supply, not the demand. 
NFTs impose scarcity on something that doesn&#39;t naturally have scarcity. The free aspect of the internet means anything you make has zero reproducing value. The NFT technology can change how artists are thinking about their work and how they get paid. While the file remains free and available, somebody may be willing to pay because of where they got it from.

Understanding digital scarcity

The New York Times and Taco Bell have put NFTs up for sale. An economist explains how NFTs have value.

Money

NFTs are all the rage right now. But are they actually valuable?

<ul>
<li>Blockchain is a digital archive or registry, which can be private or public. It relies on a digital network of computers, or ‘nodes’ to verify details of the information, such as the authenticity of a transaction in the case of cryptos.</li>
<li>Many of us have heard of cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin), which have exploded in value in the last ten years.</li>
<li>The underlying technology, blockchain, is the heart of crypto and many other new digital applications and ecosystems.</li>
<li>Weirdly enough, it is the same technology that powered torrent downloads in their heyday, about 18 years ago.</li>
</ul>

Blockchain: The Engine Of The New World

Blockchain technology is fundamentally bigger than crypto or even the internet as we know it.
It offers radical transparency, zero run-time and breakthrough tech innovations to revolutionize many areas of life such as finance, insurance, transportation, personal identification, healthcare etc.

Blockchain Isn’t Just Crypto

<ul>
<li>Steve Wozniak (of Apple fame) is using blockchain to power its new company which aims to increase energy efficiency.</li>
<li>Mining of coins, a process that produces cryptocurrency is also being handled by blockchain technology.</li>
<li>Many startups are finding myriad uses of this new technology, like handling secure banking transactions, distribution of energy, streaming and many other unique applications.</li>
</ul>

Blockchain: From Energy To Banking

<ul>
<li>Transparency: The blockchain tech is transparent, as shown in the way it handles cryptocurrencies. Each transaction has a unique identifier, which ensures easy tracking and supply chain integrity.</li>
<li>Speed: Transactions are implemented at lightning fast speeds, with reduced latency. This is a sharp contrast from slow bank transactions and central servers that are unreliable and cumbersome.</li>
<li>Cost-Effectiveness: Due to the entire technology being digital, blockchain makes validation, verification and data-security a cost-effective process.</li>
</ul>

Three Reason Blockchain Will Rule

How Blockchain Technology Can Help Improve the Planet - HumanProgress

Cryptocurrencies are a new, digital, and secure form of currencies.&nbsp;They have special encryption techniques that make them virtually impossible to be tracked or be stolen.Cryptocurrencies use a revolutionary method of encrypted digital distribution known as 'blockchain'.

Cryptocurrency Explained

Digital currencies are tricky when it comes to their value. Initially, they had value due to their being encrypted and secure, and now there is some fluctuation.&nbsp;Cryptocurrencies have an intrinsic value mainly because of the mass adoption of the currency and the buyers, who spent old-school money to buy cryptocurrencies, have jointly agreed and decided that there is a value.

The Value of Cryptocurrency 

<ul><li>Cryptocurrencies work in a decentralized form due to the technology engine called Blockchain.</li><li>Digital ledgers add on to all the transactions happening digitally, and they can be having tons of information stored, due to them being digital.</li><li>The problem of security is handled by encrypted signatures used to confirm ledger transactions.</li><li>People transacting in cryptocurrencies have unique secret keys and public keys, both acting as handles to identify and verify the transactions.</li><li>Each ledger transaction also has a unique secure handle to ensure it is approved and cannot be forged.</li></ul>

Blockchains

The process of 'mining' is used to add new capital in the cryptocurrency database.Mining is a verification process that works on the blockchain using a massive amount of computing power.&nbsp;The 'miners' who use such strong computing power 'earn' cryptocurrency for each verification.

The Mining Process

Cryptocurrencies are new and constantly improved due to their digital nature.Blockchain, the revolutionary technology is now being applied to increasingly complicated work.Example: Ethereum Blockchain work is a decentralized verification process for contracts.

A Work in Progress

Cryptocurrencies have been in the news for the wrong reasons, leading to many attempts to demolish or regulate them.The underlying technology of cryptocurrencies makes it undeniably powerful and disruptive, and this will increase as technology moves forward.

Criticism of Cryptocurrencies

In 2017, an online currency known as Bitcoin was making international headlines due to a massive boom in pricing and value in online markets. The currency and many others, now known as cryptocurrencies, all benefited from this massive increase in value, with Bitcoin increasing 2,600% in value over the course of this boom and making millionaires over night.