Yahoo GeoCities is the textbook example of the early Web. In the mid 1990s, websites like GeoCities were basic, with limited features and use cases. Mainly, they were a place to post and view basic, static information. For example, you'd create a single page for your business and post its name, address, and phone number there.
As Internet technology evolved over the next thirty years, websites (and their mobile counterpart, apps) grew from static pages into highly complex transactional hubs that are the foundation of the biggest modern businsses. For example, at their core, Airbnb, Uber, Google, and Facebook are all "just websites". They facilitate posting and viewing content, but in ways that are now extremely fast, sophisticated, feature-rich, networked, and scaled. Websites have evolved from the static information pages of the GeoCities era into complex, multi-billion dollar global businesses.
Like the websites of thirty years ago, NFTs today have limited features and use cases, but potential to evolve into much more. Zach Burks, the CEO of NFT marketplace Mintable, explained to CNBC:
You’re going to see multimillion-dollar companies utilizing NFTs for a variety of different use cases, whether it’s documents and documentation, [like deeds, invoices on payments or insurance policies, which would be then stored on the blockchain where ownership could be tracked]; or ticketing, [where buying an NFT could may unlock a collectible or special feature and potentially protect against counterfeits]; or with collectible items – NFTs can really apply to so many things.
The CEO of Mark Cuban-backed Mintable on founding the business, the bull-case for NFTs and how the market could evolve (via @CNBCMakeIt) https://t.co/sGR49GCZdm
— CNBC (@CNBC) March 19, 2021
There is strong precedent for web technologies evolving from limited, single purpose sites into complex, full-blown businesses. We've seen this before with HTTP, HTML, Linux, Javascript, broadband, mobile, and the other technologies behind modern websites and apps. And we could see it again with blockchains, distributed storage, Solidy, Metamask and the technologies behind NFTs and Web3. Today's digital art and collectibles could evolve into tomorrow's distrubted Airbnb or decentralized Amazon.
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