Non-fungible token (NFT) means that something can not be exchanged for another item as it is unique, what is nft one piece of art is not equal to another, each is a unique property.
NFTs are tokens that live on a Blockchain and represent ownership of unique items.
Why it is helpful? Tracking who owns a digital life is tricky because it can be copied and distributed easily. So finding the original owner would be difficult since everyone may have an identical copy of a file. NFT is the answer!
Imagine you made a piece of digital art on your computer. You can create or mint an NFT out of your art. The NFT that presents your art contains some information about it, such as unique finger print of the file, a token name and a symbol. This token is then stored on a blockchain and you ,as the artist, are known as the owner.
Once you own a token, you can sell it by creating a transaction on the blockchain. The blockchain makes sure that this information can never be cheated. Further, it allows tracking the current owner of the token and it's value at the present or in the past. Note that the artwork itself is not stored within the blockchain or the NFT. Only the information, the token name, symbol and optionally a link to a file hosted on IPFS are recorded. NFT is different in that when you buy an NFT that represents artwork, you actually don't get a physical copy of it. You already learned that an NFT only presents the ownership and the records on blockchain, so nobody can tamper with it.
To make it more interesting, you should know that NFT retains the copyright and the reproduction rights. Therefore, an artist can sell her original work as an NFT, though he can still sell prints.
NFTs also can be used to sell consert tickets, domain new, in-game items, real state and anything that is unique and needs proof of ownership.
For instance, the founder of Twitter sold his very first tweet as an NFT. Although anyone can see the tweet on his profile, only one person can own it, the one who paid for it.
Now let's see why some NFTs worth millions. Like any other asset, the value is determined by what people are willing to pay for it. Prices are driven by demands, so it is possible that an expensive NFT becomes worthless if it gets no attraction for buyers.
Now, let's see how NFTs work technically. As you may already know, NFTs are smart contracts that live on a blockchain. This contract stores the unique properties of the item and keeps track of current and previous owners. More interesting, an NFT can be even programmed to give royalties to the creator everytime it is sold. NFTs for sure brings the chance to change the art world!