NFTs? Those Million Dollar JPEGs? What's with the world?

The long story, short (summary):
Exploring creativity and the love of fancy things in life through Cryptoart or NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens).
An important disclaimer before reading anything else. It's kind of a must for crypto investment stories nowadays. This article is not financial advice, as I am not "paper qualified" to give away such advice. This is simply the humble adventures of a crypto and NFT enthusiast.

Image by Nick Yandell from Pixabay
The full story, long :)
Having invested in crypto and mostly HODLing (crypto term for long term asset holding) assets, it was time to go exploring. Having missed the Bitcoin wave when it was affordable, I wasn't going to miss anything new again. I started looking at new applications of crypto and blockchain technology and how they'll be used in the future.
I stumbled upon an article on NFTs and how early adopters of these weird "JPEGs", such as Cryptopunks, are making millions. I was not dismissing this as a joke, even if the very article called it a joke. For people to put millions, there must be something that many don't see.
It was true when the internet came out. The masses dismissed it, a few adopted and built on it. These few got rich, and now, the masses push to tax these very few. What's more, it's hard to live without the internet nowadays, for the few or the masses.
I dug deep into NFTs and discovered that these "JPEGs" are just the outward physical representation of something much more valuable, the smart contract behind it. Remember the English expression "Don't judge a book by its cover". Well this relates so much to NFTs.
You see, these "JPEGs" are not just created, drawn or designed, but rather, they are "minted" before being put to sale. What this means is that a smart contract with the "metadata" (features explaining the image) is appended to the simple JPEG. This metadata is unique to every image and that is what makes it sell like hotcakes, for millions (in some cases)!
It's similar to traditional art, except that the metadata cannot be faked or duplicated unless the creator of the art wants to do so. The reason is that it's minted on the blockchain and as we all know, or should know, the cryptographic blockchain is nearly impossible to hack, fake or tamper with.
I did buy some NFTs to test the system and how it works and it was ridiculously easy. You didn't need to step foot into an auction house or pay millions. You could buy good, unique art just by funding your crypto wallet (think of it as a bank account that holds your cryptos). And if you tell me I could have right clicked saved what you bought, I'll ask you if that right click saved image has the metadata and smart contract I now own. It doesn't and that is what my money went to which nobody else could ever have unless I give it to them or they hack my wallet.

I also sold some to see how easy or hard this process was. All I had to do was go to the marketplace and list for sale for a price I deemed fit and voila, some of them sold for a profit in minutes, while some are still sitting in my vault. I also noted that each time I sold anything the creator was getting royalties. This is another difference from the traditional art market and to me it sounds like a system that's fair and appreciative of the creator's hard work.
I realized that crypto, NFTs and the blockchain are returning power and wealth back to the people who work hard for it. It's liberating and feels like a free world is being built on the blockchain.
I hope you could guess what I did next. I wanted to create NFTs myself. I decided to start with something original from myself. I was no artist, but I do photography, and so I started minting the DSLR photo shots that I had taken on my travels abroad. You could mint literally anything, but like any art, it should have meaning, value or tell a very good story. These photos of mine still haven't sold, but it still makes me proud of creating and displaying something that could someday be given value to. They are still up for sale on Opensea, which is the Amazon of NFT marketplaces. Have a look here, be inspired, and hit the like button, if you like them :)
It was time to dig deeper into the NFT space. The exploration never stops. It's such a fast-moving space, it's hard to keep up. Patience and research is key in this space, as with any new technology or paradigm that comes into play.
I also learned that more attention, focus, and money was being put into computer-generated profile picture or avatar art NFTs (called PFPs in the crypto space). You may be wondering what's with the world? Why are these absurd PFPs worth so much, and why would I be putting my hard-earned money, time and effort into these avatars?
Let me explain. A project that sells these NFTs with a profile pic on the outside, creates whole communities (in some cases holder-owned licensed companies called DAOs) around their project. These communities are promised perks and benefits if they continue to hold these avatar NFTs.
Let's think of these NFTs as ticket stubs to any kind of club or organization you can think of. As long as you hold that ticket you get access to what's promised when you initially bought that ticket stub. What's different and awesome however, with this ticket being an NFT is that the ticket itself is a unique piece of art which holds value and which can be sold on or held forever for a price the holder can set. Also, the creator doesn't have to keep printing tickets and can keep earning from royalties whenever the tickets are resold. A win-win for all the parties involved.
DISCLOSURE:
None of these articles constitute financial advice. Articles are highly summarised to make it easy for the reader and save your time, so please DYOR further before putting your hard earned money into any product mentioned.
Please note that the tech industry evolves rapidly and the info in this article is correct at the time of publishing. As Heraclitus said, "Change is the only constant", so if anything sounds old or off please holler on the socials or comment here so everyone stays peeled.
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