To use rather than collect, the second coming of NFTs

NFTs have been called everything from fads to outright scams, but early adopters see a future for them as uniquely useful tools for business, health and the arts that goes beyond mere digital collecting.

The non-fungible token (NFT) craze, just over a year old, has given the world works that have sold for millions and includes collections from the "Bored Ape Yacht Club" to an image of a naked Donald Trump following his 2020 election defeat.

This booming world of digital assets has opened up a new market into which tens of billions of dollars have been poured, while also provoking discussions about how they could be useful in the real world.

"NFTs are very rudimentary right now," said Sandy Khaund, founder of start-up Credenza, which helps companies adopt new technologies based on blockchain, which underlies cryptocurrencies and NFTs.

Beyond the art world, "they don't have a lot of functionality. They don't have a lot of utility," Khaund added.

"Most of them are just monkeys or apes or whatever that do nothing," agreed Juan Otero, CEO of Travala, an online travel site, in reference to the famous "Bored Apes."

Yet there is a class of the digital assets bridging the real and virtual worlds.

Starbucks, which will soon launch its own NFTs, sees them as a "programmable, brandable digital asset, that also doubles as an access pass."

Owning one of the coffee giant's NFTs, will open access to "unique experiences," as well as to a "community," a new vision of a loyalty program, based on the blockchain.

This technology, on which cryptocurrencies and NFTs are based, allows the same token to be used for different applications.

On the institutional side, the tiny republic of San Marino, nestled within Italy,...