Hey guys, I know I've been inactive on Hashnode for a long time. It's because I was developing some cool things and was focusing on content creation on my Instagram. I'll be continuing my React Native series on Hashnode from now on and I promise you a new React Native Series blog every week.
Let me just give you some context on this article. I had put up a post on Instagram with Prashoon Bhattacharjee exactly a week ago. That was a great collaboration and I was able to learn a lot of things from that post. Unfortunately due to the limit of images on a post on Instagram, we couldn't provide the most value. That's why I am writing this blog post to get more value out there and help you understand NFTs.
LET'S START THIS ARTICLE NOW!!!!
What are NFTs??
The Google definition of NFT is a Non-Fungible Token. Now, that might sound complicated, so lemme break it down for you. The word non-fungible basically means unique. So NFTs are basically unique tokens. Lemme put it down for you in the form of an analogy:
Suppose you want to get a painting for your house. What do you do? You go to an art store, pick the painting that you like, buy it, frame it, and hang it in your house. Now, what does buying paintings for your house, have a relation to NFTs. Basically, NFTs are those paintings that your buying, but online. The art store can be replaced with an NFT selling marketplace, where you buy your NFT from. When you get an NFT, the only difference is you can not use it in real life, but you can use it in the MetaVerse. You buy the NFTs through a digital currency known as cryptocurrency. There are various cryptocurrencies such as Etherium, Bitcoin, Solana, etc.
NFTs basically can be anything digital: artworks, audio files, AI, and many more crazy things.
Questions regarding NFTs??
The question which many people have regarding NFTs is that, are NFTs safe?? How do we know what is original?? How do we avoid scams?? Why pay for NFTs when we can obtain them for free?? Let us answer all these questions one by one.
Why pay for NFTs when we can get them for free??
This is a commonly asked question. People think that they can take screenshots of the respective artworks and use them or they think I can record the audio file and use it. This perception is very wrong. NFTs are just more than to be taken screenshots of. You get the ownership of the NFT when you purchase one. It is all yours. You can use that anywhere you want, your IG, Discord, Twitter, pretty much anywhere you want. Many celebrities are changing their profile pictures to NFTs that they have purchased. Take Odell Beckham JR for example.
How to know what is original??
The business of fakes has been in every market. You can get a really cheap pair of fake Jordans, which exactly look like the real one. Now, this takes place in NFTs too. There are fake NFTs too and once you get a fake, you can't be refunded your money back. That's why look at a trusted NFT. If you are just starting out into NFTs and wanna buy one, get something that's really popular and you like. Also NFTs have Discord or Reddit Communities, so make sure to join one and clear all your doubts regarding it. This is the way, how you can verify, whether an NFT is real or fake.
Are NFTs Safe??
For those of you who think that NFTs are scams, just leave that approach. Like all other things, NFTs have their own pros and cons. This is the new art. It provides creative people such a new platform to monetize their skills. Also if you use the tips and points that I mentioned above to purchase verified NFTs, it becomes a really good experience for you. When the MetaVerse is more commonized and popularised people will understand the true value of NFTs and the market will really boost up during that time. In countries, where cryptocurrencies are banned, it is not really safe to invest in NFTs. Don't really think of NFTs as an investment. If you have some cash to burn and you wanna spend it on something digital, then NFTs FTW!!!
The Future of NFTs
When the MetaVerse is commonized and popularised, the NFT market will really boost up. It might even turn into a resell business. Like the sneaker resell market, where people buy limited-edition sneakers and sell them for a profit. The same will take place in NFTs. That means they emerge new websites and platforms to conduct these sorts of activities. People are already buying various NFT and making a collage/artwork out of them. A lot of things will be coming new in the NFT market. All we have to do is wait and watch!!!
NFT - An opportunity or a hype???
Now, this question is a risky one to battle with. What are NFTs: a big opportunity or just a trend. Now, many people are buying NFTs just because their favorite celebrities are buying NFTs. That's the approach you don't wanna go with. Just jumping on the bandwagon because of the hype. That's not the right way you should get into with NFTs. You should see an opportunity, even if it is there for the shortest time. NFTs are very new and raw right now. If you learn how to make an NFT and market it properly, there is a lotta scope for you to make money. According to what my prediction is right now, it will/should blow up in a couple of years. With Facebook changing its name to Meta, companies are really beginning to adopt MetaVerse and the digital world.
How and where can I buy NFTs??
Over here too, there is a concern of safe and unsafe. If I want to buy NFTs, the main question remains, where can I buy NFTs from?? If I buy NFT from some non-trustable platforms then, it is really easy to get scammed. Here are a few tips on how and where to buy NFTs from:
Don't buy NFTs operating from any private blockchains, it is easy for you to get scammed from those sorts of NFTs, and once you get them, it is most likely they aren't original and you won't get your money back.
Only buy from trusted platforms. Don't go to some other non-trusted platform just because you have gotten a good deal, who knows it might be fake. But from platforms such as OpenSea, Rarible, and SuperRar, it is extremely safe to buy. If you want to verify the originality of the NFT, then they will usually have a community, so join that and clear all your doubts regarding the NFT.
Have your wallet from a trusted provider such as MetaMask or WalletConnect. The others might have something fishy or scammy. It will then be easy to buy an NFT from these trusted providers.
Some NFTs Stories:
You all might have heard this story, but for the ones those who haven't here been it. Michael Winklemann A.K.A Beeple was an artist but was struggling to get good at art. So he took up a challenge and drew a picture each day for 5000 days. He then compiled all of them digitally and made an NFT out of it. MetaKovan A.K.A Vignesh Sundaresan bought this NFT for a whopping $69M🤑. NFTs contains a lot of opportunities.
Famed Indian singer and music producer A. R. Rahman made the original soundtrack of a song in a popular Indian movie. He is gonna donate the proceedings to the Indian Music Community.
The source code of the World Wide Web by Tim Berners Lee got sold as an NFT for $5.4M🤑!! I mean literally who would have ever thought, that just some mere code is worth is $5.4M dollars. But for this one, it is invaluable since, without WWW, no NFTs would have existed.
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