Encrypted Variable Tokens Are Set to End the Era of Static, Boring NFTs

Over the past few months, a lot of news coverage and social media discussion have focused on the supposed loss of appetite for NFTs. Top among the talking points have been the sharp declines in not only NFT values but also trading volumes on major NFT platforms like OpenSea.

In trying to explain why interest in NFTs might be cooling off, almost all commentators are speculating that it’s a matter of people not wanting to make a bad investment at a time when values are falling sharply across the digital assets space.

They are all ignoring another, potentially bigger reason: The NFT has become a mundane, one-note format. Put bluntly, tiny, procedurally generated variations of a static image or short clip get boring after a while.

If this explanation gets to the heart of the problem, does this mean that the days of tokenized art, culture and entertainment are over? Far from it. Because there’s a new format coming that’s going to be a quantum leap forward from the NFT. It’s called an Encrypted Variable Token, or EVT for short.

What is an EVT, and how does it compare to an NFT?

Let’s start with the similarities. Like NFTs, EVTs operate on the blockchain, are underpinned by smart contracts and have exactly the same non-fungible properties.

But once you start looking at what the two technologies can do with that technical backbone, the differences couldn’t be clearer.

Whereas the media content of an NFT never changes once the NFT has been minted, EVTs have both invariable and variable components, meaning that they are dynamic. Depending on the vision of an EVT’s original creator, future owners may  be able to change parts of their EVT as they please. Imagine, for example, being able to resequence a video, or enhance the VFX.

If you’re struggling to make sense of the scope of this feature, it might be because you’re still thinking within the limitations of NFTs. This ability to change the content of the token opens up a galaxy of new possibilities, in terms of both what can be tokenized and how the tech can be used to manage intellectual property.

Digital media files, whether they be an image, mp3 or mp4, can be turned into EVTs. Unlike traditional NFTs, the owner of an EVT will be able to update and adapt the code to improve upon the piece of digital media. Say, for example, you were to make a movie into an EVT and include its copyrights in the token. Someone who later acquires the EVT could add new copyrightable content to it while it remains, in blockchain terms, the same token.

To put it another way, the holder of an EVT can enhance its financial value through injecting their own creativity and skill into it. It’s a feature that will no doubt be of huge interest in any industry where copyrights are the main source of value.

Another thing that makes EVTs so exciting is the scope for privacy that’s built into the technology. While the media content of NFTs can be accessed by anyone – this limitation is one of the big things that NFT skeptics always point out when they ask what the point of NFT ownership is – cryptography algorithms can be integrated into EVTs, and so the owner can control who can experience it. No less exciting is the fact that EVTs’ encryption features also allow privacy in the communications surrounding the token.

How does the technology work, and who’s behind it?

EVTs are able to offer these game-changing upgrades on NFTs because of the way the tech uses tokens. In effect, the token serves as a unique placeholder for a cryptographically protected media or metaverse asset, with its identification code and smart contract content allowing the incorporation of encrypted variable functionalities.

The technical advance underpinning EVTs has been developed by Newton. In recent years, Newton has successfully launched a range of innovative blockchain and Web3 solutions, including the Andverse metaverse, DEX and cross-chain protocols, wallets for the Newton blockchain and NewChain, and an NFT marketplace and asset generator. Envisioning, designing and implementing Encrypted Variable Tokens is the team’s most ambitious project yet.

The EVT ecosystem is currently being built on Newton’s blockchain. The tokens will be implemented on Wave, a dapp for entertainment assets that Newton has designed for EVT content.

Entrepreneurs and creators who are getting tired of NFTs’ limitations and want to experience EVTs’ awesome potential will be especially interested to learn that Newton will allow multiple EVTs to be minted in one transaction, a decision that will substantially lower the cost of trying out this new format.