Since capturing the attention of the internet in recent years, investors and the general public have been trying to figure out what they are and how they can make money with them. Celebrities are also jumping on board with the trend.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sold the first tweet on the site as an NFT for $2.9 million in March . Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla , teased that he would sell an NFT after Dorsey’s announcement, but later declined a $1 million offer for his tweet about him.
NFTs are one-of-a-kind digital assets such as videos, photos, or illustrations that make use of blockchain technology.The latter is a publicly accessible digital database that tracks an asset’s entire history. In the case of NFTs, the blockchain enables anyone to see where they came from, ensures their uniqueness, and reveals their purchase and ownership history.
There are numerous stories on the internet about artists who have sold their NFTs for thousands, tens of thousands, or even millions of dollars. And the market is still expanding: According to a report by analytics platform DappRadar, NFT trading volume increased 704% in the third quarter of 2021.
What does Non-Fungible Token Mean?
In layman’s terms, non-fungible token means non-replaceable. NFTs are marketed as a scarce good, similar to art, because you will own the digital good as if it were a physical item.
Fungible goods are any items in which the buyer is unconcerned about the physical version they receive. When you go shopping, you don’t care which loaf of bread you buy or which can of soda you buy. A non-fungible item could be a piece of art such as the Mona Lisa or a copy of the Magna Carta.
NFTs are non-fungible because you own a digital asset that is the only one in the world . Blockchain developers who write code in a smart contract to create NFTs create these digital assets.
The blockchain executes the smart contract code, resulting in the NFTs that people accumulate. People collect NFTs for a variety of reasons, and we’ve seen both successes and failures.
You can collect AI and algorithm-generated NFT art, cool NFTs that can be used as social media profile pictures, and even a generic list of words. NFTs continue to be used in a variety of ways, with new applications being discovered all the time.
How do NFTs Work?
At a very high level, most NFTs are part of the Ethereum blockchain . Ethereum is a cryptocurrency, like bitcoin or dogecoin, but its blockchain also supports these NFTs, which store extra information that makes them work differently from, say, an ETH coin. It is worth noting that other blockchains can implement their own versions of NFTs.
NFTs can really be anything digital (such as drawings, music, your brain downloaded and turned into an AI), but a lot of the current excitement is around using the tech to sell digital art.
A non-fungible token is a digital asset that’s like a one-of-a-kind piece of internet real estate. Unlike other online property, which can be modified or reproduced, NFTs utilize blockchain technology (which you can think of as an official, unalterable internet ledger) to track ownership and to ensure that each piece of content is verifiably unique and indivisible.
Non-fungible means that one NFT can’t be exchanged for another , unlike, say, a gold bar or a $20 bill. An NFT is like your mint-condition Princess Diana-edition Beanie Baby: You wouldn’t exchange it for any old stuffed animal. But unlike a physical toy, your NFT lives online, so it won’t degrade like your Diana bear might have, had you stored it in your mom’s basement for the past couple of decades.
What are NFT Marketplaces?
A NFT marketplace allows users to create and trade NFTs online. Non-Fungible Tokens is similar to an e-commerce site where you can purchase goods and clothes using digital wallets. Several NFT marketplaces allow you to buy, sell, or make your NFTs at ridiculously high prices. Prior to doing so, you will need to determine which marketplace is the most profitable for you and can generate the most revenue from your digital assets.
Best Marketplaces to Earn With NFTs
In this video, Cointelegraph gives some of the best marketplaces to earn NFTs.
These are some of the best NFT marketplaces.
OpenSea
Open Sea is one of the oldest and most used NFT marketplaces. OpenSea is home to anything from art to virtual reality, sports and trading cards. The site has over 200 categories and 4 million items .
Think of OpenSea as the Amazon of NFT marketplaces. It really does stock everything. This is supported by its support of more than 150 cryptocurrency payment tokens. OpenSea is easy-to-use and you can set up an account for free and start minting, selling and browsing in minutes.
People looking to buy popular NFT items like CryptoPunks, CryptoKitties, or virtual real estate can use ether to buy items off OpenSea.
Furthermore, OpenSea is proud to claim that it supports cross-blockchain NFT marketplaces without consuming gas. Polygon cryptocurrency is now supported on the marketplace, so you shouldn’t have to pay any fees when making trades. According to OpenSea, artists now have the ability to “fully earn their way into crypto for the first time.”
Binance NFT
Binance is one of the largest crypto exchanges, and its NFT marketplace is among the largest.
If you have Binance tokens (BNB), accessing the marketplace is even easier, and you can use ETH, BNB, and BUSD to bid. You can deposit ETH or BSC NFTs if you’re looking to sell.
Additionally, it has its own blockchain. The Binance NFT is seen as one of the most future-proof NFT marketplaces because of these reasons.As a result of its size and scale, the market is able to offer its participants exclusive partnerships and events.
Axie Infinity
Axie Infinity, a site that sells cartoon characters with fighting abilities, is one of the top 10 most popular crypto-collectible sites in the world. CoinDesk states that in 2020, the site was the most popular game on Ethereum, with over 10,000 users.
A number of NFT collectibles based on arcade games have also become popular, according to CryptoSlam data. Street Fighter NFT collectibles generated over $ 1.5 million only weeks after the site launched and over $ 600,000 in just the past month alone.
Rarible
In addition to selling photos and web addresses, the platform offers music, memes, sports, and other items . As a result, Rarible is one of the top marketplaces for art-based NFT . Among the reasons why Rarible stands out are its partnerships with major corporations and well-known celebrities.
Apart from the social media giant Twitter and the fast-food restaurant operator Yum! Rarible worked with brands, boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., and actress Lindsay Lohan to launch their NFTs . However, Rarible’s NFT project creation doesn’t require you to be a celebrity. NFTs can be “minted” and sold to collectors since they have access to three different blockchains. Additionally, users can create their own NFTs. Users can create albums of music, art, digital photos, and movies.
Mintable
Similar to eBay, Mintable is a market where people can buy and sell NFTs. The site is connected to MetaMask. In order to use it, you need to create a profile and load their wallets. Artwork, audio, PDFs, photos , and other media can be used as blockchain objects to create a smart contract without writing code.
Foundation
The Foundation brings digital entrepreneurs, crypto natives, and collectors together to advance culture through specialized software . They are often called the New Creative Economy. It primarily focuses on digital art. Another artist must invite an artist to join Foundation as a content producer, and each artist is only allowed to share one invite. Creating an artist profile requires either obtaining an NFT or acquiring artwork from the site.
SuperRare
SuperRare has built a social network for its customers in addition to the marketplace. Digital collectibles are appropriate for a social environment because they have a translucent. One of the first NFT digital houses in the world sold for over $ 500,000 on SuperRare’s marketplace.
Decentraland
Decentraland, which is built on Ethereum and owned by its users, is another site leveraging virtual reality and real estate. In Decentraland, users build a virtual world as an NFT and play as a multiplayer role-playing game.
KnownOrigin
KnownOrigin is among the oldest NFT marketplaces. Artists can control the number of copies released in timed release events, known as drops, allowing them to offer rare and collectible artworks. Prices can rise as a result of scarcity. Only artists who apply and are vetted are allowed to join, which adds to the exclusivity.
You may want to think about the fees and carbon footprint when bidding on this marketplace since it uses Ethereum to mint. Apart from collaborations on NFTs, KnownOrigin also offers content and advice on drops and sales, as well as a separate marketplace that makes secondary sales clear.
CryptoPunks
CryptoPunks is one of the earliest examples of NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. It consists of a series of 10,000-pixel art characters with unique attributes . Originally the CryptoPunk collectibles were free, however, the only way to get your hands on one of them nowadays is by purchasing them. Be warned that buying one costs a lot. CryptoPunk is the most affordable crypto coin at 67.5 ETH, which equates to around $ 209,758.95.
This set of collectibles was created by Larva Labs, which is currently one of the largest trading markets in the world at around $ 2.02 billion. If your favorite items are up for sale, you can bid on them in this NFT marketplace. This is an alternative to buying CryptoPunks from third parties.
Conclusion
Make sure to do some research on the artist or business creating an NFT. If it looks like they have a solid history of creating valuable work, a road map for continuing to create in the future, and if they have a social media following of engaged fans, they’re more likely to be a legitimate entity and potentially a worthwhile investment.
Non-fungible tokens and cryptocurrency are a new and evolving market that can contain significant risks and volatility. Carefully consider your objectives, risk tolerance, and time horizon before making any investments.