NFTs have attracted the crowd’s attention since they achieved explosive growth in 2021. Despite the decline of the crypto market in the first half of 2022, NFT sale volume was still recorded as billions of dollars. Why are NFTs hyped? Let’s check it out!
What are NFTs?
NFTs stand for what the name implies: non-fungible tokens. These tokens represent unique ownership of digital assets related to art, collectibles, or in-game characters and items. Each NFT has only one owner at a time, and they are secured by a specific blockchain. No one has the right to copy or modify the ownership of an existing NFT. Although there are many platforms for minting NFTs, Ethereum is the most popular, in the form of ERC-721 or ERC-1155 tokens.
The way NFTs and cryptocurrencies are created may seem quite similar, but they are two completely different things. Real money and cryptocurrencies are both fungible, which means they can be bought, sold, and exchanged. They also have the same value, such as two bills of 100 dollars are of the same value. 1 BTC or 1 ETH has the same value as another 1 BTC or 1 ETH. It is this ability that makes it possible for cryptocurrencies to make transactions.
In contrast, each NFT has its own digital signature, making it impossible for them to be peer-to-peer. A simple example would be two items in an NFT game, both of which are NFT but not of the same value.
How can NFTs remain in the heat?
If you’re a bit of a geek with computers and technologies, you may find that NFTs have enormous potential. On the current web 2.0 platform, a jpg image file, or a music song can be downloaded and copied easily. That raises the concern about copyright issues. NFTs can be used to solve this problem. The content creator has absolute ownership and receives the full value of their works without middleman fees. They also code that every time their NFTs are sold again in the market, they will get paid.
Furthermore, an NFT product must have an owner. Owner information is public on the blockchain and anyone can look it up. With just a few simple steps, even a new user can look up all information about NFT including description, first owner, and current owner.
NFT is also compatible with anything on the Ethereum platform. With the support of NFT marketplaces on multiple blockchains, NFT content creators can trade in the global marketplace with no limitations.
Some NFT marketplaces on Ethereum are Elemint, Rarible, or Opensea.
Last but not least, NFT is useful in several aspects of daily life. NFT can also overcome the problem of counterfeiting, and imitation goods, especially for collectibles, or commemorative and sports items. It can also be used for NFT event tickets, NFT contacts, or legal documents related to ownership. And there will be many more applications that we have not thought of so far.
Based on that, NFT is still very hype although the current market is full of red lights.
Where do I start to learn about NFTs?
To learn about something, you cannot skip online courses since they’re so easy to get access in the era of technology. Currently, there are many online courses on NFT fundamentals and basic knowledge that are sold as NFTs. And Collin Seow’s NFT Course is one of the NFT online courses that you can look for to learn about the basics of NFTs and investment.
If you already have basic knowledge of NFT, what you need will be a marketplace to buy, sell, and exchange NFT as well as grasp the trend of the NFT market. To choose a suitable marketplace, you have to see which blockchain your NFT belongs to and choose the marketplace that supports that blockchain. For example, Elemint supports ERC721A standard for NFTs.
Ultimately, all market participants need to update NFT news. Major news sites like Cointelegraph, CoinDesk, or YahooFinance have a separate section for NFT followers. Social media like Twitter or Discord are platforms to catch up with the latest trends on the market and to connect with other NFT enthusiasts.
Bottom line
Learning about NFTs might not challenging as you might imagine. Just spending a little time and effort to learn, you will get all the knowledge and news needed to participate in the NFT market. Keep up the good work!
