The World of NFTs
The world of NFTs
What is an NFT?
An NFT is a Non-fungible token. As the name suggests, this token is unique because it can’t be replaced with something else. For example, Bitcoin is fungible because you can trade one Bitcoin for another and the value stays the same. On the other hand, if you trade a non-fungible token for another token, you get something totally different. This means that a non-fungible token can’t be replaced.
NFTs are units of data stored on a blockchain digital ledger. An NFT can never be changed, never be adjusted, and never be stolen, thanks to the principles of cryptography that make the blockchain unique.
Read more about blockchain: What is Blockchain technology?
What are NFTs used for?
Identification, certification and documentation- As NFTs contain code with a unique set of information, they can be used to tokenize documentation such as degrees, academic certificates, licenses, and other qualifications as well as medical records, birth, and death certificates.
Real estate- NFTs have applications for selling digital real estate in both the virtual and real worlds. In the virtual world, digital real estate applications are gaining ground in games such as Decentraland. Participants create and purchase areas in a virtual world. Using NFTs ensure that the objects' original producers and owners can be identified.
Art, luxury brands, sports, and athletic and other memorabilia- Non-fungible tokens are valuable because they can provide digital verification of the ownership and the authenticity of digital art. In markets where fraud and counterfeiting is common, NFTs can help prevent unauthorized transactions and keep the art industry secure.
Can NFTs be used as an investment?
NFTs can also be used as an investment. You can buy an NFT and resell it to make a profit. Some marketplaces allow sellers to gain royalties for the sold assets.
Although NFTs are considered an investment opportunity, their legal aspects are still not clearly defined in most countries. This means that investors in different jurisdictions may face various restrictions when buying NFTs in the future.
How and where to buy NFTs?
Buying an NFT is like buying an item at an auction. You place a bid and wait to see if you win your chosen NFT.
Most NFT marketplaces are like eBay. The biggest difference is that NFT marketplaces allow buyers to pay with crypto.
Best places to buy NFTs:
Opensea - According to its website they have 113,000 users, 15.5 million NFTs, and a $354 million in trade volume. It offers non-fungible tokens(NFTs), such as art, censorship-resistant domain names, virtual worlds, trade cards and collectibles.
Rarible - Rarible purchases and sells NFTs in a variety of areas. It includes art, music, domains, memes, photography, gaming, and others. The site provides a special focus on art assets. The designer can even present a preview look of their product to everyone who visits Rarible, but only the purchaser will get access to the whole project.
Mintable - Mintable is a similar-to-eBay two-sided marketplace for buying and selling NFTs. The site, which is built on the Ethereum and Zilliqa blockchains, is connected with MetaMask, which allows buyers to create cryptocurrency wallets. It is required to create profiles and loading their wallets. Buyers can purchase featured items or bid on auctions. Content creators may simply convert artwork, audio, PDFs, pictures, and other media into a blockchain item and build a smart contract without having to code it themselves.
Some of the most expensive NFTs…
is a digital work of art created by Mike Winkelmann, known professionally as Beeple. The work is a collage of 5000 digital images created by Winkelmann for his Everydays series. Its associated non-fungible token (NFT) was sold for $69.3 million at Christie's in 2021, the most expensive NFT and among the most expensive works by a living artist.
CryptoPunk #3100: $7.58 million
CryptoPunks was released in June 2017 as one of the first non-fungible tokens (NFT) on the Ethereum blockchain.
There are only 10,000 unique CryptoPunks (6,039 males and 3,840 females), all of which are made digitally scarce through the use of blockchain technology. Each one was algorithmically generated through computer code and thus no two characters are exactly alike, but some traits are rarer than others. They were originally released for free and could be claimed by anyone with an Ethereum wallet. There will never be more than the original 10,000 CryptoPunks.
Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter, sold his first-ever tweet as an NFT. All the money he got from this was converted to BTC and donated to a charity supporting those living in poverty.
Written by Tamaz Chinchaladze, Cryptocurrencyteens Business Manager