Creator of Ethereum Vitalik Buterin has suggested a new concept for NFTs, governance and other spectrums of decentralized solutions, which is non-transferability. The idea for the concept comes from the famous MMORPG World of Warcraft, which Vitalik is reportedly a big fan of.
Buterin has compared NFTs with items in games like World of Warcraft, since they both possess specific rarities, social signaling value and additional tools. Social signaling has become even more obvious after numerous social platforms introduced NFT profile pictures.
Buterin also suggests that NFTs act as a reflection of someone's wealth rather than skill in acquiring specific NFTs. The creator of Ethereum argues that most non-fungibles presented on the market can actually be used for a good causeб like collections that support charity once someone buys it from the secondary market.
But at the same time, Vitalik suggests making NFTs reflect not only someone's wealth. The best example, as Buterin suggests, is the POAP, or "proof of attendance protocol," which is the standard by which tokens are distributed among users that have participated in some kind of event.
POAP can be used to reflect actual participation in something in a similar way to how soulbound items work in World of Warcraft, which is proof of participation in some event. Mentioned items cannot be bought or sold later on.
While the proposal and the concept itself sound refreshing, it is not clear what the difference is between selling an NFT or private key to a wallet with non-transferable tokens.
Godfrey Benjamin
Alex Dovbnya