#10 Non-transferable NFTs

Or how to verify accomplishments with crypto

Vitalik Buterin's proposal for Non-Transferable Tokens (NTTs) will have a big impact on how we build digital identities with crypto. Let's dig into it.

In Minecraft, there is a concept of soulbound items. These are items that have to be earned and can't be bought. In order to get the best items in the game, players have to complete difficult quests and kill powerful monsters. The fact that these items are non-transferable makes the game interesting, challenging, and fun.

What if we apply this idea to NFTs? Today, NFTs are transferable which means you can easily buy them in a marketplace. If you hold the best NFTs, it's a signal of your wealth rather than accomplishment. Similarly, If somebody has an NFT for completing an online course, we don't know if they actually completed it or bought it from somebody.

By making NFTs non-transferable we can build verifiable digital identities that are stored on the blockchain. What makes NTTs valuable is that they have to be earned. You can't buy or sell them, and they have no market value. NTTs can be used to store digital ID cards and memberships, certify achievements like job history or education, verify attendance, etc.

While still at research phase today, NTTs can change the way we verify accomplishments and build cryptographically verifiable identities.

I learned it from this post.