Balance NFT Marketplace is another large marketplace for all sorts of NFTs, similar to OpenSea. All kinds of art, videos, collectibles, and music can be bought, sold, or created on the platform.
An NFT is a digital asset that represents real-world objects like
art, music, in-game items and videos. They are bought and sold
online, frequently with cryptocurrency, and they are generally
encoded with the same underlying software as many cryptos. Although
they’ve been around since 2014, NFTs are gaining notoriety now
because they are becoming an increasingly popular way to buy and
sell digital artwork. The market for NFTs was worth a staggering $41
billion in 2021 alone, an amount that is approaching the total value
of the entire global fine art market.
NFTs are also generally one of a kind, or at least one of a very
limited run, and have unique identifying codes. “Essentially, NFTs
create digital scarcity,” says Arry Yu, chair of the Washington
Technology Industry Association Cascadia Blockchain Council and
managing director of Yellow Umbrella Ventures. This stands in stark
contrast to most digital creations, which are almost always infinite
in supply. Hypothetically, cutting off the supply should raise the
value of a given asset, assuming it’s in demand.
But many NFTs, at least in these early days, have been digital
creations that already exist in some form elsewhere, like iconic
video clips from NBA games or securitized versions of digital art
that’s already floating around on Instagram.
Famous digital artist Mike Winklemann, better known as “Beeple,”
crafted a composite of 5,000 daily drawings to create perhaps the
most famous NFT of 2021, “EVERYDAYS: The First 5000 Days,” which
sold at Christie’s for a record-breaking $69.3 million.
Anyone can view the individual images—or even the entire collage of
images online for free. So why are people willing to spend millions
on something they could easily screenshot or download? Because an
NFT allows the buyer to own the original item. Not only that, it
contains built-in authentication, which serves as proof of
ownership. Collectors value those “digital bragging rights” almost
more than the item itself.
NFT stands for non-fungible token. It’s generally built using the
same kind of programming as cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin or
Ethereum, but that’s where the similarity ends.
Physical money and cryptocurrencies are “fungible,” meaning they can
be traded or exchanged for one another. They’re also equal in
value—one dollar is always worth another dollar; one Bitcoin is
always equal to another Bitcoin. Crypto’s fungibility makes it a
trusted means of conducting transactions on the blockchain.
NFTs are different. Each has a digital signature that makes it
impossible for NFTs to be exchanged for or equal to one another
(hence, non-fungible). One NBA Top Shot clip, for example, is not
equal to EVERYDAYS simply because they’re both NFTs. (One NBA Top
Shot clip isn’t even necessarily equal to another NBA Top Shot clip,
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NFTs exist on a blockchain, which is a distributed public ledger
that records transactions. You’re probably most familiar with
blockchain as the underlying process that makes cryptocurrencies
possible.
Specifically, NFTs are typically held on the Ethereum blockchain,
although other blockchains support them as well.
An NFT is created, or “minted” from digital objects that represent
both tangible and intangible items, including:
Even tweets count. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey sold his first
ever tweet as an NFT for more than $2.9 million. Essentially, NFTs
are like physical collector’s items, only digital. So instead of
getting an actual oil painting to hang on the wall, the buyer gets a
digital file instead.
They also get exclusive ownership rights. NFTs can have only one
owner at a time, and their use of blockchain technology makes it
easy to verify ownership and transfer tokens between owners. The
creator can also store specific information in an NFT’s metadata.
For instance, artists can sign their artwork by including their
signature in the file.
Blockchain technology and NFTs afford artists and content creators a
unique opportunity to monetize their wares. For example, artists no
longer have to rely on galleries or auction houses to sell their
art. Instead, the artist can sell it directly to the consumer as an
NFT, which also lets them keep more of the profits. In addition,
artists can program in royalties so they’ll receive a percentage of
sales whenever their art is sold to a new owner. This is an
attractive feature as artists generally do not receive future
proceeds after their art is first sold.
Art isn’t the only way to make money with NFTs. Brands like Charmin
and Taco Bell have auctioned off themed NFT art to raise funds for
charity. Charmin dubbed its offering “NFTP” (non-fungible toilet
paper), and Taco Bell’s NFT art sold out in minutes, with the
highest bids coming in at 1.5 wrapped ether (WETH)—equal to
$3,723.83 at time of writing.
Nyan Cat, a 2011-era GIF of a cat with a pop-tart body, sold for
nearly $600,000 in February. And NBA Top Shot generated more than
$500 million in sales as of late March. A single LeBron James
highlight NFT fetched more than $200,000.
Even celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Lindsay Lohan are jumping on
the NFT bandwagon, releasing unique memories, artwork and moments as
securitized NFTs.
If you’re keen to start your own NFT collection, you’ll need to
acquire some key items:
First, you’ll need to get a digital wallet that allows you to store
NFTs and cryptocurrencies. You’ll likely need to purchase some
cryptocurrency, like Ether, BNB, depending on what currencies your
NFT provider accepts. You can buy crypto using a credit card on
platforms now. You’ll then be able to move it from the exchange to
your wallet of choice.
You’ll want to keep fees in mind as you research options. Most
exchanges charge at least a percentage of your transaction when you
buy crypto.