Do you know how NFTs became so popular and what was history? Discover these events below to know more about NFT history.

Following the launch of various NFT projects that year, the term "NFT" only gained currency with the ERC-721 standard, which was first proposed in 2017 via the Ethereum. The standard coincided with the launch of several NFT projects, including Curio Cards, CryptoPunks (a project to trade unique cartoon characters released on the Ethereum blockchain by the American studio Larva Labs), and rare Pepe trading cards.

CryptoKitties, a 2017 online game, was monetized by selling tradable cat NFTs, and its success drew some public attention to NFTs.

The NFT market tripled in value to $250 million in 2020, owing to rapid growth.

More than $200 million was spent on NFTs in the first three months of 2021.

The US Patent and Trademark Office received three trademark applications for NFTs in 2020. The number of trademark applications is expected to exceed 1200 by 2021. The US Patent and Trademark Office received 450 NFT-related trademark applications in January 2022. The NYSE, Star Trek, Panera, Walmart, Elvis Presley, Sports Illustrated, Ticketmaster, and Yahoo are among the growing list of brands trademarked for NFTs.

Following a number of high-profile sales and art auctions in early 2021, interest in NFTs increased. NFTs have been used to exchange digital tokens that are linked to a digital file. Ownership of an NFT is frequently associated with a license to use the underlying digital asset but does not generally confer copyright on the buyer. Some agreements only grant a license for personal, noncommercial use, whereas others permit the commercial use of the underlying digital asset.

The NFTdroops team created this infographic, which introduces all major historical events that shaped the NFT industry.