A long time ago 
Ten primary members.
Ten NFTs.
Followed by disappointment.
I always thought that NFTs were the cool pictures and artwork that you buy and sell on different marketplaces.
Oops. I was totally wrong.
Recently I went back to Tribaldex and tried to figure out how to use NFTs again. I still had no success. Sure, there is OpenHIVE on Tribaldex where NFTs can be bought and sold. I thought being able to mint NFTs would give me access.
Then I found out that making saleable NFTs was an additional cost and typically associated with an Outpost.
But I learned something :)
Before, when I minted the NFTs, I couldn’t figure out any way whatsoever to actually see them. They weren’t in my inventory. They weren’t with my Hive Engine tokens. There seemed to be no way to do anything with them or even confirm they existed.
Then I learned something really important.
NFTs aren’t digital images
Sure, they are often marketed that way. Buy digital art on a marketplace. Buy and sell a card in Splinterlands.
But with a little digging—and a little programming—I now have an HTML app that can scour and find the NFTs that were printed long ago.
Well… 10 were printed long ago. One was printed recently.
What does it look like?
That simple webpage tells me something important:
Those NFTs are there. And they are findable.
Of course, they aren’t currently useful—but that’s when something clicked.
NFTs are not images. NFTs are simple JSON entries in a database.
Make a program that finds the right NFT, checks the right conditions, and issues the right command—and those NFTs can be transferred to another user.
And beyond that, they can be linked to a backend or database with a little coding.
Right now I have 11 NFTs, but they are undifferentiated. If I make a website or database which defines what each of those 11 NFTs represents, I can create my own version of OpenHive:
define what each NFT represents
define how ownership transfers
define what each NFT allows
And since the NFT and the database defining it are separate… that means an NFT can mean one thing now and something completely different later.
That may not sound like much, but I think it could actually be really useful.
I could define that ESG NFT instance #1 represents:
100 Hive tokens
locked until a certain date
paying interest of X%
If someone buys it, I’ve already defined what it is. A backend could pay out X% until a specific date, and then allow the token to be surrendered for the 100 Hive tokens.
After that is done?
I still have ESG NFT instance #1.
And I could redefine it as something completely different and offer it again.
Yes—this absolutely requires trust. And it requires a traceable database so things don’t get mixed up.
But I really think it could be powerful.
Right now this account and the 
However, the data for each sale is just a line entry on a Hive post and an ETF on an exchange.
How much better would it be if an NFT could be transferred and a database kept so that anyone could see what that NFT’s current value is?
No digging through past posts trying to piece together ownership.
At this moment I still don’t have a working prototype, and I’m still holding an HDIF ETF share based on nothing more than a posting in the community.
Since I control the bank account holding the ETF, I’m not worried about losing anything or being cheated.
Still… I really think I should work on getting those NFTs moveable and properly defined so that anyone can see what’s happening, what I’m offering, and decide if they’re interested.
I really wanted to complete my multi-part series on different investment vehicles today.
I really wanted to do the part on ETFs.
But I need to talk about stocks before I can lead into ETFs… and after errands and work today, I just didn’t have the time.
So instead of rushing that post, I figured I’d document what I learned today.
Because this piece might actually end up being more important long-term.
Still a work in progress—but thanks for dropping by 🙂
