NFTs are everywhere right now and you might be wondering what the fuss is all about. You are probably confused about what they are and why people are spending a lot on them. I’m here to help. I would be showing you some examples so you can get a feel of the marketplace and learn why people find these items so valuable.
What Are NFTs?
NFTs are non-fungible tokens, they are crypto assets that are part of the blockchain (but ethereum blockchain is the dominating host of NFTs and its innovation for now). It is a digital asset that exists in the digital universe- you can’t touch it, but you can own it. NFTs can be any type of digital file: an artwork, music, picture, video, an in-game item, meme, a virtual baseball trading card. These digital assets are bought and sold online, typically with cryptocurrency. An NFT can be minted (i.e. registered on a blockchain) from almost anything: a virtual racing car inside a video game.
What is a blockchain?
A blockchain is a digital database, most often in the form of a public ledger. It stores information across a network of computers. Transactions on a blockchain can be verified without the need for any central authority, like banks or governments, and are supposed to be impossible to change, hack, or corrupt. Each transaction is time-stamped and added to a growing chain of blocks of data. Things like bitcoin or physical money are “fungible’’, which means they can be exchanged for one another. Non-fungible tokens are unique, and each of them has a digital signature that can’t be exchanged. The owner of the NFT can verify ownership using that digital signature.
What is the point of an NFT?
Minting an NFT provides proof of ownership. While NFTs can be infinitely copied you can distinguish your NFTs from random copies by looking through the blockchain. You cease to own an NFT after you sell it.
Top NFT Examples
Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” Beeple’s purely NFT digital artwork was the first NFT to be sold at a major auction house. Christie’s auctioned off this asset for an eye-popping $69 million.
William Shatner’s memorabilia
Actor William Shatner released a collection of NFTs of personal memorabilia from his 60-year career. He sold 125,000 units in 9 minutes, including some of his early headshots, a photo of Shatner hugging Star Trek co-star Leonard Nimoy, and an X-ray of Shatner’s teeth.
Grimes WarNymph
Singer-songwriter Grimes made $5.8 million selling a collection of 10 NFTs. The highest-selling asset was a one-a-kind video called “Death of the Old” that sold for $389,000.
Nyan Cat
A crypto art rendition of the beloved GIF Nyan Cat meme sold for $590,000 in an online auction, in a first foray into NFTs for creator Chris Torres
Glenfiddich whisky
Distillers William Grant and Son recently sold 15 bottles of 46-year-old Glenfiddich whisky for $18,000 a piece, and each one was accompanied by its own NFT artistic impression of the bottle. The NFT allows the owner to show off their purchase and acts as a counterfeit-proof certificate of ownership.
Jack Dorsey’s first Tweet
Twitter founder Jack Dorsey sold his very first Tweet, from way back on Twitter’s launch day in March 2006. The NFT of the tweet sold for nearly $3 million. Dorsey says the money would be converted to bitcoin, then donated to a charity organization called GiveDirectly.
Furniture NFTs
Argentinian designer Andrés Reisinger sells furniture NFTs that people can use in open worlds like Decentraland or Minecraft. Reisinger’s most expensive piece sold for a little under $70,000.
NBA shots sport collectibles
Top Shot is an NFT marketplace for buying, selling, and trading videos of NBA moments – their slogan is “Own the NBA’s Best Plays.” LeBron James dunking against the Houston Rockets is currently their highest-earning asset, selling for $387,000.
RTFKT’s digital sneakers
Virtual sneakers from RTFKT, made for players’ online gaming avatars, are selling for up to $10,000 a pair. In March 2021, RTFKT collected $3.1 million in just a few minutes by selling a series of sneakers he co-created with another artist named Fewocious.
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