Ng David
Spending $600,000 on a cat meme? Welcome to the world of NFTs where pop-culture digital art meets crypto.
What Is NFTs?
NFTs, also known as non-fungible tokens are unique digital assets backed by blockchain technology. It can be any kind of digital media including art, music, tweets, GIFs, sports cards, games and even memes.
Unlike Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies that are interchangeable, NFTs are made of unique units of data on a blockchain, making them entirely irreplaceable. You may trade one Bitcoin for another Bitcoin but you cannot trade Mona Lisa for another Mona Lisa as there’s only one Mona Lisa.
We know NFTs are on the rise this year but why are people going crazy for them? Before we go on, let’s travel back to see how did this all unravelled.
1) Coloured Coins are the first-ever NFTs
Some may argue that the coloured coins are the first-ever NFTs to exist. (Coloured coins are basically Bitcoins but users can use them for different, special purposes.)
But if we’re speaking about art pieces, “Quantum” by New York artist Kevin McCoy would be the first NFT that was minted on a blockchain. The 54-year-old multimedia artist once said:
“I fell in love with Bitcoin in early 2013 and just got really interested in that world,”
Kevin McCoy is currently one of the pioneers of NFT with over a hundred million dollars in sales revenue every month.
“Quantum” is an octagon-shaped animation that was auctioned off in 2014.
2) NFTs are shaking up the art world
Artists and musicians can now market their creations online with NFTs, unlike back then when digital art is more undervalued and difficult to monetize. While many people are now buying digital arts and lands as future investments, artists are taking this opportunity to launch their NFTs in the NFT art marketplace and earn a living.
3) NFT market is a growing market
The NFT market is growing with no signs of slowing. It exploded at the beginning of 2021 with sales soaring to over $2 billion in the first quarter. Just only in the first week of June, $19.4 million in NFT sales was recorded while auction houses and NFT-related stocks are already getting in on the NFT craze.
Clubs are also starting to launch their NFT collections for fans to buy and trade. For instance, The United States National Basketball Association has video highlights NFTs with price peaking at $182, 2020 Tokyo Olympics is the first Olympic to have Olympic NFT pins, The Bored Ape Yacht Club has digital ape sold a record sale of $1.29 million… and the list goes on.
10,000 apes are sold on Opensea with an average price of 0.8686 ETH at the time of writing.
4) One of the most expensive NFTs is sold for $69.3 million
Everydays: The First 5000 Days is currently the most expensive NFT that was ever sold so far by the American digital artist, Beeple. The art compiles a total of 5000 digital arts he made every day from 1 May 2007 through 7 January 2021.
Beeple might be $69 million richer than he was before, however, this isn’t the first NFT he sold. Back in February, Beeple also made an unprecedented $6.6 million sale in Ethereum for his piece “Crossroads”.
5) You can buy virtual cats on blockchain
Thinking of getting a cat? CryptoKitties allows you to collect and breed a bunch of furry babies that will live forever on the Ethereum blockchain!
In 2017, CryptoKitties hopped onto the NFT bandwagon and went viral, raising $12.5 million in investment. The game was so popular that it caused a network slowdown and was accounted for over 25% of network traffic on Ethereum. Someone even spent $172,000 on the adorable digital kitten — so if you want your pet to live forever, this might be a worthwhile option.
6) Anyone can create their own NFTs!
Now that we’ve piqued your interest, you might be wondering if you can start your own NFT collection. Technically speaking, yes, you can sell an NFT. In fact, anyone can do so! All you got to do is just turn your digital art into a part of the blockchain and market it at any NFT marketplace available. You can check out these NFT marketplaces: OpenSea, Rariable, RareBits and Nifty Gateway.
Last but not least, make sure to do your research before embarking on your NFT journey!
While we aren’t sure if NFT is here to stay, NFTS has certainly given artists more control over their art while changing the definition and future of digital art and collectibles. For more latest updates and cryptocurrency trends, kindly click on the links below:
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