Famous digital artist Mike Winkleman, famously known as 'Beeple', created a composite of 5000 daily drawings and sold it at an online store Christie's, for 69.3 million dollars. In this increasingly hyper-connected digital world, there is no wonder hearing such news for sure. But what about Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder, who has sold his first-ever tweet as an NFT( Non- Fungible Token) for more than 2.9 million dollars? Getting interested? Then it is time to know about an NFT and how do buy or sell them?
As we all know, buying and selling aesthetically appealing goods or artisans has historical prominence. when it comes to the digital world, there are some hurdles to be tackled since selling or buying online differs from buying a painting in real-time as digital copies of artwork are easy to copy, share, or steal. We all know how to take a screenshot of digital artwork and share it with someone, right? The selling of cryptocurrencies and blockchain has evolved by addressing issues like this.
So, let us discuss a few things about these emerging digital tendencies before explaining NFTs.
Some Things to Note
- Bitcoin - A Bitcoin is a digital token that can be electronically sent from one user to another across the world through digital channels.
- BlockChain- It is a database-maintained community that stores digital data reliably. Most bitcoin transactions occur through such a community.
- Cryptocurrencies- Like Bitcoin, several other virtual currencies like Ether, Dogecoin, Tether, etc. have emerged. They are collectively called cryptocurrencies.
Defining an NFT
The term non-fungible refers to digital artworks that cannot be transferred or replaced by any means. It is exactly where it differs from Bitcoin or any other digital transaction method where one bitcoin is equivalent to another, just like one dollar. An NFT gives proof of ownership and authenticates it. In fact, this makes any digital good unique and valuable to make someone worth buying them. As a digital asset, it can represent any real-world object like artwork, music, video, GIFs, designer sneakers, visual avatars, video game skins, collectibles, etc. We can buy or sell them online with a cryptocurrency.
Why do You Need to Buy an NFT?
It is very natural to think that, why do we need to buy an NFT when we can get copies of anything available on the Internet? For example, if we buy a digital painting online, we can also find them in the internet, download them and keep it. If we can do so, why spend money on buying it? The answer is that an NFT is more than the item itself but the built-in authentication or proof of ownership of the item. In a world with millions of digital goods to be used and exchanged, collectors value this authentication instead of just seeing the image or hearing the music but keeping it or using it for their own purposes.
How to Buy an NFT?
Buying an NFT is also like buying artisans from an art gallery. The first thing we should do is get into the gallery and be eligible to purchase them for real. Like that, you should have a digital wallet that allows storing cryptocurrencies for purchasing NFTs. Get some cryptocurrencies like Ether, as per the preferences of your NFT provider on digital currencies. You can use a credit card on various platforms like Coinbase, Kraken, PayPal, eToro, etc. to buy cryptocurrencies. You will then become able to transfer these currencies from your wallet of choice. But it is essential to keep the transaction charges in mind because different platforms charge differently. Proper research in the area will help you get an in-depth understanding.
Future of NFT
According to Arry Yu, the chair of the Washington Technology Industry Association Cascadia Blockchain Council, we don't have enough history to judge the performance of NFTs, and hence their future is uncertain. So, she suggests that it will be good to invest in NFTs in small amounts rather than going big. Also, NFT platforms can have challenges like impersonations of artworks without having the actual permission of artists to get sold. The verification process of the authenticity of NFT listings is not consistent across various platforms too. In that sense, NFT is a personal choice to make. If you have enough money to spare, enough expertise to research, deduce, and arrive at the right decisions about NFT, it can redefine your business future.