When did nfts start

Non-Fungible Tokens, commonly known as NFTs, are a type of digital asset that is unique and non-interchangeable, unlike traditional fungible digital assets such as cryptocurrencies. NFTs are used to represent ownership of digital content such as art, music, videos, and other types of creative works. These assets are stored on a blockchain network, which provides a decentralized and transparent way to manage ownership and transactions.

The origins of NFTs go back to the early days of cryptocurrency, with the introduction of the Colored Coins protocol in 2012. This protocol allowed users to create unique digital assets on top of the Bitcoin network, but it was not widely adopted due to technical limitations and lack of user interest.

The concept of NFTs gained more traction in 2017 when the Ethereum blockchain introduced the ERC-721 standard, which enabled the creation of unique and indivisible tokens. This standard allowed developers to create digital assets that cannot be duplicated or replicated, which made them ideal for representing ownership of digital art and collectibles.

The first major use case of NFTs was the CryptoKitties game, which launched in November 2017. CryptoKitties allowed users to collect, breed and trade unique digital cats using Ethereum-based NFTs. The game became hugely popular, causing congestion on the Ethereum network and increasing transaction fees.

Since then, NFTs have exploded in popularity, with a wide range of use cases such as digital art, music, virtual real estate, and even tweets. In March 2021, an NFT artwork by Beeple sold for a record-breaking $69 million at a Christie’s auction, attracting global media attention and cementing NFTs as a legitimate and valuable asset class.

In summary, NFTs started to gain popularity in 2017 with the launch of the ERC-721 standard on Ethereum network. The CryptoKitties game was the first major use case, and since then, NFTs have become increasingly popular as a way to represent ownership of unique digital assets.