The first non-fungible token (NFT) office building in New York City was bought by a developer there.
The 4700 square meter NFT, which is “located” at 44 West 37th Street, is an immutable digital asset that hints to changing how we design, construct, use, and sell our places with only “one-click.” The 16-story structure was designed by the spatial intelligence firm Integrated Projects and challenges how real estate and the metaverse use architecture.
The 44W37 NFT, which was created on the open-source, decentralized blockchain Ethereum, was sold for just one ETH. However, what are NFTs? NFTs are special tokens created on the blockchain that stand in for something unique. They are typically used to exchange cryptocurrency, such as ETH or Ethereum, which function as a cryptographic medium of exchange over a computer network, for digital goods like music or art. There are now two types of real estate: physical real estate NFTs that can be converted to NFTs by tokenization, and virtual real estate NFTs, which are plots of land located in the digital domain known as the Metaverse.
Without the bother of transferring property ownership, owners are able to develop, possess, sell, and monetize their digital goods. In other words, rather than tangible property, one sells or buys photos, 3D scans, plans, virtual tours, and location reports. An NFT streamlines the transaction process, enabling a buyer to take possession of a piece of real estate in a matter of minutes.In addition, “NFTs might save owners time, expense, and coordination involved in re-producing the accurate existing conditions of their physical space by painting a survey-grade picture of the building’s physical characteristics—architecture, equipment, and mechanical,” Integrated Projects said.
