It is shown that, in a generic sense, and unlike what for electric point charges, the Born-Infeld nonlinear electrodynamics excludes monopoles as finite-energy magnetic point charges, thus spelling out an electromagnetic asymmetry. Moreover, it is demonstrated, in a systematic way, that the curvature singularities of finite-energy charged black holes in the context of the Born-Infeld theory may effectively be relegated or in some cases removed under a critical massenergy condition, which has been employed successfully in earlier concrete studies. Furthermore, it is illustrated through numerous examples considered here that, when adapted to describe scalar-wave matters known as k-essences, the Born-Infeld formalism provides a fertile ground for cosmological applications, including achieving accelerated dark-energy expansions and acquiring adequate field-theoretical realizations of the equations of state of various cosmic fluid models.