Author name: @nobumei (https://twitter.com/nobu_mei)
<aside> 💡 This section explains "tokens," which are used commonly in the Web 3.0 industry
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In the previous chapter, we have divided the factors driving Web 3.0 into internal and external pressures. Before we finally start talking about each layer of Web 3.0, there are a few necessary preconditions that need to be explained.
This section deals with "tokens.
One of the factors that has enabled Web 3.0 to grow to such a large market size is "tokens.
In general, digital data inscribed on a blockchain is called a "token". Cryptocurrency BTC, for example, is also a type of token.
<aside> 💡 Blockchain × Digital data = Token
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Remember that tokens are digital data that are recorded on the blockchain and can no longer be copied or tampered with.
Tokens currently circulating in the market are broadly classified into FT (Fungible Token) and NFT (Non-Fungible Token). (See figure below)
Fugible means "substitutable," which may be unfamiliar to you.
Normally, in order for money to be used as currency among people, all coins must have the same form and function. In other words, it must be substitutable.
For example, if there were quarters in the shapes of ◯, □, and △, different people would have different preferences, such as "I prefer □" or "I prefer ◯," which would result in a difference in supply and demand depending on the shape, and the quarter would lose its function as a quarter.
FT, like currency, is intended to be used as a "measure of value", so we do not want to have round or square BTC. Therefore, all FTs needed to be "fungible currencies" with the same form and function.
Oppositely, NFT has the negative form attached to Fungible, which refers to "irreplaceable things" in general and can describe a digital ticket or character. So, the ability to express individuality that cannot be copied digitally is very new.
*Digital data on the Internet is based on the assumption that the concept of individuality has never existed because the ability to copy and paste has been the norm until now, so the concept of individuality is new.