NFTs, also known as non-fungible tokens, have become a big hype lately among youngsters. With a market cap of $30 billion, I’m sure you’re probably thinking about investing in NFT art like all the cool kids.
However, you should know that NFTs aren’t just about digital art. The full potential of NFTs goes beyond just digital art and investment. According to many Blockchain technology experts, NFTs can be used to signal ownership of everything from a JPEG profile picture to your own private property or vehicle. There has even been such things as digital toilet paper with flowers!
Anyway, let’s discover what the hype about the world of NFTs is all about. This article is your perfect introduction to the world of NFTs if you’re looking for a general/eclectic perspective.
The World of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)
- What the heck are NFTs?
- How do they relate to Art?
- How to make money from your NFT Artwork
- Turning your Art into an NFT
- Why its so cool
- How to buy and sell NFTs
- Designing your own NFTs
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What are NFTs?
Most people associate NFTs with digital art, auto-generated pictures of apes, and pixel art. But that doesn’t mean that that’s all there is about NFTs.
First of all, NFTs are unique tokens that cannot be duplicated. The blockchain network that is primarily associated with NFTs is the Ethereum blockchain.
While the native token of the Ethereum Blockchain is Ether, which is a fungible token, this blockchain network is also capable of supporting non-fungible tokens.
When you mint an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain, you create a unique identifier (key) associated with the art you want to turn into an NFT. Once you do that, you get your unique NFT that cannot be duplicated on the blockchain; it can only be traded peer-to-peer.
Non-fungible tokens and art
Art is always the forerunner when anything new is discovered in civilization and culture. In fact, artists are the people who create the culture that everyone else adopts later. The same goes for NFTs.
The same goes for NFTs and blockchain technology. The pioneers in the world of blockchain technology are artists. That’s why people associate NFTs with digital art.
When you think about NFTs, the first thing that might come to your mind is the Nyan Cat GIF, which is worth $690,00, or perhaps the Bored Ape NFTs, which are auto-generated pictures of apes in various costumes and accessories.
Another big NFT that captured attention not too long ago is the $8M worth Pharma Bro’s Wu-Tang Album. A copy of the album was turned into one of the most iconic (and expensive) NFTs around.
If you’re into the idea of buying some good digital art in the form of NFTs, opensea.io and rarible.com are the two best websites for exchanging and minting NFTs.
How can you monetize your artistic work through NFTs?
If you’re an artist, NFTs might provide a whole new landscape of possibilities for you as far as monetizing your art is concerned.
Some NFT artists have made insane amounts of money after minting NFTs for their digital art in a matter of a few months or less.
If the public loves your art, you can make some good income from selling NFTs, perhaps better than all the other methods.
While it’s a risky game and the rewards might not be as expected, being a good artist that has something good to offer makes you a great candidate to the world of NFTs.
When you sell your NFT art on a platform like Rarible.com, you get to choose how many copies can be minted and the percentage you receive every time the art transfers from one owner to another. Therefore, you can receive royalties indefinitely if your art is popular.
How can I turn art into an NFT?
Turning an art, be it a song, a picture, a video, or whatever, into an NFT is an easy thing. All you have to do is register on a blockchain-based platform by connecting your wallet.
When your wallet is connected, you can just upload your art into the platform and mint a non-fungible token on the Ethereum blockchain for a small fee.
Websites like Rarible allow you to mint your NFTs without any gas fees or other fees. The first buyer of your art will mint the NFTs.
So, if you want to mint NFTs for your art, all you have to do is visit opensea.io or rarible.com and follow the easy steps they provide on how to mint an NFT for your art.
What’s cool about NFTs?
Essentially, an NFT can be seen as a unique key that identifies and proves your ownership of a certain digital asset on the blockchain.
Think of it as a ledger used to keep data about ownership and dividends that execute automatically without any paperwork or a centralized authority.
Instead of registering your intellectual property or copyrights through the old channels that require a lot of boring bureaucracy and unnecessary expenses, the Ethereum blockchain offers a great alternative, which is simply minting NFTs on their blockchain network. Those NFTs are immutable, cannot be violated, and can only be traded between the actual owner and the people they want to sell to.
Through Smart Contracts, which are pieces of code that hold the terms for how the NFT and its assets should move around the blockchain that executes automatically, peer-to-peer exchange of NFTs has never been easier.
NFTs offer a whole new perspective on how data is stored, no matter what type that data is. Instead of registering your car ownership through the old bureaucratic system, the future might allow you to just mint an NFT for your car on the spot. This is called the internet of things, which is a subject for another time. It’s, basically, using the blockchain as a replacement to the current ledgers, paperwork, and centralized/vulnerable servers.
The security inherent to blockchain technology allows for a better way to store all sorts of data in a way that benefits individuals, not just big organizations that take advantage of the underdeveloped/old system of data registry.
How can I buy and sell non-fungible tokens?
Before you consider buying NFTs, you have to own some cryptocurrency first; check out my guide to buying crypto.
After you set up your wallet and hold some cryptocurrency in it, you can visit opensea.io or rarible.com to browse for some of the hot NFT arts that you might want to buy.
Make sure to buy NFTs with the potential to become valuable some time in the future; that way you make a good investment.
How can I design my own NFTs?
If you’re into the whole vibe of NFTs, digital art, and all the monterey potential, you might be considering creating your own artworks.
But, you’re probably not an artist; or you’re just not too confident. In that case, you might want to hire a professional…
Need help with NFT design? There are a lot of people that can help you on the freelancing platforms. Check out Fiverr’s sellers; those guys there are really talented and professional.
Make sure to contact your talent thoroughly and explain exactly what you want before you make a purchase on Fiverr.
Conclusion
The recent times have shown us that blockchain technology is truly going to revolutionize the way we use the internet.
As seen from the recent hype about NFTs, this technology has a lot to offer that will replace the old ways of interacting with the digital world in a manner that makes the virtual and the physical have less obvious boundaries.
Once the majority of people embrace blockchain technology, we will witness a wave of social organization and cultural values arise.
Nowadays, only young people are interested in NFTs and all sorts of blockchain-related subjects; but that might change very soon, as more members of the old generations embrace all the perks of blockchain technology.
Part of what makes NFTs really interesting is the communities that gather around a particular art or artist. While none of those communities are organized, some are actually very sophisticated, such as DAOs.
DAOs are decentralized autonomous organizations; they’re crypto-based communities that gather under a certain vision, mission, and native token. These organizations offer their members career opportunities and potentially decent financial success to those who invest.
