NFT in simple words: what is it, how to buy, where to store. Why have NFTs become so popular?

NFT in simple words: what is it, how to buy, where to store. Why have NFTs become so popular?

Due to the appearance of the first cryptocurrency, which was called Bitcoin, digital technologies began a rapid process of development and reorganization of the world economy. Since 2009, people have learned about digital assets as a new kind of non-fiat money. Years later, new options for financial transactions began to appear, promising ways to invest their funds in order to earn money, and much more.

The concept of "new digital rarity and uniqueness" appeared on the financial market, and tokens followed cryptocurrencies. If a couple of years ago, duplication of information in digital format could be easily carried out, since all information was in unlimited quantity and freely available, over time, exceptions and prohibitions began to appear. For example, if Bitcoins do not differ much from each other, then the NFT token is absolutely unique in its limited edition. If you are wondering "what is NFT?", then we suggest reading this article in full and getting acquainted with a new kind of digital reality in more detail.

History of NFTs

Like cryptocurrencies, NFT products were born with the help of blockchain technology. Initially, blockchain algorithms were used only for the development of cryptocurrencies, namely special block chains of information. But over time, the blockchain development team came to the conclusion that their technologies could also be used to develop unique digital items and secure storage.

The first code for a non-fungible token was written in 2017 by CTO Witek Radomski and launched thanks to the efficient ERC-721 and ERC-1155 standards.

The ERC-1155 standard is more optimized and makes it easier for the user to work with information, reduces commissions, and also has the following technological advances:

• release of a large number of various tokens on a single smart contract;
• the ability to transfer about 100 unique tokens for one transaction;
• development of non-fungible and fungible NFT tokens.

Such standards lay down the basic technical aspects of tokens, metadata and keys. Due to metadata, users will be able to add binding to images outside the blockchain to nft tokens, as well as adding new attributes. For example, if the essence of your token is a character from the game, then you can change the color of his hairstyle, clothes or add wings to him. The main limitation of your capabilities is only in your imagination.

Initially, tokens were supported only on the Ethereum blockchain, but over time, other equally decent servers began to appear. Bitcoin Cash, Solana, Cardano, Tezos, Flow and GoChain are characterized by low commission and high speed of information transfer between blocks, and are also among the most popular blockchains among users.

What are NFT tokens?

The NFT token is a new unique and irreplaceable token that makes it possible to digitize any object from the real world to the virtual one. A kind of blockchain tool that guarantees the uniqueness of digitized items.

The key idea of ​​the tokens is that the digitized items are absolutely unique. Absolutely any things can become such items, for example: a ticket to a concert, an image of a character from a game, a photograph of a world idol, lectures, training courses, instructions on how to do something with your own hands, celebrity autographs, clippings or quotes from magazines and newspapers, in fact a drawn picture, gifs, screenshots, poems and everything that the user's imagination is capable of. Each of the above items will have a unique set of data that can be modified and copied. Collectively, this is now often referred to as NFT art.

Key features of NFTs

The main advantages of tokens are the following aspects:

• Safe holding time. Your unique NFTs are securely stored on a personal address in the blockchain, which you control with a private key. In case of problems with the service or blocking of your personal account, all tokens will remain with you. You can also continue to trade them or give them to other market participants.
• Transparency. The decentralized blockchain technology is a base in which all data on the creation of NFT is visible to everyone. Thanks to this, one can confidently assert the uniqueness and originality of the token.
• Compatibility with the outside world. Today, there are many applications and games that support the NFT token standards. This means that you can easily combine and move your objects between them, while opening new objects, creating improvements and potential.

How to make money on NFTs?

From a commercial point of view, the essence of such digital tags is that they imply undeniable possession of unique objects with the possibility of earning from its further sale.

When you purchase NFT, then such a block with information that the token belongs to you is automatically stored in the blockchain chain. The same block will store the data on the contract, as well as the announced purchase price.

Since NFTs are very popular now, when buying or selling them, you can earn considerable amounts of money and significantly replenish your assets.

There are three ways to make money on NFT:

• The first way: you need to buy the most popular NFT and resell it at your own markup. To do this, you already need to have a certain amount of money and be well versed in what is now at the peak of the hype.
• The second way is to buy a token that is not currently in great demand among users, wait for interest to come and resell it. In order not to miscalculate with the token you have chosen, you need to constantly be aware of all modern innovations and monitor what is now at the peak of popularity or may be of interest to people after a while.
• And the third way to make money on tokens is to create your own nft product, selling which you can earn good money. This option is a significant plus for creative individuals, since you can create your own personal token on your own, giving free rein to your imagination as much as possible. Then you need to think carefully about the amount of the sale of this art object, distribute it to the masses and sell it to an interested person.

How to create an NFT token yourself?

To develop your own NFT, you need at least 3 things: the token itself, a crypto wallet in the desired cryptocurrency, and a service that sells tokens.

You need to start your work on creating an nft token with its design. That is, you should carefully consider the purpose of creating an NFT and what it will carry to the future owner, and how it will be visually displayed. It should be borneы in mind that single tokens do not carry much value, so immediately think about a collection that will reflect the idea of ​​creation. The name, logo, preview image and, of course, the files themselves for tokenization and future nft - all this needs to be thought out right away.

Next, you will need to use the services of specialized sites that create NFTs, for example, Mintable, OpenSea, Rarible, OKH, etc.

Be sure to register on one of these platforms and connect or create (if you don't already have) a crypto wallet to this platform.

Your next step will be to fill in the card of your NFT collection, where you can add the name, logo, short description, cover of the future token. Then proceed to create the NFTs themselves, following the instructions of the service. Keep in mind that you need to create a minimum of 3 tokens for a collection.
Having created a card and tokens, you will have the opportunity to verify your album, in case of successful completion, you will be able to put your tokens up for sale.

Where and how can I buy/sell an NFT token? Popular NFT platforms

If you are seriously interested in NFT tokens and want to purchase them, then we advise you to use the OpenSea platform, this is a kind of NFT marketplace. At the moment, OpenSea is the largest platform in terms of monthly sales of all nft tokens. Also, an important advantage of this platform is that, among many other services, it has relatively low commissions when buying or selling nft, approximately 2.5% of the amount. It can also be considered a big plus that OpenSea does not impose additional requirements and commissions on users who want to use the services of the service. This means that anyone who wants to sell their token can do it with minimal expenses. The commission for issuing a token will be paid not by the seller, but by the buyer. Sellers on OpenSea receive a percentage of the sale of tokens.

There are many other platforms besides this one, such as Foundation, Nifty Gateway or SuperRare. These platforms are professional and the most expensive tokens are traded with their help. But, there is one important aspect here - in order to trade on the Foundation exchange, you will need an invitation from a user who has previously been registered on this platform and made purchases or sales of tokens. More expensive platforms are practically closed to beginners, but dozens of equally worthy sites are available on the Internet.

The most popular sites today are:

• OpenSea;
• Foundation;
• Nifty Gateway;
• SuperRare;
• Cryptopunks;
• Bakeryswap;
• Rarible.

Most Popular NFTs

Not a week goes by without loud news about the sale of another unique and expensive NFT. For a long time, there has been a lot of hype among these tokens:

• Crypto artist Pak has created an animation of spinning cubes called “Finite”, which is worth about $758,000.
• Blue-purple hairy NFT from musician Steve Aoki called "Hairy", the price is $888 thousand dollars.
• Another NFT from the artist Pak "Metarif", $904,413.
• The clip by artist WhlsBe "Not Forgotten, But Gone", which lasts only 16 seconds, has racked up a price of $1 million.
• Jack Dorsey's first tweet went on sale for $2.9 million.

Conclusion

The NFT market is developing almost at lightning speed. Over the past few years, blockchain technology and infrastructure has undergone significant changes. But, as in many areas directly dependent on finance, there are various risks and warnings for future investors. Therefore, at the moment, there are a lot of questions regarding non-fungible tokens, for example, what functions can an NFT market perform or where, in what areas, and what benefits can NFT bring.

Considering the prospects of NFT tokens, it is worth paying attention to the fact that they can have a great impact on the formats for creating and distributing various content, as well as creative and art objects.

In the near future, NFT can be easily applied to writing and saving various documents, scientific papers, diplomas, term papers, abstracts, financial documents, etc. Due to the fact that all NFT files are recorded on the blockchain, all the above works can be reliably protected from forgery.

Non-fungible tokens may well affect creativity, as well as the relationship between content creators and consumers, because people are interested in new ways to create creative collections, express their thoughts and, importantly, that these developments are reliably protected.

In addition to the above several options for using NFTs, everyone can earn money by creating their own unique collections and selling them on specialised platforms. In fact, in many cases, the value depends on the creativity of the creator. Everyone sees and knows that something unusual is valued in today's world, a kind of new reality and fantasy. Therefore, be creative, try to visualize your thoughts and perhaps it is your NFT collection that will be in the TOP of all sites!