by Ira Pandey, Content Strategist at Moving
NFT: Non-Fungible Token that is a Unique Digital Asset.
- NFT is not a gold mine. Only artists with a following can make money by NFTs.
- Problems like environmental concerns and ownership issues persist.
- Marketplaces are overloaded with NFTs that no one would buy.
Sneak Peek: Genesis of NFTs
Colored Coins are definitely one of the first of NFT that portrayed the versatility of Bitcoin Blockchain. After that, the industry evolved, and Counterparty emerged as “Bitcoin 2.0” along with Ethereum in 2014. In 2015–2016, Spells of Genesis, More Trading Cards, and Rare Pepes Counterparty marked their presence. Rare Pepes shifted to Ethereum, and then came CryptoPunks, one of the most expensive NFT. In October 2017, CryptoKitties opened new pathways for Ethereum and became the first crypto game. The year 2018 and 2019 witnessed NFT Cambrian Explosion, Nike’s CryptoKicks, and Decentraland. NFT kept growing, and in 2020 NBA TopShot was launched to sell tokenized collectibles of NBA Highlights.
Art has a new rival! — Called NFT.
How to mint an NFT?
NFT is mere content that is tokenized and validated over a blockchain. While there is a lot of fuss around the subject, creating an NFT actually quite easy.
Gas Price is to be paid in Ethereum as a fee to tokenize and publish your NFT. This could be pretty hefty and you may even want to take a look at the demand-supply stats as they play a vital role in deciding the Gas Prices.
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Problems that persist
Environmental Concerns
NFT works on “Proof Of Work,” and each NFT is a new block. To validate each block, hundreds of computers work simultaneously, burning loads of electricity. This problem may diminish after Ethereum 2.0 comes into action.
Copywrite and ownership disputes
Token 771 and 773 may look similar to you but are entirely unique to the blockchain. This is a major cause of such issues. Many artists post their NFT as a Twitter Post to advertise their work; this became a problem when screenshots of these tweets were tokenized and listed as an NFT. Tokenized tweets are one major reason for ownership conflicts.
Overloaded Marketplaces
NFTs are really easy to mint, and the gas price can be low depending on the demand-supply pattern. So the marketplaces are overloaded with NFT that people might not even buy ever!! This overload, in turn, raised enough carbon footprints, and if this overload persists, global issues may arise.
“NFT is a gold mine for artists!! You can quick money!!” — Not True.
NFTs are being minted daily but aren’t being sold at the same pace. Your NFT might be just lying in the marketplace for months. Who is making money, then? Artists with a following on Patreon or other channels are actively selling their art as NFT — People are interested in buying their art as a collectible.
Signal out of Noise
You would find a ton of NFT in the marketplace, all sorts of NFT where to find a collectible, an art piece that is truly one of a kind. Like art galleries, many Dapps showcase NFTs that are hand-picked for traditional art buyers.
Not Just Art
Meme, physical items, videos, and even audio content can be converted into an NFT and listed up for auction.
Doge Meme to be auctioned as an NFT
The overly loved Doge meme made to the NFT market, and the top bid is approx 69ETH. Interested? Take a look here.
The Women in Disaster Meme
Soon after NFT got the fame, the little girl in the picture, Zoe Roth, decided to sell this picture from 2005 as an NFT. It is quite a famous meme, and she did make a huge lot of money($473,000). After that, she planned to pay her student debts and donate the rest to charity.
Time Machine — Past and Future
January 2018 recorded an awful lot of sales in NFT, and the numbers haven’t been down. While environmental concerns remain an obstacle, sooner or later, NFT might take over the world in terms of digital as well as physical art. It is no rocket science that the shift to Proof of Stake wouldn’t just make the process eco-friendly but highly scalable.
Currently, the most expensive NFTs include Beeple($70 million) and CryptoPunks($325 million). The trend is partially hyped, and many artists are burning down their assets for a return which is a matter of luck. NFTs, in the long run, would eventually become sustainable and have the potential to revamp the traditional archival systems. It would change the definition of ownership over time, and content creators may convert their memes, videos, pictures, podcasts, and even documentaries into NFTs. This shift would not just add more value to their work but put a stop to piracy(illegal streaming of Content).
One of the major advantages that the artists would have is the flexibility to change how their content looks. The artists can set terms and conditions along with the prices of their NFTs. They may even restrict their content and add conditions under which the NFT will be sold off.
Namaste — NFTs from India
India saw the launch of its first NFT Marketplace by Wazirx. Going forward Binance, WazirX’s parent company would mint all the NFTs. Indian Artists are out there ready to sell their work as NFT. NFTs in India might bring back traditional art as buyers around the globe would go head over heels for Indian Handicrafts and Artifacts. This could be seen as a rebirth of lost Indian Arts.
Moreover, NFTs are predicted to disrupt the archival system in India and might be a reason for the museums to shut down.
