These days, we became capable of buying almost anything on the internet but, what if I told you that a tweet has been purchased for more than 2 million dollars or an NBA footage for more than 200,000 $, or a digital cat picture for more than 600,000 $… Sounds crazy right?

These are the NFTs, and I know that the question you might be asking right now is: ” How the F**k we got here? “.

NFT Meaning (What Is An NFT ?)

An NFT stands for a non-fungible token, it’s a unit of data stored on a digital ledger, called a blockchain. Simply, it’s kinda of certificated ownership for a virtual asset that is unreplaceable and unique, it can be photos, videos, audio, and other types of digital files. Let’s take an example to understand more:

The famous painting “Mona Lisa” by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci is a great example of an NFT in real life, it’s a non-fungible item which is mean you can’t find another one of it (except for the fake), it has a story behind it something special that makes people want it, which goes the same for any NFT out there. the only difference here is that this one is a digital item.

How NFTs Work and Why People Are Buying Them?

So, when you buy a non-fungible token, basically, you are purchasing a long string of numbers and letters, it’s a code that exists on the Ethereum blockchain, and the transaction could be verified by anyone on the network which makes it nearly impossible to falsify or tamper with data within a block. 

There is no “one” specific reason that makes people buy NFTs but I can name some of them:

1- Investing: due to their popularity, this market is hot right now and that attracts a lot of investors and flippers in order to get a slice of the cake

2- Fashion: A non-fungible token could show crucial data about the origins of an item, such as the materials used, where they were sourced from, and how far the item has traveled. As issues around fashion and sustainability become more pressing, this could help people make more ethical decisions. 

3- Collecting: It’s all about human psychology, rare things are valuable things, just as we have car collectors, game collectors, painting collectors….etc. Now we need to add a digital version of collectors which is ” NFTs collectors”.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

New opportunity for artists:

Now and with this new technology. Artists can earn some money from the digital world that hasn’t been particularly kind to them before. And if their artwork accrues more value, which it gains when it becomes popular on the internet, the artist realizes gains more income.

Trading and investing:

As their market is booming right now, many traders and investors have made a profit from it, there’s always the potential for growth in the value of your investment when you buy these tokens.

Data Record:

Records of authenticity and chain-of-ownership for valuable artwork are sometimes tough to maintain. This is where NFTs shine. Existing on the blockchain allows clear ownership records of all NFTs, meaning your digital artwork should theoretically never be subject to theft or having its authenticity questioned.

Ownership of Something Unique:

As I said above these items are non-fungible, which is mean they’re irreplaceable and unique. There’s a good feeling when you know you own the only one-of-a-kind piece, whether it be a painting, a piece of furniture, or a digital image, an audio clip, or other digital assets.

Cons:

Bad for the Environment:

Any record entered into the Ethereum blockchain takes significant computing, which requires the use of large amounts of energy. So, widespread trading in NFTs and other blockchain-based (Bitcoin, ripple,…etc) assets is not an environmentally friendly process. which led many artists and famous people to stop using them.

In fact, there’s a recent Cambridge University study that talked about everything having to do with the blockchain and its high side effect on the environment because of the amount of energy used.

Not secure as they seem:

Although this technology is highly secure, many of the exchanges and platforms are not. And with their important value, Its gonna attract a lot of hackers As such, there have been several reports of stolen NFTs.

Ownership doesn’t mean controlling:

owning an NFT is way different from controlling it, when you buy a digital item you officially own the authentic (original) piece of it, but that does not mean you can control its distribution.

“Four” interesting Facts About NFTs

Fact Number #1

The places where you can buy NFTs are:

Opensea: A peer-to-peer marketplace for NFTs, rare digital items, and crypto collectibles. Buy, sell, auction, and discover CryptoKitties, Decentraland, …etc.

Superrare: SuperRare is a digital art marketplace on Ethereum. Each artwork is authentically created by an artist in the network and tokenized as a collectible digital artwork.

NBATopShot: Officially Licensed Digital Collectibles, these digital items are a new take on basketball cards and they are more interactive than traditional trading cards like the famous LeBron James footage that were sold for more than 200,000 dollars

NiftyGateway: Nifty Gateway is a digital art online auction platform for non-fungible token art owned by Gemini, The company has two marketplaces that allow popular artists and collectors to sell and resell their artwork.

MetaMask: is an Ethereum wallet available via chrome extension and mobile app. To sign in to NFT platforms and start buying them, you’ll need an Ethereum wallet. So Download MetaMask, set up a wallet, and start your non-fungible token journey

Fact Number #2

The most expensive NFT in the world is Beeple’s EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS, on 11 March 2021, sold for $69,346,250 at auction at Christie’s New York.

A collage made up of 5000 individual Beeple artworks created on consecutive days for thirteen and a half years (13.5 years) was the “first purely digital work of art ever offered by a major auction house”.

The hefty price tag made it the most expensive NFT to date, and the most expensive piece of digital art ever sold.

Fact Number #3

Even the real estate field was touched by the non-fungible token, on platforms like decentraland you can buy, build and monetize virtual lands, and this could make a huge change to the real estate market in the future.

Fact Number #4

According to Nasdaq. In 2020, the global NFT market did about $338 million in transaction volume. The global collectibles market – including physical trading cards, games, toys, cars, and more – is a $370 BILLION market, and some experts have expected it to hit “One trillion dollars” market valuation in the near future.

Conclusion

NFTs are a hot topic right now, and there’s a serious debate in the world, some people say it’s bad for the environment and other people say it’s a new technology that we should take advantage of it, and in my opinion, I can’t at the moment see whos wrong and whos right but I can say only one thing:” The time is the best answer”.