The hype around NFTs has lessened and led people to proclaim that "NFTs are dead" or "NFTs that never should have existed". While it is true that NFTs once experienced lots of hype and excitement, it is now important to recognize that they are not "dead", but rather that they are now beginning to mature into their true potential for proof of ownership and value. The question moving forward will not be if NFTs will be used for purposes other than just digital art and membership tokens, but rather which NFT application will be the first to gain widespread acceptance and serve as a catalyst for changing our perception of ownership.<h2>Where Do Most Predictions for NFTs Fail?</h2>Although people constantly try to predict what will be the next "big thing" for NFTs, most of these predictions are fairly obvious. Supply chain tracking, digital twins of your home or car, property deeds, medical records etc, these concepts keep coming up because they seem possible but not necessarily because any of them is being done at scale right now. Predictions about what will ultimately prove to be the most valuable use of NFTs are made based on what's technically possible rather than on what is currently able to be put into practice. Theoretically, you can put a property deed onto a blockchain, but the challenge isn't in the technology, it's in convincing county recorders, title companies, attorneys, and legislators to move from a system that has worked just fine for generations to one that leverages blockchain technology. The utility of an NFT will have to be more than simply something that sounds good on paper, it will have to solve a real problem, require very little coordination among various institutions, and provide value instantly rather than waiting for mass adoption before being useful.<h2>The Quiet Revolution: Credentials and Certifications</h2> NFTs are currently being used during the process of gathering and validating your credentials and certifications. Companies like MIT have begun issuing certificates through blockchain technology. In addition, many companies that are offering professional certifications are also experimenting with using NFTs for credentials. There is a real-world use case for this. The way in which we verify a degree today is by either telephoning the registrar's office or waiting for the registrar to respond to your request for verification. The process to verify professional certificates is cumbersome and can be done by searching through a massive database, or sending an email to the organisation that issued you your certification. This method is not timely and ineffective due to the fact that you could easily create your own fraudulent document. With NFTs, you have the ability to validate your credentials with potential employers or clients in real-time using the blockchain. No delays, no middlemen and no fraudulent documents. Each credential is linked to your wallet address and can be accessed on all platforms by anyone wishing to validate your credential. Digital Credentials are already being adopted today and over the next few years. We will see NFT's be used to represent a large portion of business and digital offerings being used by businesses with their employees. Today, institutions are moving more slowly towards adopting NFT's to replace certificates issued by institutions and certifying can tests that are not paper, but the value of what NFT can offer as a security and fast way to verify someone's skills will drive the growth of NFT's in the future. Users will not have to develop new infrastructure to implement NFT credentials, instead we will see NFT's as part of company issued documents being used along with other traditional paper documents from the companies they work for.<h2>Supply Chain Transparency at Scale</h2>Everyone speaks about NFT’s utility, from tracking the supply chain to wondering to themselves, “Who cares about NFT's utility?”, some industries need this more than others. Counterfeiting is a major challenge, as the counterfeit goods market is estimated to exceed $450 billion a year. By attaching NFTs to actual products and confirming their authenticity via NFC chips or QR codes creates a way to verify an item, and therefore protect it from being counterfeited. The Aura Blockchain Consortium has partnered with LVMH to develop a way to use NFTs to track the journey of high-end products (ie. Louis Vuitton luggage, Dior luggage etc.) from the moment they are manufactured to the time they are sold. By scanning a chip, you can see the history of a product via the Blockchain to confirm its authenticity. Pharmaceutical products are another industry really benefitting from using NFTs for tracking. The number of people who are killed each year from fake medications is staggering. NFT tracking of medical products provides an unchangeable record of where a product came from, to who sold it to the end-user. If a medication has an NFT associated with it that checks out, then the product is legitimate, and vice versa. If a problem arises, the entire process for tracking that medicine can be checked. The real barrier to entry is getting every participant in the process to join in. However, as more participants realize the negative impact that counterfeiting has within their industry, collaboration is starting to happen within many markets.<h2>Fractional Ownership is a New Concept</h2>The true potential of NFTs is in enabling fractional access to high-value assets. People will be able to invest in assets that were only available to a very small group of people with a lot of money. Imagine owning 0.01% of an office building in downtown Manhattan or 5% of a rare vintage car. With NFTs, fractional ownership is achievable because the fractional ownership of an asset can be converted into a token, allowing you to purchase and trade fractional interests in the asset, without the need for complicated legal structures like partnerships or LLCs. The most obvious use case for fractional ownership through NFTs is in real estate. The real estate market has historically been slow-moving, expensive, and requires multiple intermediaries to facilitate transactions. By leveraging NFTs, individuals could purchase and hold an asset like real estate and trade it like a stock on digital platforms that support NFT trading. While there are a few platforms working to allow fractional ownership of real estate via NFTs, there is still a lack of clarity around the regulatory framework for these activities. However, tokenized securities regulations are still being developed and there is no universal definition of what constitutes a security or commodity in different jurisdictions for this area. Therefore, the limits of fractional ownership NFTs are still somewhat limited until these regulations are clarified. But the financial incentive to develop NFTs as a tool for fractional ownership is strong and several regulators are working towards the establishment of sensible regulations so we can unlock trillions of dollars of otherwise difficult to trade assets.<h2>Digital Identity Infrastructure</h2>Possibly the most critical example of this would be NFT-based self-sovereign identities, which are not something many people are talking about yet. Instead of using a user's personal information when signing up for a service, users can now prove attributes about themselves through verified credentials attached to their wallets. To show that you are over 18 years of age? Simply provide an NFT that proves your age without disclosing your date of birth. To provide proof of work experience? Provide NFTs of your work history without displaying how much you were paid. This mitigates the risk of your private information being exposed without you knowing it. Trust networks are the biggest hurdle and verifiers must have faith in the providers of the credential NFTs. This implies that governments, banks, employers, and other organizations will need to begin providing credential NFTs, which necessitates an agreed-upon legal framework that is, at this moment, still being developed. There's no question about where we're headed, we expect the EU to provide digital identity wallets for all citizens by 2026. Although the initial launch of those wallets will not necessarily be exclusively based on the blockchain, they will contain the principles of selective disclosure as they relate to NFT-based identities.<h2>What Happens Next</h2>Some early breakthroughs show a continued adoption of credentials and certification by institutions; that's an area to pay attention to because it has significant impact and will also see continued growth. For high-value supply chain tracking, like luxury goods, pharmaceuticals, and high-end electronics, the economic and safety consequences of counterfeiting make it necessary. This isn't going to be ubiquitous throughout the marketplace, however, it will become a "one-size-fits-all" in the sense that if there is going to be a question about whether something is authentic, then that is where you will need to use supply chain tracking. Fractional ownership has the potential to create a new marketplace, and if its regulatory issues are resolved, it will likely be a transformative mechanism. To see this happen, we need to look towards 2027–2028, when we expect to see significant change around how tokenized assets are treated by different jurisdictions. Lastly, while digital identity is a long-term digital foundation, it is unlikely to get extensive media attention unlike through social media channels; however, all of our online interactions are designed around digital identity and this is anticipated to last at least ten years into the future.<h2>In Conclusion</h2>The next wave of NFTs will not be defined by extravagant sales and promotions, rather they are to be defined by the real-world application and resolution of problems through blockchain-based verification. NFTs no longer have to rely on speculative hype to sell themselves, as the technology has matured and infrastructure exists to support it, and are now seen through the slow but sure integration of NFTs into systems that require them to operate. Virtual property deeds will likely exist on a blockchain someday, but it will take a collective effort of many organizations to make this happen. The only NFTs that will hold value are those that provide an immediate benefit with minimal effort from adopters. Examples of this are verified credentials, counterfeit-resistant supply chains, fractional ownership creating new opportunities for investment, and identity systems allowing users to have control over their own personal data. These applications may not be as exciting as "buying virtual land in the metaverse", but they represent the way NFTs will become a primary piece of infrastructure going forward.

NFTs are moving past hype into real utility with credentials, supply chains, fractional ownership, and digital identity. The next wave rewards practical value, not speculation or collectibles.

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