Non‑Fungible Tokens (TEP‑62) represent the digital embodiment of uniqueness within the TON ecosystem. Unlike their fungible counterparts, each NFT possesses distinct characteristics that make it irreplaceable and non‑interchangeable. This fundamental property of uniqueness enables NFTs to serve as digital certificates of authenticity for a wide array of digital and physical assets.The power of NFTs lies in their ability to prove verifiable ownership of digital assets through blockchain technology. Each token carries a unique identifier and associated metadata that distinguish it from every other token in existence. This uniqueness makes NFTs particularly valuable for representing assets where individual characteristics matter significantly.Use cases:
Digital art
Real-world assets
Access rights
The technical implementation of NFTs in TON mirrors the distributed architecture philosophy found in Jettons. Individual item contracts represent each NFT, while collection contracts manage overall collection metadata and coordinate minting processes. This distributed approach ensures that NFT operations remain efficient and scalable even as collections grow to encompass thousands or even millions of individual tokens.
NFTs in TON are built using a distributed smart contract architecture consisting of:
NFT collection contracts — serve as the source of truth for items, providing addresses, collection metadata, and coordinating the overall collection
NFT item contracts — each NFT is represented by its own smart contract account, storing the collection address, index, current owner, and individual metadata
This architecture ensures that each NFT operates independently while maintaining a connection to its collection, enabling efficient and scalable operations.
The current owner sends a transfer message to the NFT item contract, which updates the owner field and optionally sends notifications to the new owner along with any excess Toncoin. This transfer flow ensures atomicity while maintaining flexibility for ownership notifications and handling remaining funds.Read more:
