That’s the question many of us ask ourselves when hearing about this latest trend that sells digital art for millions of dollars. NFTs also known as Non-Fungile Tokens, are unique digital assets that can’t be replicated within the blockchain. So, another way to look at it is to think of them as digital collectibles that resemble something like trading cards. You have the rare cards and you have the common cards. Depending on how short the supply is for certain NFTs, it can influence its rarity. People are looking for the next craze of collectibles. One recent example, is Jack Dorsey, selling his first tweet as an NFT. It sold for 2.5 million dollars.
How do NFTs Work?
Currently, NFTs can be purchased on a platform’s marketplace using cryptocurrency. NFTs are listed for a certain value by its creator in the marketplace and people are able to purchase them at face value or make an offer on them like Ebay. A marketplace can also provide statistics for the NFTs, which indicates when there was an increase or decrease in value, who the original creator was, and if there is more than one of that NFT.
To create an NFT, you would need to pay a fee on a platform that creates and hosts NFTs. These platforms will trade only in particular cryptocurrencies like Ravencoin or Ethereum. So, you first need a digital wallet that stores your private key, which is needed for transferring crypto on the blockchain. Same goes for purchasing NFTs. Some platforms may be complicated for creating NFTs but there are a couple that are user-friendly and don’t require a vast knowledge in cryptocurrency or blockchain technology. Once you found a suitable platform to create your NFT, the next thing is to follow the prompts of that platform’s NFT creation process. This will be where you can choose the quantity for your NFT so if you want more than just one then you can choose to create thousands of the same NFT.
However, you must consider the effect it will have on its value. Also, during the creation process for the NFT you can upload an image, a song, or both. This is great for artists wanting to turn their art into digital art. The creator will tag their NFT as well, which will authenticate it for all eternity and prove its originality. Then the creator will associate a price to their NFT, which will reflect in the marketplace for potential buyers to either purchase it in its entirety or make an offer for a different price.
Benefits of NFTs
Authenticity — The trouble for some collectors is to make sure when you purchase an artwork that it is real. There are those that can recreate an artwork that can fool people into believing that it is the original and it takes an expert with a keen eye to distinguish the fakes from real. With NFTs, this is no longer an issue since anyone can verify its authenticity without needing to have a keen eye. Every NFT makes it traceable to the original creator since the transactions are saved on the blockchain. Depending on which platform the NFT is created on, it may make it harder to distinguish the authenticity of certain NFTs than others so it is essential to choose a platform that allows multiple characters to be used in its tag.
Can’t Be Divided — Once an NFT is created, the creator only makes a limited amount of it and so it can not be divided even further, which makes rare NFTs even more rare. There is only one Mona Lisa and that same logic goes for NFTs as well. No worrying about the value of your NFT being diluted by reprints. Tags on an NFT are sacred because even though an image of an NFT can be saved and reuploaded as another NFT, the original tag will still keep it distinguishable. The value of the original tag will be maintained because it was first to be created by the artist unlike the copycats.
Exclusive — NFTs can be utilized exclusively for certain things. For example, NFTs for a particular online game will not be compatible with another game due to the NFT’s tag. The creator of the NFT can articulate the purpose of their NFT by listing properties within the NFT that map how it should be used. Going back to the previous example, the NFT that is used for a game will have rules attached to it that is relevant to just that game and it wouldn’t make sense trying to use it for another game.
Everlasting — NFTs are stored on the blockchain and that prevents it from being erased completely from an outside source. NFTs are always accessible as long as the user can login into a computer, laptop, or smartphone. Therefore the owner of an NFT can forever be its owner until they decide to trade it or give it away to an individual. Also, an NFT is strictly owned by an individual and is not licensed by a third party. So, it’s not being “rented” out like digital music and movies.
Ravencoin and NFT
Although Ravencoin is fairly new to NFTs, it has improved upon its creation process for those that aren’t very technical when it comes to cryptocurrency. Not only that, it has further built on NFT’s proof of authenticity as well. Ravencoin has added the ability to add more characters to an NFT’s tag like # in order to make the tag more unique as opposed to other cryptocurrencies, which rely on a contract id. To prevent any tricks from being used on NFT tags to resemble other NFT tags to take advantage of buyers, Ravencoin made it mandatory for tags to only be capitalized. Furthermore, Ravencoin has implemented an Interplanetary File System that allows creators of NFTs to easily integrate a high resolution photo or movie that can be signed by the creator into their NFT. No longer are NFTs subject to 24 bit pixel images that have recently gained popularity. It is recommended that Ravencoin be used for creating NFTs so that creators and buyers have a better sense of security when making their transactions.
Conclusion
The recent trend of NFTs is rising quickly as more well known public figures create their own NFTs like Jack Dorsey, The Kings of Leon, and even Steve Aoki. It doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon either so make sure to use a trustworthy platform using Ravencoin to create your own NFT. Also, the fee for Ravencoin’s NFT is fairly low compared to Etheruem, which makes it even better. The use of NFTs right now is barely scratching the surface of its countless possibilities. Stibits is working on a platform to offer NFT’s using Ravencoin.
