NFTs in Smart Cities: Vision, Applications, and Challenges

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have recently received widespread attention as their market has experienced massive growth since early 2021. NFTs are blockchain-based tokens used to represent ownership of digital and physical assets in a manner that is transparent, traceable, tamper-proof, secure, and trustworthy. Although NFTs have enabled new applications in the gaming and art industries, their full extent and potential are yet to be explored. In this article, we outline the vision of using NFTs in smart cities. We describe the main components of NFTs and how smart city applications, such as smart governance, smart services, smart economy, smart industry, smart environment, and smart mobility and transportation, can benefit from them. In addition, we show how leveraging NFTs can add value to the metaverse. Finally, we discuss research challenges that hinder the adoption of NFTs in smart cities.