OK, let’s get right to it, by now you know what an NFT is, or you can at least search the interwebs for non-fungible tokens. For 99% of the marketplace, an NFT is art that is an image or set of images (video) that is reserved in the blockchain and proves a chain of custody of the art.

The next evolution of the NFT has already started and is likely to change the game again, the NFM (non-fungible membership). An NFM is when membership clubs entrust their access keys to the blockchain and trust their community to be part of their success story.

The key difference between an NFT and an NFM is the transferred responsibility to the holder of the membership. NFM’s put the community more in charge of the experience.

How and more importantly, why would you want an NFM? Let us go over the two key questions.

First, the how. Member clubs will take their membership and put them in a blockchain just as an NFT would be by listing it on an exchange. The NFT contains metadata that is specific only to it like traits and rarities. The Member club will then assign levels to the listing and secure them in the chain.

Next, the why. There are two parties at play here and we need to look at each of them separately.

First, the “why” of the buyer. By the club moving the membership access to the blockchain it puts the users in control of the membership. More specifically a member can transfer the membership to a non-member without the club entity being involved.

For example, if you bought into the Yen Shave Club at level one and you had lifetime razors and you had a friend that wanted to buy that from you, in a Web 2.0 model, you really could not sell it. However, with an NFM you can sell it to your friend and the listing will transfer to them.

Now, some of you may ask, what about the Member Club, what happens to them?

That is the second part of the equation. The member clubs will be incentivized to move to an NFM model for three key reasons.

1 — Providing open access to membership enables more consumers of the product to enter the potential pool of customers.
2 — When a membership is sold, the club will secure a royalty for the transfer of the membership.
3 — The management of the membership moves off the books of the club and is entirely run in a chain, this reduces the overhead of the staff and requirements of the entire team and enables the club to deploy the staff elsewhere to raise the level of the member experience.

To be clear, NFM’s are not like selling a timeshare, this is a consumable product that people use. NFM’s become the keys to access to the club’s experience-based product.

We are already seeing how the world of DeFi is starting to splinter old banking models. This will only increase as businesses learn the power of moving their operations into a blockchain environment. Experiential and digital products

The key statement here is a product. Products are anything from consumables that you purchase to memberships to tickets. Some collectors consider baseball cards investments, but in reality, they are just things. That Barry Sanders signed jersey I have kept in mint condition is not an “investment”, no matter what I tell myself it really does not make the cut, it is a product pure and simple. And, there is no shame in that.

This article is not financial advice, it is just a perspective on the difference between a non-fungible token and a non-fungible membership.

The first NFM (Non-Fungible Membership) that I know of is Mempo.xyz This is a collection of membership club access keys that are being given to hype houses around the world with the first one in Los Angeles. The avatars will also be used as streaming elements.

Be on the lookout for many more NFM’s to come out in the following months. Theme parks, restaurants, bars, and more will see the benefit of trusting the community to be a bit part of their success.

Thanks for taking the time to read this article, have a great day.