Fungible vs. Non-Fungible Tokens: What’s the Difference?

Smita Verma
3 min readMay 4, 2021

Cryptocurrencies have long been associated with blockchain technology. If you’re new to the world of blockchain, you’re probably under the impression that it’s just suitable for creating crypto properties. The real promise of blockchain technologies, on the other hand, goes far beyond cryptocurrencies. However, you need to consider the basics of blockchain technologies if you’re a blockchain enthusiast who wants to move into the field of blockchain. Blockchain qualification course focusing on blockchain primary, blockchain technology implementations, project execution, and blockchain development.

Governments, businesses, and individuals can now store IDs, real estate records, and licenses, as well as other critical knowledge about real-world properties, on the blockchain.

In recent years, this is where the debate about fungible and non-fungible tokens has gained traction. Non-fungible tokens are being heralded as the blockchain economy’s future. However, fungible tokens or emerging cryptocurrencies are often pitted toward them. Let’s clear up the confusion by examining the distinction between fungible and non-fungible tokens.

What Are Tokens?

The concept of tokens is the first thing you can consider when determining the distinctions between fungible and non-fungible tokens. Tokens are a tangible or observable reflection of emotion, reality, or quality in the real world. In everyday life, people come across a variety of tokens.

The token may be used to store money, voting rights, stakes, or something else. Surprisingly, a token is not limited to a single function and can be used to resolve a variety of functions in its native ecosystem. A token may be used to reflect a company’s utility or asset. In a public offering, the corporation will sell the tokens to customers.

Fungible vs Non-Fungible Tokens

Without a question, blockchain is the best technology for managing different forms of digital properties. Its immutability and stability characteristics make it suitable for handling digital properties. It is impractical to write any special details to fungible tokens, which are the most widely used ones is blockchain technology till now.

Cryptographic tokens, on the other hand, that are one-of-a-kind and can store data rather than value, might be the best option. Non-fungible tokens are those that are specified on the Ethereum platform using ERC specifications like the ERC-721 specification. As a result, the distinction between fungible and non-fungible tokens derives from the reliance on data storage. Consider the meanings of fungible and non-fungible tokens to lay the groundwork for comparing them.

In economic terminology, fungibility refers to an asset’s or good’s potential to be interchanged with another asset or good of equal value. Gold is another fungible currency since one ounce of gold in one country has the same worth as one ounce of gold in another. The controversy about fungible vs non-fungible tokens stems from the fact that fungibility is written into the Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency codes. The most valuable feature of a fungible good is that it is uniform, and its units are not special.

NFTs, on the other hand, act as a distinct token variant with no interchangeability with other tokens, as discussed in the debate over fungible and non-fungible tokens. NFT has distinct characteristics that distinctly indicate that it cannot be replaced or exchanged for another token of the same kind.

Non-fungible tokens vary from bitcoins in that they have no intrinsic value. Non-fungible tokens, in particular, derive their worth from the assets or products they serve. NFTs use a variety of token principles and employ a variety of smart contract forms. Non-fungible tokens are seen as cutting-edge technologies for creating a blockchain-based distributed economic environment.

Wrapping up

The distinction between fungible and non-fungible tokens is an important factor that will shape the future of the blockchain ecosystem. In terms of stability and immutability, non-fungible tokens have a distinct edge over fungible tokens. During the asset tokenization process, users may apply additional information and context to the metadata.

Now that you got a run at it, you can see the growing stature of blockchain technology and blockchain professionals in the market. What are you waiting for then? It’s about time you learn blockchain technology and get started with the journey. The Blockchain certification courses from the Blockchain Council concentrate on the skills and expertise you’ll need to get a job, and all is bundled into a lightweight learning module that blends into your schedule.

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