You may have heard about NFT’s and the popular news Beeple’s artwork called “Everydays 5000” being sold for $69 Million USD this Jan – March. Yes, it was all over the internet and now many NFT Works are currently being sold for over a $1 Million dollars. Crazy right but there’s a big and a very legit reason as to why NFT’s are being sold for such a high price. We will be discussing all of this in this article, so stay tuned, grab your coffee and I hope to completely remove the NFT confusion that’s currently going on.
First Question – What are NFT’s?
NFT in the most basic and simplest form, “remove the artworks, trading cards or anyting sort of information you’ve gathered from the internet.” NFT’s are basically just digital Tokens that are programmed with blockchain codes. They are no less than a CryptoCurrency and no more than a Cryptocurency.
However, NFT’s are different than the standard crypto-currency, you may ask why, and the reason is because they are digital tokens that are Non-Fungible and on top of that, NFT Tokens can hold specific additional data that is where the NFT’s become extremely valuable.
They are Non-Fungible meaning, they cannot be replaced, duplicated or destroyed. While most of the Cryptocurrencies are fungible like Bitcoin. You can have 1000 bitcoins and they all look the same. You give one to your friend and he has the same exact coin as yours.
With NFT’s that is not the case. Each NFT token is unique and comes with specific data installed upon them that makes the NFT tokens extremely unique to each other.
You might wonder, how any artwork or any digital asset can be turned into an NFT?.
And they can be turned into an NFT.
This process of turning a digital asset into an NFT is called “MINTING”.
By minting an NFT, you basically install the unique data that the NFT Token has and combine it with the Digital Asset. This makes the digital asset have the unique data of the NFT Token and now the digital asset itself becomes an NFT Token.
Note: Here in the minting process, nothing has changed. However, you have just combined the Artwork and the NFT Token together. That’s it.
Don’t worry, the process of minting is all handled by the blockchain itself. It’s automatic which means anyone without any knowledge of blockchain can turn their artwork or digital asset into an NFT.
These can be done on NFT Marketplaces like Rarible.com, OpenSea.com, Nifty Gateway where the company handles everything for you.
Of course, if you are really into the technical aspect of blockchain and NFT, this is not the greatest explanation of what are NFT’s. However, for a non-tech person, this is exactly what happens in the NFT world.
The question is, “Yes, I get it, NFT’s have the uniqueness and the ability to be irreplaceable.” But How the heck do NFT’s sell or get valued at over $1 Million Dollars?. I mean, Beeple’s NFT is just crazy which sold for $69 Million.
What makes NFT so Valuable?
1. Ability to be Resold
Just like any cryptocurrency, you can resell your NFT Artwork or digital asset. This is where NFT’s get the most value from. Their ability to be resold. Meaning, you could own a $100 dollar artwork and sell it for millions in the future. This seems impossible, and yes I get it, it is practically impossible but people have done that. It seems illogical and unnatural. However, the biggest question one can ask is how will the main artist or original artist benefit if he sold his artwork for just $100 and it sells for $69 million in the future.
This where the uniqueness of NFT’s really shine. Because original artists can set a commission fee anywhere between 5% to 10%. Which means anytime their artwork gets resold, the original artist gets a commission of 5% to 10% of the sale value.
This is the main reason why CryptoPunks which is one of the most famous and highly-priced and value Crypto Artworks just gave away their NFT’s for FREE. They gave away 10,000 of them and they are all now being sold for over $50,000 to $1 million Dollars each.
Here both the creator and the investor or collectors are benefitting meaning it’s a win-win situation.
2. Immutable
NFT’s are immutable meaning, there is no one who will have the power or right to change the meta data on your token. Meaning, they cannot change the image, name or anything. While, the NFT’s are also irreplaceable meaning they cannot be duplicated or made a copy of.
3. Unique
NFT’s are unique and one-of-a-kind. There only one NFT of your kind in the world and this is what makes NFT so valuable. The first industry it completely transformed and changed is the art industry because uniqueness was what the Art Industry really suffering from.
Before the NFT bubble, no one could really be safe from copyright. Anyone in the world could claim your work as your own, use it to their advantage until you catch them and take the artwork down. Today, that is not possible, thanks to NFT’s because even if a person clams your artwork to be theirs, he cannot because the data is stored within the blockchain that’s going reveal the real owner.
There are more plenty of reason why NFT’s are so valuable but these were the top three reasons as to why people invest in NFT’s.
If you think about, why wouldn’t an investor buy an NFT art. He would surely do because of the fact that not only he is collecting an art but he is investing in a piece of digital asset that can probably go very high in value.
One of the things that investors also invest in is the artists itself which is the reason why Beeple saw such a hike in his NFT sales. Not only was Beeple a talented artist but during his career, he had worked for highly reputed companies like Apple, Nike, Coca-Cola and celebrities like Justin Bieber.
Here, collectors don’t just invest in art itself, they invest in the artists and especially reputed artists in the hope that, if they buy art from them, the value will rise due to the reputation of the artist.
WHERE CAN I BUY NFT ARTWORKS?
Okay, enough theory, I get it, what NFT’s are and how they work. I wanna actually buy them so how to buy them and own one.
The world has really become advanced and it’s pretty hecking advanced. There’s this thing called NFT’s that have just come up in 2017’s and 2018 and now the world is actually able to utilize the technology and in 2021, its really changed the art industry.
NFT’s have become a game changer and you too can create your own NFT right now.
You can easily buy or create NFT’s in these marketplaces.
1. Rarible.com
One of the biggest marketplaces on the internet for NFT assets and artworks. On Rarible, an artist can sell, list their artworks as well as invest or collect other artworks. It is both a marketplace for digital assets as well as a distributed network built on Ethereum that allows people to trade assets without needing a middleman. Rarible charges up to 2.5% fee for the trade. Meaning the buyer will be charged 2.5% as well as the seller 2.5%.
2. OpenSea.com
OpenSea is another NFT marketplace similar to Rarible where you can buy sell or trade NFT’s. It is also one of the biggest NFT marketplaces where many of the largest sales have happened. Buying or selling an item on OpenSea works in a similar way like Rarible.com. You will need a crypto wallet which has to be connected to the marketplace via their service. After which, once you add some funds on your account, you are free to buy or invest in any NFT’s. You can even list your NFT in the marketplace and get paid directly on your Crypto wallet once someone buys your artwork.
3. Nifty Gateway.
Nifty Gateway is another largest NFT marketplace where you can buy or sell NFT’s. Very similar to both of the marketplaces but slightly different. Nifty Gateway is a little strict compared to other NFT marketplaces as they don’t allow you to list your work. You will need to be verified and your work also needs to be verified in order for you sell your artwork. It’s a huge marketplace and there are millions of people on the site right now.
Other notable NFT marketplaces
- Christie’s
- Super Rare
- Foundation App
- Mintable App
- Axie Marketplace
What is the NBA TopShot That I have been Hearing about Lately?
Until now, all you’ve known about NFT’s is that they are basically artworks that are sort of like Crypto Currencies valued at a stratospheric amount of money.
Well, let me tell you that NFT’s can be more than just art works. NBA Topshot is the best example for that.
What NBA Topshop really is is that they are collectible digital cards valued at some price that display a NBA player and a video of him scoring points or a epic moment video of him during the NBA game that was very memorable.
This means when you buy a NBA Topshot NFT, you get a collectible card as well as a video on the card that shows the player scoring 3 pointers or crazy dunks.
🚨 TOP COLLECTOR ALERT 🚨
This is 1️⃣ of 4️⃣9️⃣ LeBron James Moments that can ever be minted in our Cosmic packs. Scooped up by user rapid_goji_berry2079 via the #NBATopShot marketplace 📈
Start collecting Moments like these before the beta opens! https://t.co/S4XvtARyar 🏀⛓ pic.twitter.com/Lqm8grEIF1— NBA Top Shot (@nbatopshot) September 29, 2020
With NBA Topshots, you can buy Digital Trading cards of players in a more advanced, future like form that comes with an amazing animation and of course the memorable video. Best of all, people buy almost anything. The crazy NBA fans are down to throwing over $100,000 on a single NFT from NBA. So, even if you get a NBA Topshot card for $5000 or even $15,000 you should consider grabbing one if you have the funds for it. Remember, those Pokemon cards in the 2000’s and we all know how much they are worth now. So, if you have the funds to actually invest in NBA Topshot cards, 2021 is actually the right time to invest in because right now the market is so saturated and niche that every single digital asset from the NBA is valuable. So, think about it and you can give your hand on it.
Currently, in the NBA Topshot, A LeBron James highlight sold for $200,000. Right now the common packs are selling for as low as $9.
Conclusion
So, whether you wish to become an NFT artist or not, you should definitely take this opportunity and see it as a lightning bolt of awakening your true financial freedom. Clearly, many NFT’s are expensive while some are quite affordable. If you actually do your due diligence, research a bit, i am sure, you will be able to figure out what’s worth investing in and what’s not worth investing in.
For that, NFT’s Streets, we are here to provide you with the latest news and updates on NFT’s. And of course if you are a digital artist, our NFT guides section contains a lot of information about creating NFT’s for beginners so do check that out.
