Its versatility enabled the pioneering of numerous use cases, including digital artwork, deeds to physical items, real estate (including virtual), access passes, and game assets.

The creation of derivative standards followed from its influence on Ethereum (like ERC-1155 enabling semi-fungibility) and other blockchains.

It introduced the formalization and defining of the term Non-Fungible Token "NFT" in blockchain nomenclature by establishing a standard for smart contracts known as "ERC-721" whose tokens would have unique attributes and ownership details, ensuring no two tokens are alike.

While experiments around non-fungibility have existed on blockchains since as early as 2012 with Colored Coins on Bitcoin, a community-driven paper called ERC-721: Non-Fungible Token Standard was published in 2018 under the initiative of civic hacker and lead author William Entriken and is recognized as pioneering the foundation for NFTs and enabling the growth of the wider eco-system.

It used an early version of ERC-721 that differed from the formally published version of the standard in 2018.

in November 2017, the widely acclaimed blockchain game on Ethereum known as CryptoKitties launched and is credited with pioneering what is considered to be the very first bona fide non-fungible token standard, known as ERC-721.

In December, a clipart based collection featuring images of rocks called EtherRock emerged.

The generative art project of 10,000 pixelated characters known as CryptoPunks emerged soon after in June and would later establish itself as one of the most commercially successful NFT projects.

Curio Cards in May of that year is credited with being Ethereum's first art NFT project using the fungible standard and features artwork in the shape of a card among a variety of image types including satirized corporate logos.

In 2017, several NFT projects emerged on Ethereum that utilized a "fungible" token standard known as ERC-20.