The NFT Canon is a useful reference for artists and creators, developers, corporations and institutions, communities and other organizations that want to understand or make more with non-fungible tokens.
It is a carefully selected set of readings and resources on everything NFTs, inspired by the a16z Crypto Canon, and it ranges from the big-picture view of what NFTs are and why they matter to how to mint, collect, and do more with them — including FAQs, ecosystem overviews, and applications like art, music, gaming, social tokens, creator DAOs, and others.
We’ll keep updating this as more people experiment, share their work, or publish resources for learning about NFTs. If you have suggestions for quality pieces to add, let us know @a16z.
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The Big Picture
Life Is Non-fungible: The Evolution of Ownership, Assets, and Us — ownership is profoundly human; collectibles for self-expression, identity, money, trade by Roham Gharegozlou https://youtu.be/u894J50AqOs
NFTs and a Thousand True Fans — the internet’s evolution and improved economics for creators by Chris Dixon https://a16z.com/2021/02/27/nfts-and-a-thousand-true-fans/
Stories, Scarcity, and Mimetic Desire — how NFTs transform millions of stories into rare assets by Nick Tomaino https://thecontrol.co/stories-scarcity-and-mimetic-desire-c4a344fa74e1
NFTs flip media’s ownership model — giving creators, their audiences, and the developers building for them a workable alternative to platform-led monetization by Jesse Walden https://variant.mirror.xyz/T8kdtZRIgy_srXB5B06L8vBqFHYlEBcv6ae2zR6Y_eo
NFT subculture — traits of disruptive subcultures by Denis Nazarov https://d.mirror.xyz/OQrTGdbiDDKs-7it-URF2NYRG9xLMYEQcNnET8fah3I
Creators, communities, and the gray space in the middle where they meet — the next stage of communities (belonging and stakeholders); how creators can build their own markets; programmable art by Nichanan Kesonpat https://www.nichanank.com/blog/2020/10/9/gray-space-in-the-middle
Proof of passion — linking the history of the social internet with NFTs today by Tal Shachar and Jonathan Glick https://tals.substack.com/p/proof-of-passion
Crypto changes value, NFTs change society — how NFTs reshape the internet, work, economics, and business models by Andrew Steinwold https://andrewsteinwold.substack.com/p/crypto-will-change-value-nfts-will
Crypto fundamentals and NFTs — web eras, blockchain architecture, the last decade in crypto; the rise of NFTs, the future of NFTs by Patrick Rivera [link to presentation in Google Slides]
Beginners Guides, FAQs, and Explainers
A beginner’s guide to NFTs — what they are, why they’re compelling, applications by Linda Xie https://linda.mirror.xyz/df649d61efb92c910464a4e74ae213c4cab150b9cbcc4b7fb6090fc77881a95d
What is an NFT? — properties of blockchain-based non-fungible tokens by Devin Finzer https://opensea.io/blog/guides/non-fungible-tokens/#What_is_a_non-fungible_token
All about NFTs — the what, why, and how of NFTs, their applications, and process, along with common questions & misconceptions by Jesse Walden, Linda Xie, Sonal Chokshi https://a16z.com/2021/03/27/nfts-explainer-faqs-hype-reality-innovation-crypto-creator-economy
8 Reasons why crypto art > art — and the new economy of digital creativity by Scott Belsky https://scottbelsky.medium.com/the-furry-lisa-cryptoart-the-new-economy-of-digital-creativity-6cb2300ea081
Demystifying NFTs — ‘monetized memes’, NFTs tokenize everything, authenticate the world by Naval Ravikant https://twitter.com/naval/status/1378954767863443461
What Critics Don’t Understand About NFTs — the paradox of certain digital goods; NFTs’ value doesn’t signal anything like conventional ownership by Jonathan Zittrain with Will Marks https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/04/nfts-show-value-owning-unownable/618525/
NFTs, the trend — overview, projects, players, lessons, haters, opportunities by Dru Riley https://trends.vc/trends-0050-non-fungible-tokens-nfts/
The new magic of NFTs — the cases, the elements of crypto, and how it’s about so much more Katie Haun interviewed by Tim Ferriss https://tim.blog/2021/02/24/katie-haun-transcript/
NFTs by Saturday Night Live https://youtu.be/mrNOYudaMAc
Building Blocks & Technical Foundations
NFT metadata — on-chain, off-chain, storage, and more by Devin Finzer https://opensea.io/blog/guides/non-fungible-tokens/#Non-fungible_token_metadata
Do You Really Own Your NFT? — data storage, URLs vs IPFS, off-chain, and more by Dan Kahan https://thedefiant.io/do-you-really-own-your-nft-chances-are-you-dont/
Non-fungible token standards — from Ethereum through non-Ethereum standards, with Devin Finzer https://opensea.io/blog/guides/non-fungible-tokens/#Non-fungible_token_standards
What is ERC-721? — a plain-English explanation of how the original standard behind NFTs on blockchains functions by William Entriken https://fulldecent.blogspot.com/2018/06/nontechnical-what-is-erc-721.html
ERC-721 Non-Fungible Token Standard — enabling unique, rare, collectible tokens on the Ethereum blockchain https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-721
Crypto Glossary: Cryptocurrencies & Blockchains — essential concepts and terms to know that connect to NFTs (cryptography, proof of stake, more) by Alex Pruden and Sonal Chokshi https://a16z.com/2019/11/08/crypto-glossary/
Crypto Wants to Be Seen — engaging with crypto in ways that help creators learn it and absorb the core ideas by Kayvon Tehranian https://thedefiant.io/crypto-wants-to-be-seen-op-ed-by-kayvon-tehranian/
Arts, Music, Gaming, Other Uses… and Creator Stories
The Creator Economy: NFTs and beyond — how musicians, artists, and writers can think about NFTs and social tokens; how different kinds of assets can combine to form models that haven’t existed before by Kevin Chou, Jesse Walden, Chris Dixon https://a16z.com/2021/04/03/creator-economy-beyond-nfts-podcast/
Tips for Creators Entering Crypto by Patrick Rivera https://p.mirror.xyz/WQQywdjjfnksMRPMaNKBMxPBqfE5k8nL6pCLe1roGyw
How I Got Into NFTs — “at first, I gave absolutely zero fucks about NFTs OR blockchain OR cryptocurrency in general. I didn’t understand it, didn’t really have the time and energy to understand it, and I just didn’t care” by Caroline Dy https://drawwriteplay.com/2021/04/26/how-i-got-into-nfts/
How We Sold an NFT… — a step-by-step video guide to what and how, from brainstorming, designing, and selling to setup, minting, and more by Colin and Samir https://youtu.be/BSXMM9Y1blk
Ideas for building in NFTs — community as art, more [thread] by Dylan Field https://twitter.com/zoink/status/1372561281002004481
On NFT consumption, audience, utility — third-party consumption experiences and what’s required by Jarrod Dicker, Tal Shacher, Jonathan Glick https://darkstar.mirror.xyz/bOWhYyX4u5mY0AfY-ObnQSOOcMVEmJQPVUFSw1qJsdc
Musicians meet audio NFTs — an overview of audio NFTs, limited-edition audio/visual experiences issued and sold as tokens on Ethereum by Cooper Turley https://coopahtroopa-eth.medium.com/musicians-meet-audio-nfts-aa495cfd2996
The link between visual art and music Devendra Banhart interviewed by Samantha Ayson https://foundation.app/blog/devendra-banhart
Two crypto creators — on art galleries to tokenized collectibles by Pak, Signe Pierce, Zoran Basich https://a16z.com/2020/11/22/crypto-for-creators-tokenized-collectibles-nfts/
How the blockchain cracked the auction block — how is a Beeple JPEG worth $69 million? by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi and Mary Childs https://www.npr.org/2021/03/12/976513031/the-69-million-jpeg
Monetization for Gamers in the New Cryptoeconomy — how blockchain technology reshapes economic relationships, collaboration, community, and creativity by Kevin Chou https://a16z.com/2020/03/09/monetization-for-gamers-in-the-new-cryptoeconomy/
Community economics and the limits of today’s game economies — on the economic activity inside and outside virtual game worlds like Animal Crossing by Kaiser Hwang https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/17/animal-crossing-new-horizons-and-the-limits-of-todays-game-economies/ [also at https://www.forte.io/?p=507]
Where crypto meets the metaverse — without assuming a strong economic membrane, the whole metaverse idea rapidly falls apart by Piers Kicks https://metaversed.net/Into-The-Void-Where-Crypto-Meets-The-Metaverse-263f1ff8c13c455ea472f5689e01acaa
Where Web3 meets the metaverse — NFTs & digital ownership, open vs. closed metaverse, “Direct-to Avatar Economy”, value chain of the open metaverse by Packy McCormick https://www.notboring.co/p/the-value-chain-of-the-open-metaverse
Gamers prefer virtual goods with real-world value — survey from Vorhaus by Dean Takahashi https://venturebeat.com/2020/12/09/vorhaus-advisors-63-of-gamers-would-spend-more-on-virtual-goods-with-real-world-value/
NFTs are emerging as an important income stream for crypto newcomers in the Philippines to Colombia — from Axie Infinity to Yield Guild and beyond by Dan Kahan https://thedefiant.io/nfts-are-becoming-a-major-source-of-income-for-crypto-newbies-in-the-philippines-to-colombia/
Artists on gathering NFTs by Samantha Ayson https://foundation.app/blog/why-artists-are-collecting-each-others-nfts
NFTs, digital art, and the value shift between IRL and virtual life Trevor McFedries interviewed by Dan Frommer https://newconsumer.com/2021/03/trevor-mc-fedries-interview-nft-fwb/
Creators, Artists, and Athletes — talking creator coins to fans in videos by Kurt Patat https://medium.com/rallynetwork/video-creators-artists-and-athletes-discussing-their-creator-coins-with-fans-e633391b59e3
Why I’m Collecting Black Crypto Art — on fueling a Black Digital Renaissance that may create and capture value for Black communities by Cuy Sheffield https://medium.com/@cuysheffield/why-im-collecting-black-crypto-art-c3cbba939d64
Understanding NFTs as digital abstraction — a view from the traditional art world, Christie’s auction lead Noah Davis interviewed by Valentina Di Liscia https://hyperallergic.com/624053/nft-art-goes-viral-and-heads-to-auction-but-what-is-it/
On cryptocurrencies as content, communities, digital belonging by Kyle Chayka https://air.mirror.xyz/5A16bvvS2IJK7fVVNb2GwrrEcyey2B4UiH2l1DI_Y2I
Forefront Profiles — communities and social tokens creators https://forefront.market/creators
Artists on NFTs and more https://foundation.app/blog
“The Greatest NFT Film Ever Made” creators share thoughts on NFTs, properties, platforms, scaling, exhibitions, more across art, music, fashion, defi, the metaverse The Defiant https://youtu.be/cY9lM73ie0Q
The Man Who Tokenized Himself Gives Holders Power Over His Life — on the first ever Ethereum personal token sale Alex Masmej interviewed by Vinamrata Chaturvedi https://www.coindesk.com/man-who-sells-himself-now-wants-buyers-to-control-his-life
Social Tokens, Community Tokens, Personal Tokens (& NFTs)
Social tokens — a wide category of tokens issued by individuals and communities by Linda Xie https://linda.mirror.xyz/df649d61efb92c910464a4e74ae213c4cab150b9cbcc4b7fb6090fc77881a95d
The fractionalization of NFTs will result in better social tokens — objects, communities, more by Brian Flynn https://jammsession.mirror.xyz/-xYcfFRlhDdLDSUgRMTYJAaRJBs2VG4LP34DnOV84mI
Loyalty Points and Social Tokens — social, not only financial incentives in shaping transactional communities of social token users by Wong Joon Ian https://medium.com/rallynetwork/loyalty-points-and-social-tokens-5046d1ca993
Social Tokens Year in Review (2020) — digital assets supported by reputation of individual, brand, or community by Cooper Turley with Jess Sloss, James Young, Scott Moore, Brian Flynn, and Priyanka Desai https://2020inreview.forefront.news/
Creator DAOs, Creator Economies; Funding Innovation
Come for the creator, stay for the economy — decentralized protocols aren’t social networks, they’re cryptoeconomic networks; milestones for phases by Patrick Rivera https://p.mirror.xyz/1EpvJwUpx_KlRcHOKLNqADEkwHL_Z1ZYKobF2uLwgBg
Power to the person — The creator economy, NFTs, and the rise of the solo corporation by Packy McCormick https://www.notboring.co/p/power-to-the-person-audio
A beginner’s guide to DAOs — with examples of NFT collectives for art, gaming, more by Linda Xie https://linda.mirror.xyz/Vh8K4leCGEO06_qSGx-vS5lvgUqhqkCz9ut81WwCP2o
On creator DAOs — how is this unlike crowdfunding or membership platforms? the main difference is the idea of ownership by Jonathan Glick, Jarrod Dicker, Tal Schachar https://darkstar.mirror.xyz/Tf9IS6yNxtPXwC5mmfi_UISe8v6BOfef2bDmQSxoJao
The DAO of DAOs — from NFTs to DAOs; progressive decentralization; why DAOs, now and next by Packy McCormick https://www.notboring.co/p/the-dao-of-daos-5b9
Protocols and creator DAOs — an analogy of cities and settlements for economic flows and cultural products around meme, message, protocols by Jonathan Glick, Jarrod Dicker, Tal Schachar, Brian Flynn https://darkstar.mirror.xyz/yEK4DdvmxwZ2l-yHWGOQs3rMsLD6RYs_phLUzSFdhAI
“Post-Venture” Capital and the Crypto Nobel Prize by Matt Stephenson https://glyphx.medium.com/post-venture-capital-and-the-crypto-nobel-prize-29847faf3f08
The Most Important Scarce Resource is Legitimacy – on NFTs as public goods funding by Vitalik Buterin https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/03/23/legitimacy.html
NFT Ecosystem, Markets, and FAQs
Copyright vulnerabilities in NFTs — untangling confusion over how the current copyright-law framework applies to NFTs; how creators can proactively take steps to give owners substantial control by James Grimmelmann, Yan Ji, Tyler Kell https://medium.com/initc3org/copyright-vulnerabilities-in-nfts-317e02d8ae26
Ecosystem snapshot — marketplaces; art, collectibles, games, virtual worlds; finance and trading by Andrew Steinwold https://andrewsteinwold.substack.com/p/-quick-overview-of-the-nft-ecosystem
Where do NFTs capture value? — the NFT stack, unpacking the different layers, with emphasis on curation by Cooper Turley https://coopahtroopa.mirror.xyz/A16NP2XXi9RdHptfdF9WHR0Xq_E1XDmUgMwPmJYOG7w
The non-fungible token market — market size and growth (2019-2020), sale methods, distribution by Devin Finzer https://opensea.io/blog/guides/non-fungible-tokens/#The_Non-Fungible_Token_Market
Check My NFT — do you know where your NFT assets are stored? https://checkmynft.com/
How to show crypto art — display sites, digital screens, metaverse galleries by William Peaster https://metaversal.banklesshq.com/p/how-to-display-cryptoart-
How to use NFT furniture — collect, show; where, how by Gabriella Fuller https://nymag.com/strategist/article/how-to-use-nft-furniture.html
How the CryptoPunks took physical form to take part in their first gallery show — paper wallets and a physical model for digital ownership https://www.larvalabs.com/blog/2019-2-1-15-1/a-physical-model-for-digital-art-ownership-the-cryptopunks-in-their-first-gallery-show
NFTs: A Legal Guide for Creators and Collectors — primer on only some of the considerations in the United States by Amy Luo https://www.coindesk.com/nfts-a-legal-guide-for-creators-and-collectors
Rankings
OpenSea https://opensea.io/rankings
CryptoSlam! https://www.cryptoslam.io/
CryptoArt https://cryptoart.io/
Other Resources – Newsletters & Digests
Zima Red — NFTs, virtual worlds, blockchain games https://andrewsteinwold.substack.com/
The Forefront Newsletter — weekly digest of news on social tokens, NFTs, DAOs https://forefront.market/newsletter
History: Origins; Earlier and Other Forms of Crypto Art, Collectibles, & Games
Crypto trading cards (1993) — concept to encourage digital cash Hal Finney https://protos.com/bitcoin-hal-finney-predict-nft-market-joke-1993/
Colored coins (2012) — earliest NFT project (tracking the origin of a given bitcoin to set it apart from the rest so it can carry special properties or value for various applications) by Yoni Assia, Vitalik Buterin, Lior Hakim, Meni Rosenfeld web pdf
History of NFTs — from and before CryptoKitties onward, games, and other experiments by Devin Finzer https://opensea.io/blog/guides/non-fungible-tokens/#History_of_non-fungible_tokens_2017_2020
Rare Pepe (2017) — digital trading cards by Fred Wilson http://avc.com/2017/05/rare-pepe/
Skin-in-the-game coins (2018) — reputation mining, token-curated registries, early utility tokens by Ryan Selkis https://medium.com/messaricrypto/skin-in-the-game-coins-da0afdfdc650
Will cryptocurrencies become the art market’s next major trend? (2018) by Scott Reyburn https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/13/arts/cryptocurrency-art-market.html
Smart media tokens (2017) from Steemit https://smt.steem.io/smt-whitepaper.pdf
Digital collectibles and the strange future of “digibles” by Josh Stark https://hackernoon.com/digital-collectibles-and-the-weird-future-of-digibles-f75f4bf0f9aa
How to build your own Cryptokitties-like game on Ethereum (2017) by James Martin Duffy https://medium.com/loom-network/how-to-code-your-own-cryptokitties-style-game-on-ethereum-7c8ac86a4eb3
Acknowledgements: Thanks as well to Guy Wuollet, Carra Wu, and Miles Jennings for the additions above