NFT is an acronym for non-fungible token. Although these three letters changed the concept of digital ownership for many, they continue to cause confusion and frustration for others.
In short, non-fungible means distinct and unduplicatable, while a token is an item stored on a blockchain.
NFTs are blockchain-based digital records of ownership and authenticity associated with a piece of media. An NFT is more than a multimedia file (like a .gif or .jpeg) — it is a public record of historic information associated with that media. In this way, NFTs are more similar to a painting’s bill of ownership and certificate of authenticity than the painted canvas itself.
NFTs are different from fungible assets like $20 bills, shares of a stock, or other units which can be substituted for each other with no change in value. While one $20 bill is worth the same amount as any other $20 dollar bill and one new tennis ball can be exchanged for another without disrupting a match, NFTs have distinct qualities that make each unique and verifiably different from all other NFTs
