# Preface

**Non-fungible tokens**, or **NFTs** – the initialism most people know them by – are a part of the exciting self-custody web3 infrastructure that has seen tremendous growth. For some perspective, most of our online experiences today are still dominated by web2 platforms, the ones that use or act as no-opt-out custodians for users’ digital assets.

NFTs have been trending for at least a few years, and their utility constantly evolves to add more opportunities. They are arguably one of the most sought-after components of web3, with multiple marketplaces having launched so far to provide the functionality for their purchase, sale, exchange, and even loan.

"We're still early" with the NFT ecosystem, which needs streamlined web3-native investment/ownership solutions (besides landing & borrowing). And given top NFT grails are quite expensive, it's hard for a lot of crypto enthusiasts to participate in the market. This results in a biting lack of liquidity crippling the industry’s wider adoption.

Nevertheless, these challenging barriers to entry can be addressed if dealt with globally and comprehensively.
