eResearch | Last week, Fandifi Technology (fka Fandom Sports Media Corp.) (CSE: FDM | OTC: FDMSF | FSE: TQ43) announced plans to undertake the development of Non-Fungible Tokens (“NFTs”) to reward esports fans on its All-Age Prediction Platform.
For the video gaming and esports neophytes, in-game rewards have been around since the birth of video games, and go back to the “free game” and other rewards in arcade games.
Fandifi NFTs (“FDM Tokens”) represent in-game digital assets and, when awarded or rewarded to a player, gives the user, not the game developer, full ownership of the assets.
Each digital asset is unique and can be in-game rewards, exclusive items, or giveaways – something as simple as the coolest user name, like Ninja, or a trophy for winning an event.
Since each FDM Token is unique, it becomes a collectible; in fact, it becomes a crypto collectible.
Moreover, since the user owns the asset, it can be traded or sold, inside and outside of the Fandom Platform, without permission from the game developer.
The creation and trading of FDM Tokens could generate millions of dollars of revenue for Fandom from transaction fees as well as increasing fan engagement, which could stimulate in-app purchases, sponsorships, and advertising on the platform.
Fandom is already reaching out to collaborate with artists, brands, and marketers to take advantage of the NFTs and create unique and branded digital assets.
David Vinokurov, CEO and President of Fandifi recently commented, “The application of NFTs for Esports is relevant, accretive and value-enhancing in a directly measurable way. The creation of unique, interoperable digital assets will create user incentivization, motivation, and reward users with unique digital assets found nowhere else.
What is a Non-Fungible Token?
Let us start with what a fungible asset is – a fungible asset is an item that can be replaced or interchanged by an identical item. A coin is a great example of a fungible asset; a dollar coin is interchangeable with any other dollar coin of the same currency. Similarly, a bitcoin is also fungible and can be exchanged for any other bitcoin.
NFTs are a type of cryptographic token that are not fungible and not mutually interchangeable. NFTs were developed to create verifiable and provable digital ownership for unique digital items including artwork or in-game items, such as a magical sword or an avatar.
As previously mentioned, an NFT becomes a digital collectible with the authenticity backed by blockchain technology, in this case, Ethereum.
An NFT can be sold or traded on websites such as OpenSea, VE-VE, and WAX, which have emerged as trading platforms for NFTs.
CryptoKitties – One of the First Viral NFTs
In 2017, NFTs erupted with the release of CryptoKitties, which allowed players to buy, collect, breed, and sell virtual cats using NFTs on the Ethereum network.
Each virtual cat is a unique digital asset with its own digital genome that is stored in a smart contract.
After one month of operations, CryptoKitties registered almost 200,000 users with 10 virtual cats selling for over $100,000.
Current Uses for NFTs
NFTs can be used to represent almost anything, from virtual to real assets. Some of the most popular NFT sites found online today include:
- Digital art: io, KnownOrigin, MakersPlace, and SuperRare
- Digital music: Mintbase and ROCKI
- Digital trading cards: Gods Unchained and Sorare
- Gaming assets: Axie Infinity and World of Ether
- Virtual real estate: Cryptovoxels and Decentraland
NFT is Approaching a Billion Dollar Marketplace
According to NonFungible, during the past month, over 60,000 NFTs were sold for a total of $12 million with CryptoPunks, SoRare, and SuperRare representing the top sites by sales value. Over the past three years, NonFungible has tracked over 5 million transactions valuing over $160 million.
According to CryptoArt.io, December 2020 set a new record for the blockchain-based art market with over $8 million of NFT artwork sold. Over the past 3 years, over 54,000 pieces of crypto art representing $54 million have been sold.
Investment capital continues to flow into the space as the market matures. Last summer, Dapper Labs, the creator of CryptoKitties, raised $12 million from a myriad of investors including NBA star, Andreessen Horowitz, and Coinbase Ventures, to launch a new NFT venture that supports digital collectibles with a focus on memorabilia.
About Fandifi Technology
Fandifi is an entertainment company that has developed a proprietary gaming and micro-services platform for engaging with esports fans.
Fandifi’s esports platform is a mobile-friendly application for esports fans to engage, predict, interact, and earn rewards.
The Company previously announced completed integrations with esports games including Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), Defense of the Ancients 2 (DOTA 2), and League of Legends.
Leveraging streaming data and predictive analytics, Fandom provides players the ability to interact in near real-time with live events while earning rewards for their participation.
The Fandifi Platform and NFTs
NFT development on the Fandifi platform is a natural extension of the previously announced blockchain and tokenization initiatives the Company has been pursuing for the past year.
The Company remains “laser-focused” on growing interaction and increasing player satisfaction on the Fandifi platform while implementing new features for revenue generation.
David Vinokurov also recently stated, “Our commitment to developing and implementing innovative technologies across our ecosystem is a cornerstone of our platform strategy.”
Fandifi’s NFT Technology
Fandifi chose to build its NFTs through smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain under the ERC-1155 protocol, an advanced version of the ERC-721 protocol.
A key advantage of ERC-1155 is that it allows for 100 to 200 functions in a single transaction, speeding up the process and reducing congestion on the Ethereum blockchain.
Final Thoughts
As NFTs grow in popularity and become more mainstream, digital artists and the creative community will surely leverage this technology to give them a new method to market their creations.
As interest, opportunities, and investments in the NFT economy have never been higher, it is a good time to look at ways to invest, and Fandom Sports Media is one such way.
Notes: All numbers in USD unless otherwise stated. The author of this report, and employees, consultants, and family of eResearch may own stock positions in companies mentioned in this article.
DIAGRAM 1: Fungible Versus Non-Fungible Tokens
