Sometimes mass adoption requires utility without understanding.

In this post I would like to discus:

• blockchain native tokens
• fungible tokens
• non-fungible tokens
• NFT's
• How utility which masks complexity can stimulate mass adoption
• How Splinter-lands illustrates this concept
• How NFTs illustrate this concept

Blockchain native tokens

I wish to propose that you think of blockchain tokens as being born on a blockchain, living on a blockchain and dying on the blockchain...although death to a virtual object is well virtual LOL. Then go one step further and imagine that those tokens born on the blockchain are called native blockchain tokens. Native tokens can be both fungible and non-fungible, and we will discus what those terms mean next.

But before we leave the concept of the native token, there's one more concept to discus.
Only native blockchain tokens can interact with financial tools on the blockchain. An example would be all the DEFi projects on the Ethereum blockchain. People with Bitcoin want to invest in projects on Ethereum like Uniswap, MakerDao, Curve Finance. But Bitcoin is not a native Ethereum token. So Bitcoin in it's native form cannot be invested in these projects on the Ethereum blockchain.

And one additional thought before we leave native blockchain tokens, both non-fungible tokens and fungible tokens can be native blockchain tokens, which means they both can be transferred around the blockchain and both can interact with projects or applications on this blockchain. So both fungible Ethereum blockchain tokens and non-fungible Ethereum blockchain tokens can interact with the projects or applications on Ethereum.

Fungible Tokens

Fungible means both the same and interchangeable. One penny is the same as another penny and they are interchangeable as in having the same value and you can trade one penny for another and not lose value. Buy the same logic Ether is a fungible token, as in one Ether token is the same as another Ether token, and they are both interchangeable and they have the same value. Pennies are fungible, dollars are fungible, ether tokens are fungible and Bitcoin tokens are fungible. They are basically interchangeable and have the same value.

Non-fungible tokens

This is of course the opposite of fungible, in that non-fungible tokens are not interchangeable and they are not of the same value. This means nonfungible tokens can represent the value of a non-native token on ethereum. It also means nonfungible tokens can represent the value or ownership of a pice of Art, a song, a piece of real estate or some other object or asset which has value. In this way the nonfungible token serves many purposes.

• First it tokenizes the value of a non-native cryptocurrency token, as a native ethereum blockchain token, so that value can now be traded or invested in applications on the Ethereum blockchain like MakerDao.
• Second, it can tokenize the value of a piece of Art like a painting or a sculpture. Now the value of that piece of art can interact with applications on the Ethereum blockchain like Opensea, a place where people go to buy nonfungible tokens.
  -Third it can tokenize the value of real property like land, houses, condominiums or even hotels.

It's important to understand that nonfungible tokens can represent all of something or part of something.
As you see the explanations are getting bigger because the idea and it's application are getting bigger.

NFTs

As most of you know NFTs burst upon the scene last year and everybody thought they were a great new thing to buy, and trade. The prices mooned and some collections of NFTS sold for millions.
Its useful to stop and realize that NFTs are actually nonfungible tokens. Nonfungible tokens are not interchangeable and their value is not the same. nonfungible tokens are the perfect representation of one print art, short video clips, and actual paintings or drawings because it tokenizes the art and allows it to be transferred on a blockchain, and sold on the applications like Opensea and other NFT showrooms.

How utility which masks complexity can stimulate mass adoption

This realization that NFTs are nonfungible tokens brings us to one of the points of this article. Nonfungible tokens are a brilliant aacademic exercise, which evolved into a critical component of decentralized finance, the bringing capitol or investments to the applications part. But it's a little complicated and boring to some. But if you don't call nonfungible tokens nonfungible tokens, and you stop talking about them as unique, interchangeable cryptocurrency tokens, which are native to the blockchain and have variable value. And call them NFTs and say they represent works of art, movies or songs. People say Oh! Thats so cute, can I buy one?
You have given nonfungible tokens huge utility and you have submerged the academic mumbo jumbo under the hood. You can drive a car wthout knowing how it works, and with NFTs you can trade nonfungible tokens without knowing how they work. And that I believe is how mass adoption happens.

How Splinter-lands illustrates this concept.

Splinterlands is a game. A very cool game, with very fun, but intricate game mechanics.
Splinterlnds is a game which lets you own the really cool stuff you win or use in games.
Splinterland also lets you buy cool stuff to decorate your favorite playing cards.
All this cool stuff is NFTs and only a fraction of the people playing cares what NFTS means or how they work.
They don't need to know how they work to play the game, and thats how one million accounts were created.

How NFTs illustrate this concept

At this point this section may seem self explanatory, so I will be delightfully brief. NFTs are fun things to buy and sell, and sometimes use in games. You don't need to understnd them to profit from buying and selling them, and so many people don't. And thats cool...to me..because I think thats how mass adoption happens.
So I said all those things so I could say: utility drives mass adoption, and utility can occur without understanding. In the same way you don't have to understand everything going on under the hood of your car to drive it, you don't need to understand NFTs to have fun or make money with them. They have utility and thats all you need to know.

Thats it for now...penned with my hand. @shortsegments