What are NFTs?

The term “NFT” is getting hyped in recent times especially after the news broke that Mike Winkelmann sold his art Beeple in the form of an NFT for a whopping $69 million dollars. Even more, the internet questioned the NFTs after the former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey put up an autographed tweet for sale as an NFT.

With all the madness going around the Internet, a question arises that what does NFT mean? Why is it trending? And, why do you need to know about it before it takes the internet with a storm?

NFT or Non-fungible tokens are unique digital tokens built on ERC 721 standard that provides proof of ownership of a digital asset, and are only one and can’t be interchanged for some other token. Non-fungible means they cannot be exchanged for any other NFT, unlike cash or cryptocurrencies.

It’s Non-fungible unlike Cryptocurrencies 

With cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, they can be exchanged with one another but it doesn’t really matter which parties receive which Bitcoin(as all Bitcoins are the same and hold the same value), what matters is both parties are left with one Bitcoin. It isn’t unique, hence it is fungible.

On the other hand, if a person has a Non-fungible token then it is only one(each NFT has a distinct value) and it proves the ownership, and it cannot be given in replacement of other NFT. It can only be bought and the person who buys takes the ownership.

How do NFTs work? 

NFTs are part of the Ethereum blockchain and can be coded, built, and sold from various channels. If one has basic knowledge of coding, an NFT creation process can start with the help of NodeJS. Later it can be tested in personal blockchain like Ganache from Trufflesuit. Followed by creating smart contracts. And, next up you can sell the NFT on platforms like Opensea.

For buying, all you need to do is visit the platforms like Opensea and Cryptokitties where you’ll find different NFTs which can be bought. Furthermore, a user can also create his own portfolio where he sells NFTs, but those need to be purchased or sold from any supported blockchain network.

Can be used to have the Ownership of Artworks, Music, etc.

Now that you know what’s an NFT, let’s take a look at its use cases. An NFT can be used for something that you own and want to have its unique entity. NFT is common for artworks, music, collectables, and in-game items. These can also be used for movies and films.

Recently, Ubisoft launched its first in-game NFT item for its Ghost Recon Breakpoint game.

Emerging NFTs from famous Celebs

In fact, India’s “Dangerous” a 90 minutes film has been put up for sale as an NFT by director Ram Gopal Verma. It can be straight-up owned from Opensea – Dangerous NFT.

Moreover, Amitabh Bachan has an NFT that has a collection of his father Harivansh Rai Bachan’s Poetries. Not just him, more celebrities are touted to have their NFTs sooner or later in partnership with blockchain applications.

A piece of information also reveals that blockchain companies are reaching out to celebrities to launch their own NFTs on their blockchain platform offering promotional benefits and profits for both the celebrity and the blockchain company.

Takeaways

NFTs are rapidly growing, and the blockchain sector is poised to undergo a transformation in the near future. Similar to the cryptocurrency mania, the general population is anticipated to use NFTs as an asset on a regular basis.

Also Read: Best Cryptocurrency Apps for India 2021