Virtual Assets, Real Opportunities: Financial Institutions’ Metaverse ExplorationLong gone are the days when digital creations were simply pixels to be admired on a social platform – today’s world is placing major bets on the ownership of these unique virtual figments. The one-of-its-kind nature of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have earned them the modern-day excitement and monetization ability—one that has paved the way for trading and investment in any digital asset (art, music, texts, etc.) a possibility.This same hype has given rise to numerous NFT projects that are changing the game for owning something original and traceable. Whether it be an exclusive collectible meant for a certain group of people, a rare gem that exists in a limited amount, or a token with real-world utility – NFTs seem to be an explosive trend for the year ahead. On our way to discover the genesis of NFTs, we stumbled upon several cool art projects. Colored Coins, also known as Metacoins, was one of the first NFT-like projects which involved issuance of tokens that represent real-world assets on the Bitcoin blockchain in 2012-13. In 2014, Counterparty—a peer-to-peer financial platform and distributed open-source Internet protocol built on the Bitcoin blockchain—enabled digital asset creation and exchange […]