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What are NFTs? - An Introductory Guide 

 

By Damian David Nov 25, 2022

 

 

What Is A Non-fungible Token(NFT)?

 

Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) are probably one of blockchain technology's most interesting and sensational parts. This digital creation has spawned billions of dollars in revenue since its Inception. Its adoption rate has grown like wildfire and today it has set the stage for the financial breakthrough of many individuals around the world. 

 

NFTs in popular culture have given artists and creators much more power than any museum or auctioning house can give. The freedom is underestimated because anyone at all can be an NFT artist and anyone can Mint and sell NFTs. As an artist or creative you're given the power to determine the value of your works without any central authority or middleman involved. 

 

 

Understanding Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)

 

The concept behind NFTs is not as complicated as many people think, in fact, the whole concept behind blockchain technology is not as complicated as people think. NFTs can be anything at all — As long as a digital footprint of them can be created and stored on the blockchain network. So an NFT can be your last selfie, your last video, your last drawing, your last voice note, your prior art — anything that can be made to have a digital representation of the original.

 

But if we're to give NFTs a presentable and technical definition we can describe NFTs as a distinctive digital asset that cannot be changed, substituted, or pirated and has a unique signature or authenticator attached to it and is stored in a blockchain network. 

 

They are called Non-fungible Tokens because one Bitcoin equals another Bitcoin, whereas one NFT doesn't equal another NFT in the blockchain network. This is one of their most outstanding features and also one of what makes most of them extremely valuable and ridiculously expensive. 

 

It is recorded that the first NFT, with emphasis on the FIRST NFT ever minted, was sold for a whopping sum of $1.4 million dollars and that was in 2014. Also, it'll excite you to know that the most expensive NFT ever minted and sold was called Merge and its selling price was $91.8 million — really ridiculous if you ask me.

 

But that's one of the reasons I know it is one of the biggest facilitators of the adoption of the blockchain ecosystem because imagine you were very uninterested in Blockchain Technology in 2014 and then out of nowhere came news that someone somewhere is worth $91.8 million just because of some digital artifact on the blockchain — that's right, there surely must be an increase in adoption. 

 

What is NFT Minting?

 

As aforementioned that anything can be an NFT as long as it can be made to have a digital footprint meaning being stored on the blockchain. You might have been curious about how it is made possible — the process of turning anything into an NFT and then integrating it into the blockchain network for it to be sold and traded is called Minting.

 

The process of Minting an NFT is popularly known to be quite expensive but in my opinion, your profits after you make a successful sale will be worth it and there are cheaper routes to it but at the expense of the right audience. 

 

There are sundry platforms that are solely built to facilitate this process of Minting an NFT. 

Some of these platforms are as follows ;

 

● OpenSea

● Rarible

● Larva Lab

● Magic Eden

● Nifty Gateway

● KnownOrigin

● SuperRare

 

These platforms have their unique features and tools, outstanding interface, and user experience but the top two are arguably OpenSea and Rarible. All of them have their specific requirements that need to be met before you can Mint your NFT, but be rest assured that the process is super easy and fun.

 

What are the use cases of NFTs? 

 

There are many applications of NFT technology in blockchain technology and even beyond. Some of these use cases include;

 

Digital Art :

One of the best markets for digital or even non-digital Artists and creators is the NFT market. Digital arts are the major selling products of the NFT market and a lot of life-changing and valuable sales have been made with Digital arts using NFT technology.

 

Games :

NFTs can be part of the gaming industry and this is possible because their design makes them compatible or a fit for the gaming ecosystem as an In-game utility or asset. Some blockchain gaming platforms are already adopting NFT assets as their major in-game utilitarian. Even games that are not on the blockchain network can adopt NFT technology.

 

Music :

I personally know of a couple of musicians that have sold NFT albums one of which is Tory Lanez. On August 10, 2021, he sold the first-ever music streaming NFT album on an NFT platform called E-NFT.com, the name of the album is "When it's Dark" and it's reported to have sold one million copies in sixty seconds, mind blown? 

 

Videos :

Videos are arguably the second major type of NFT in the NFT market. There are a handful of YouTube videos that were minted and sold as an NFT for millions of dollars. For example, the video of a kid that went viral for his "Charlie Bit My Finger" Cries was sold for $761,000.

 

Metaverse :

If the Metaverse is actualized, there is a 99.99% possibility that the majority of assets in the Metaverse will be NFTs. Take for example lands, cars, Billboards, restaurants, etc. The NFT technology fits into the architecture and futurism of the Metaverse. So this is a possible use case.

 

Are Non-fungible Tokens (NFT) technology worth it?

 

I mean aside from the fact that it looks resourceful and excitingly alluring in nature.  NFTs are something to try out and explore especially if you're an active part of blockchain technology. 

 

A lot of opportunities lie dormant in the NFT market, it allows for creativity that the only limit to it is your imagination. It has grown to be a successful infrastructure in blockchain technology and has also birthed a community packed with futuristic individuals ready to decentralize the world.