Written by: William Morales
Ingenuity. The ability to create something new and inspire the world. It is the key to clinching yourself a spot in the upcoming future. In the past five years, thousands of new words have entered our everyday vocabulary that we’ve never heard before: cryptocurrency, zoom, artificial intelligence, to name a few. But now, with COVID still terrorizing the world, a new technological advancement joins the mix: Non-Fungible Tokens or NFTs.
NFTs are the future and will continue to breed a new way to make money and see the world. NFTs are a type of cryptocurrency that is unique and cannot be exchanged, only bought or sold. One of the real attention-grabbers is that this is not restricted only to the wealthiest or most talented, anyone can participate. However, the difference to the average person is that they aren’t used for purchases, they are the purchase. NFTs include digital art, shoes, trading cards and more; In simple words, they are online exclusive collectibles that will generate value over time.
The allure of selling an NFT is that literally anyone could create the piece. The current record-holder price for an NFT is $69 MILLION. The piece is known as The First 5000 Days and was created by Mike Winkelmann. Winkelmann began posting his images online once a day and eventually gained over 2 million Instagram followers. After researching NFTs he came up with an idea: “A collage of all the “everyday”‘ images he had produced over the years and called it: Everydays: The First 5000 Days.” (BBC.com) This scene above, which includes each of the 5000 digital creations, is simply an encrypted JPEG, all intangible. Art has become one of the most popular sales in this new cryptocurrency and everybody from casuals to experts are hopping on board.
Although art may be one of the most popular components, other industries are making a name for themselves. Sports card trading has become a hot commodity in the last year, but it has also spread to the world of NFTs. NBA Top Shot is an online company that sells digital collectibles of some of the greatest NBA moments of all time. 15-second clips on a PDF file that come in limited quantities could be the difference between a full or empty bank account. The attraction to this site is the luck involved: each different priced “pack” comes with different odds of pulling more notable moments. Recently, “A Lebron James Highlight sold for $200,000” (CNBC) after being pulled out of an online pack that cost $1,499. But who knows, in 20 years that Lebron James highlight might be worth $20 MILLION instead of two hundred thousand.
You are probably curious about why this is considered a cryptocurrency. These products are usually bought with Ethereum, more commonly known as Ether. This currency isn’t tradable and can only be exchanged dollar for dollar. Currently, it’s the second most popular cryptocurrency behind Bitcoin. It gives people the ability to dabble in NFTs which is the main reason why it is the second most popular.
People are doubting the effects of NFTs because companies such as Gucci, (a world-wide known brand) has decided to sell their shoes as online NFTs for prices between $10-$15. Although this might appeal to certain markets, it is lowering the standards of the currency and making people doubt the idea of NFTs.
The truth about NFTs is the uncertainty aspect of it. There is a high possibility that they can become the future, or they may turn out to be a complete bust, however, it’s an intriguing idea that started out extremely strong and is finally gaining loads of momentum. NFTs are becoming a more popular buy in current times and will continue to find new ways to impress.