Metaverse/NFT

What Are NFTs And Why It Become The Most Powerful Explosion Trend?

bePAY

22 March 2022

NFTs are all around, yet many people have no idea what are NFTs? Celebrities and large businesses are getting engaged with NFTs after they took the art and gaming worlds by storm with million-dollar auctions. Adidas collaborated with the Bored Ape Yacht Club to produce some and then with Prada to establish a joint NFT project.

Not even fast-food chains McDonald’s and Coca-Cola are exempt from this trend. If you’re still stumped by the question, “What are NFTs?” we’ve got the solution for you below. As well as how they might be put to use by those in the creative industries.

Regardless of whether you think NFTs are a speculative fad or a brilliant new opportunity for artists, they’re making the news and at least many creatives have made a business out of them. What are NFTs? If you’d want to discover more about NFTs and why they’re contentious, keep reading these bePAY‘s article.

What Are NFTs And How Do They Work?

What Are NFTs?

NFTs are tokens that can be used to indicate ownership of extremely unique items. They enable us to tokenize assets like art, antiques, and even real estate. They can have only one official owner at a time and are safeguarded by the Ethereum blockchain — no one can amend the ownership record or create a new NFT.

Non-fungible tokens are referred to as NFTs. Non-fungible is an economic word that refers to items such as furniture, music files, and computers. These objects cannot be substituted by other items due to their unique qualities.

On the other hand, fungible goods may be swapped since their worth, instead of their unique features, characterizes them. For instance, ETH and dollars are fungible in the sense that 1 ETH /1 USD may be exchanged for another 1 ETH /1 USD.

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NFT definition

How Do NFTs Work?

Cryptocurrencies and other virtual currencies may be traded or exchanged for one another much like real money. As an example, the value of a Bitcoin remains essentially unchanging. A single unit of ether, similarly, is always equivalent to another unit. Due to their fungibility, cryptocurrencies are well-suited as a safe means of exchange in the digital economy.

By making each token unique and irreplaceable, NFTs fundamentally alter the cryptographic paradigm, proving it impossible for one non-fungible token to be equivalent to another. They are digital representations of physical assets and have been compared to digital passports due to the fact that each token carries a unique, non-transferable identity that allows it to be distinguished from other tokens. You may combine two NFTs to make a new one, making them expandable as well.

As with Bitcoin, NFTs provide ownership information to facilitate identification and transfer between token holders. Additionally, owners may provide information or asset-specific properties in NFTs. For instance, fair-trade coffee bean tokens might be considered as such. Alternatively, artists may sign their digital artworks in the metadata with their signature.

The ERC-721 standard has evolved into NFTs. ERC-721 specifies the bare minimal interface—ownership information, security, and metadata—required for the exchange and delivery of gaming tokens. The ERC-1155 standard extends this notion by lowering the transaction & storage costs associated with non-fungible tokens and batching many non-fungible token types into a single contract. 

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Non-fungible token – how does it work?

Cryptokitties are a popular use of NFTs. Cryptokitties, which were launched in November 2017, were digital representations of cats with distinct identifiers on the Ethereum blockchain. Because each kitten is unique, they each have a market value in Ethereum. They reproduce among themselves and generate kids with distinct characteristics and values from their parents.

Within a few weeks of its inception, cryptokitties amassed a fan following willing to spend $20 million on purchasing, feeding, and nurturing them. Some devotees have paid upwards of $100,000 to the endeavor.  Recently, the Bored Ape Yacht Club has drawn controversy due to its expensive fees, celebrity clientele, and high-profile thefts of many of its 10,000 NFTs. 

While the use cases for cryptokitties and the Bored Ape Yacht Club may seem silly, some have more substantial commercial ramifications. For instance, NFTs have been employed in both private equity and real estate transactions. One of the ramifications of allowing numerous kinds of tokens in a contract is the possibility to escrow many sorts of non-fungible tokens—from artwork to real estate—into a single transaction.

Now let’s move on to see what are the most popular NFTs?

What Are The Most Popular NFTs?

Here is the list of the top 5 most exclusive NFTs that were sold all the time. 

Pak’s ‘The Merge’ – $91.8m

The Merge was acquired by 28,983 collectors with a sum of almost $100m. Another Pak work, The Merge officially had been the most pricey NFT ever purchased on Dec 2, 2021, with approximately 30,000 collectors coming together during a total cost of $91.8m.

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The Merge

Beeple Everydays – The First 5000 Days – $69,3M

Mike Winkelmann, better known by his stage name Beeple, developed Everydays: the First 5000 Days, a digital work of art. Winkelmann’s “Everydays” series is a collage made up of 5000 digital photos. For the first time, Christie’s auctioned off a non-fungible token (NFT) symbolizing Everydays: the First 5000 Days for $69.3 million, making it the third most valuable work by a living artist.

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The First 5000 Days

Clock –  $52,7M

Julian Assange and Pak’s Clock NFT became the second-most costly single NFT ever sold in February 2022. The NFT represents a timer counting the days Assange has been imprisoned. It was included in Pak & Assange’s Censored collection, which also included a dynamic open edition.

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Clock NFT

Human One – Beeple – $28,9M 

Beeple’s HUMAN ONE is a one-of-a-kind NFT. As the artist’s first physical work, both the NFT and the electronic sculpture were offered for sale as a single lot at Christie’s 21st Century Evening Sale.

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Human One

#5822 Cryptopunk – $23,7M

CryptoPunk #5822 is the most valuable CryptoPunk ever sold. On February 12, 2022, the alien-style punk with a blue bandana sold for $23 million — more than twice the price of the next highest-grossing punk. Because it is one of just nine aliens in the collection, it was certain to fetch a premium. Deepak Thapliyal, the CEO of Chain, posted a photograph of his punk after the acquisition.

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Punk #5822

#7523 CryptoPunk – $11,7M

CryptoPunk #7523, dubbed the “COVID Alien” by many owing to its huge facemask, was the biggest punk sale of 2021. It’s critical to highlight that the blockchain does not represent this high-profile transaction, which took place in June as part of Sotheby’s Natively Digital auction.

Straybits, the initial minter of #7523, and Sillytuna, the Punk’s second collector (who provided it for sale), are both active members of the NFT community. As a consequence, the transaction was hailed as a big victory for the NFT ecosystem and a significant step toward widespread NFT adoption.

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CryptoPunk #7523 NFT

Why Is NFT Art So Expensive?

To begin, NFTs are non-fungible, which implies that the object is completely owned by the individual. They certify the validity of a non-fungible asset, which makes these assets special and unique. Purchasing a work of art by Pablo Picasso, for example. You can see a lot of copies on market but there is only one original piece of his work that can be produced. What makes an original artwork so priceless is the fact that no two are exactly alike.

NFTs are distinct from cryptocurrencies in the manner that you can swap Bitcoin to acquire valuable items, therefore they are fungible that way. Because they are not, NFTs are a powerful investing instrument.

Other characteristics that make NFTs such desirable investments include usefulness, ownership history, intangible asset, perception of the purchaser, stability premium, and future value.

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Why is NFT art so expensive?

Where To Buy NFTs?

When it comes to purchasing NFTs, there are several options available to you depending on what you’re looking for (for example if you’re looking to purchase baseball cards, you’ll want to check out digital trading cards). You’ll need a wallet for the platform you’re purchasing on and a Bitcoin to put in that wallet.

Ticket ‘drops’ are common because of the strong demand for several sorts of NFT, therefore they are distributed in batches at various times, much like event tickets. For this reason, you’ll need to be enrolled and ready to spend when the drop begins, so make sure you have enough money in your wallet.

NFTs may be purchased from a variety of sources, some of where to buy NFTs mentioned below:

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NFTs Marketplace

To the satisfaction of parents everywhere, we’re sure, NFTs are also making a splash as in-game purchases in video games. Users can buy and sell playable assets like distinctive swords, armor, and other identifiers for their characters.

Some FAQs About NFTs

What Are Examples Of NFTs?

Non-fungible tokens may represent any kind of asset, even if it is only available online, such as digital artwork or real estate. Avatars, digital and non-digital souvenirs, web addresses, and event tickets are all examples of in-game assets that may be represented by NFTs.

How Can I Buy NFTs?

Since so many NFTs could only be acquired using Ether, the first step is generally to acquire some of this money and store it digitally. To buy NFTs, you may use any of the online markets for NFTs, such as OpenSea or Rarible.

Are Non-Fungible Tokens Safe?

Non-fungible tokens, which employ blockchain technology much like Bitcoin, are typically safe. The decentralized nature of blockchains renders NFTs difficult (but not prohibitive) to attack. If the site that hosts the NFT goes out of business, you may lose access to the non-fungible token.

Are NFTs A Good Investment?

To answer are NFTs a good investment? You must have the eyes of long-term investors or just basic you’re a collector to evaluate that piece of art may cost invaluable prices, collecting NFTs may make very sense for you. For NFTs’ sake, more individuals purchasing ether is a positive development. There is, however, a major drawback: the cost of purchasing NFTs. To complete a transaction on Ethereum, you may be forced to spend as much as $100 or $200.

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Are NFTs a good investment?

Conclusion

The NFT movement is still in its infancy, but it serves as an early example of how cryptos might help the digital economy operate better for everyone. If you’re a creative person, selling digital assets could be a good idea. They may be bought for their collectibility, but they are an investment in NFTs. The value of a work is subject to change depending on the level of interest in it.

For determining which collectables will rise in value and which ones will not, there is no defined formula. Early spotting of a new NFT trend might pay big returns in the long term. Some digital pieces of art that were first sold for small sums of money have been sold for tens of thousands of dollars.

Digital art is the primary use for NFTs at the moment, but there are many more to come. NFTs provide artists with a simple method to sell digital work that otherwise wouldn’t find an audience. Artists may also get compensated for each successive sale of their work in a variety of ways. On the other hand, collectors have the opportunity to speculate on digital art and boast about the uniqueness of their collections.

Buying an NFT as an investment comes with the caveat that there’s no certainty that its value will rise. The value of certain NFTs may be as high as millions, yet others may never be worth anything.