Abstract
Blockchain is a new but quickly growing technology in the world, which was developed by a pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009 as the cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Blockchain was un-hackable but now, due to use of quantum computers, it is possible to tamper with blockchain. As a counter to this, the researchers have come up with quantum blockchain using the principles of quantum cryptography. Today we see that the technology has given birth to many new technologies as well. One of its examples is non-fungible tokens (NFTs). These are a new sort of blockchain-based token that is unique and indivisible. They were first created in 2014. These are blockchain-based virtual assets. Since early 2021, the phenomena and its marketplaces have increased dramatically.
TopIntroduction
The Blockchain technology first introduced in 2009 by a pseudonym creator named as Satoshi Nakamoto is one of the most popular technology in the world today. It was first introduced as a medium of currency named as Bitcoin which has revolutionized the method of money holdings and transfer. Being referred as un-hackable this technology is reason for many changes in the currently existing system. It is basically a chunk of data that has been linked together (Antonucci et. al., 2019). Being a peer-to-peer technology the blockchain becomes more secure as all the transactions are updated in the public ledger and its copy is maintained by each user active on the network it is impossible to tamper data (Frauenthaler et. al., 2020).
The Blockchain is taught to be un-hackable but now a days this is also becoming a false promise as with the rise of quantum computing it is now possible to manipulate the blockchain network as the quantum computer are million times more powerful than the currently existing classical computer. But as the answer of the question lies within the question only the researcher has come up with a solution we call Quantum-Resistant Blockchain.
As it is seen that the technology has given birth to a number of new technologies one of the most significant and rapidly evolving technology is Non-Fungible Token (Salman, Jain & Gupta, 2019). The term “near-field technology” (NFT) denotes a considerable development above earlier technologies. Proponents of blockchain technology and technologists have been criticized for their unduly optimistic and technologically deterministic outlooks. The current craze for NFTs has gripped the globe and is causing controversy. One thing is clear, however: These tokens are going to have a crucial role in constructing virtual lands termed as “METAVERSE”. The NFTs in broad terms open gates for fresh opportunities in the field of internet, gaming, real estate and also for the venture capitalists (Khalid & Askar, 2021). NFTs have a huge potential to make a lot of money for art creators and institutions simply by putting on sale an art with a digital signature. To construct a worldwide commercial environment an individual and the companies are dependent on each other to develop, transmit and preserve the crucial data, while NFTs offer an independent space for this.
History of Evolution
The history of evolution that is from where we have started and where we are now. An equal exchange system known as “Barter’s System” was used in the beginning stages of evolution (Abou & Saade, 2019). For example, if one person has a lot of apples but no mangos, and the other has a lot of mangos but no apple, they can trade the apples and mangos by means of exchange in order to meet their requirement (Gupta & Patel, 2021).
Following this, the Era of Coins began where now the man-made coins were used. They came with huge variations like rectangular or cubic, big or small (Kothari, Choudhary & Jain, 2021). The major disadvantage for this was that the coins may vary from territory to territory as different territories had different regimes and value of a coin might be nothing in other territory, as at that time there was no Standard Regulation for money (Kuperberg, 2020).
Then, in the 7th CE came the Era of Paper notes originating form a Chinese Empire, which continues to control the globe today (Sheikh, Patel & Sinhal, 2020). All because today the world is undertaking the United-States Dollar as a perfect currency exchange medium.
Finally, the Digital Era came in 2009, introducing us with a new form of currency know as cryptocurrency a blockchain based secured, decentralised currency for trade and transfer of money having the feature of anonymity means of money trade and transfer that is posing a threat to the present centralised system (Latifi, Zhang & Cheng, 2019). Bitcoin is the first ever successful electronic currency created by a pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto.
Lastly, on May 3 2014, Kevin McCoy coined the first NFT, named Quantum, as a technological advancement (Malik, Dedeoglu, Kanhere & Jurdak, 2019). In 2015, the makers of the Spells of Genesis game used Counterparty to become the foremost for releasing the blockchain base game assest (Kothari, Patel & Sharma, 2021).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Cryptography: A mechanism of securing the transactions by encrypting the data using different algorithm which can only be decoded by the intended user.
Blockchain Mining: It is a peer-to-peer computer process by which the blockchain transactions are validated on the network and added to the blockchain ledger. It is basically used to secure and verify the blockchain transactions.
NFT Minting: It refers to the process of converting a digital file into crypto collection or a digital asset that can be stored on the blockchain.
Proof-of-Stake: These proofs are a class of consensus mechanisms for blockchains that work by selecting validators in proportion to their quantity of holdings in the associated cryptocurrency.
Gas Fees: A cryptocurrency transaction fee that is charged to users when performing crypto transactions.
Quantum Entanglement: When two particles, such as a pair of photons or electrons, become entangled, they remain connected even when separated by vast distances.
Blockchain: A blockchain is generally a database that links together encrypted data blocks to create a continuous single source of truth for the data. We can also refer to it as online ledger.
Consensus: A general agreement between two or more parties.
NFT Auction: A process of selling NFT without freezing a fixed price, during an auction the price of NFT depends on its popularity.
Peer-to-Peer: Computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers.
Quantum Cryptography: A method of encrypting the data by making use of both mathematical cryptography and the laws of quantum physics in order to make transaction secure and transmit the data in such a way that it cannot be hacked.
Proof-of-Work: A form of cryptographic proof in which one party proves to others that a certain amount of a specific computational effort has been expended.
Digital Wallets: Software used to store cryptocurrency.
Metaverse: It is an evolution in the internet by evolving it as a single, universal and immersive virtual world which will be facilitated by using virtual augmented reality headsets. Simply it’s a virtual world.
Artificial Intelligence: Artificial intelligence is basically a simulation of human actions by machines, especially computer systems.
Smart Contracts: A piece of code return to perform a desired work automatically for example, smart contract might establish the conditions for transferring corporate bonds, the terms of payment for travel insurance, and many other things.