Domains, applications, challenges and opportunities on Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT): A systematic mapping study

• Gislainy Crisostomo Velasco UFG
• Sergio T. Carvalho UFG

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/washes.2022.223284

Abstract

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have recently gained visibility for their use in the digital arts and gaming world. The ERC-721 standard allows to have unique tokens, i.e., non-interchangeable in the Blockchain ecosystem. This paper presents results of a systematic mapping aiming to bring research horizons and potential paths that can be explored with blockchain and NFT technologies, listing the main domains, applications, challenges and opportunities involving both technologies. The main contributions of this work are: (1) identification of the main domains and applications in which NFT is being employed; (2) challenges and research opportunities related to blockchain and NFT. The main challenges are in issues such as the difficulty of managing private keys, data ownership, intellectual property, and legislation with little guidance regarding copyright and the use of NFTs. There are also challenges and opportunities in the development of software solutions, especially regarding the definition of a development life cycle of tokens.

Keywords: smart contract, blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFT), ERC-721, ERC-1155

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