WHAT IS NFT AND HOW CAN YOU BUY OR INVEST IN SOME?

Think of an NFT as a unique proof of ownership over something you can't usually hold in your hand — a piece of digital art, a digital coupon, maybe a video clip. Like the digital art itself, you can't really hold an NFT in your hand. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) seem to have exploded out of the ether this year. From art and music to tacos and toilet paper, these digital assets are selling.

NFT is a digital asset that represents real-world objects like art, music, in-game items and videos. They are bought and sold online, frequently with cryptocurrency, and they are generally encoded with the same underlying software as many cryptos.

This question unleashes a fury of debate among NFT enthusiasts. The answer is not simple.

Are you buying what amounts to an Internet trophy? Clout? A feeling? A digital collector's item?

Perhaps, but you are also purchasing a kind of bar code, almost a certificate of authenticity that serves as proof that a certain version of something is uniquely yours.

The underlying thing that you're buying is code that manifests as images," said Donna Redel, who teaches courses on crypto-digital assets at Fordham Law School. "You're buying a different format of art."

As tens of millions of dollars in transactions pour in for NFTs, enthusiasts say, NFTs will soon expand beyond trading art, music, video clips and memes. One startup lets people use their NFTs as collateral for loans. Silicon Valley investors say the moneymaking possibilities in the NFT world are limitless, one of the reasons you should care.

There's always a chance that a tech frenzy is a passing fad or is stoking a speculative bubble. If you spend a pretty penny on an NFT and then enthusiasm and values suddenly plummet, you could be in for a big loss. But NFT backers say the system's built-in scarcity should keep values up, as long as the surge of interest persists.

NFTs have one significant advantage: by being backed by something already known as finance-related (for example, Ethereum), there are existing mechanisms for issuing, recording, and trading them. They have many of the same advantages that crypto currencies have. They are borderless and comparatively easy to create and then to transfer ownership. Each NFT token has a unique identifier. They are not directly interchangeable with other tokens. Each has an identified owner and can be bought and sold on a relevant blockchain marketplace. Creators set the level of scarcity for an NFT. In some cases, the creator of an NFT may choose to mine multiple replicas. For example, if you mine NFTs as tickets to an event, each ticket will essentially be identical, apart from the seat number and the event's date/time. You could, however, mint tickets at different levels for different types of seats. Or you could choose to make each ticket wholly different and a collector's item. Each distinct NFT, however, has a unique identifier.

Many NFTs are collectibles, including, for example, sports cards and other rarities. NBA TopShot collects epic NBA moments on cards, minting them on the blockchain in limited supply. They split their cards into Common (10,000+ created), Rare (500-4,999 created), Legendary (50-499 created), and at some point in the future, Platinum Ice Ultimate (only 3 will be created) and Genesis Ultimate (only a single card).

DeFi stands for decentralized finance. It is a type of financial application in cryptocurrency or blockchain. DeFi expands the use of blockchain from simple value transfer to more complex financial uses. DeFi removes the middlemen from transactions. Most DeFi applications are built on top of Ethereum – the same cryptocurrency platform that introduced NFT standards. Some projects are exploring using NFTs as collateral for loans. For example, if you bought a rare NFT item in the past, you could use it for a cryptocurrency loan today. You can also buy shares in some NFTs, rather than buying them outright. This means you can be a part-owner of an expensive NFT, for example, a one-off piece of digital art. You can even trade some of these shares.

HOW TO BUY NFT IN A MARKET PLACE,
WHAT IS THE BEST NFT MARKET?

Crypto enthusiasts are flocking to the biggest NFT markets to buy their favorite tokens, gaming items, and art. But do you know NFTs are solely not on games or art?

WAX.io NFT Exchange is where you can buy some NFT

SuperRare is a digital art gallery that deals with unique, single edition digital artworks. Each artwork is authentically created by an artist in the network and tokenized as a crypto-collectible digital item that you can own and trade.

If you wanna buy or sell your NFTs and process payment through your debit or credit card, then Nifty Gateway should be your choice. Nifty Gateway is a blockchain-based platform to access some of today’s most sought-after fine art and collectibles—from artists like Cey Adams, Kenny Scharf, Jon Burgerman, and Trevor Jones to popular crypto-game collectibles like CryptoKitties. Each collection opens at a specific time (a drop), and is only available for a limited time.

Foundation is another NFT platform for artists and collectors to sell, purchase, list for auction, make offers, and bid on digital art represented on a non-fungible Ethereum-based token. Foundation is also a smart contract-based non-custodial platform that does not have access to your private keys

Efinity will enable NFTs to be utilized by virtually any industry, unlocking potentially trillions of dollars in currently illiquid and unique real-world and digital assets. Efinity is built on Polkadot, a next-generation, fully decentralized network that is solving the largest issues facing blockchains today: interoperability, scalability, speed, security, privacy, developability, and governance. Further, the transaction cost for NFTs is expected to be substantially lower than the Ethereum network.

Binance Coin (CCC:BNB-USD)
Cardano (CCC:ADA-USD)
Chiliz (CCC:CHZ-USD)
Decentraland (CCC:MANA-USD)
Enjin Coin (CCC:ENJ-USD)
Ethereum (CCC:ETH-USD)
Theta (CCC:THETA-USD)

The fact that banks are talking about using blockchain to record their transactions tells me all I need to know about its potential. The biggest fear of [g]overnments and financial institutions all over the world is that people wake up one morning, log on to their financial apps and see a whole bunch of zeros. If the financial institutions think blockchain is the answer I believe it will become the DOMINANT form of digital record keeping in the next 5-10 years. IF that occurs [then] crypto currencies will become even more widely accepted.”

Assuming the description about NFTs struck a chord with you, you might be wondering about the right step to take in order to lay your hands on one of these digital gems.

First, you’ll have to become familiar with the concept of the NFT marketplace. In its truest sense, an NFT marketplace is where collectors buy, sell and trade NFTs. These marketplaces cover the trading of a wide range of NFTs, including digital art, music, videos, trading cards, games, tweets and even real estate.

With NFT markets, you can put up your newly minted NFTs for sale, and surf through the listings to purchase an NFT of your choice.

NFT marketplaces that will be worth your time... Take a look

OpenSea is widely touted as the largest NFT marketplace in the world. It is a peer-to-peer marketplace for rare digital items and cryptocollectibles. OpenSea is often considered the first marketplace for cryptocurrency assets such as cryptocollectibles, games and other things backed by the blockchain.

Async Art is a digital marketplace for NFTs that caters specifically to artists and art collectors. It provides users with the capability to create, collect, and trade NFT art.

Rarible is one of the fastest-growing NFT marketplaces, and rightly so because of the presence of a wide range of features that set it apart from the other marketplaces on the list. Rarible allows artists and other creators to make and sell their digital assets

Decentraland is another great NFT marketplace for art collectors because of the sheer amount of NFT available to them. A wide range of NFTs can be traded and collected on the Decentraland marketplace, such as virtual wearables, real estate, and even names.

BakerySwap is a robust marketplace that allows creators to mint their own NFTs, thus providing for the seamless trading of rare digital assets. As a self-titled NFT supermarket, it features a wide range of well-known artists churning out high-quality digital artworks. In addition, the marketplace is a goldmine for NFTs in the gaming genre.

KnownOrigin is a thriving NFT marketplace that provides collectors with the opportunity to collect rare digital artwork. By being secured on the Ethereum blockchain, the NFT artwork can be verified, and the transaction history of the artwork can be easily deduced.

#blockchain
#cryptocurrency by chrisgangworld