Introduction
Hello everyone and welcome to a new article in the blog Vendata's journey of the crypto world! In the last article, I looked at crypto staking (click here if you want to read it), which was interesting and quite helpful, especially in the long run where I will get more in-depth with crypto staking. The article from yesterday has made me think of other crypto areas to search, NFTs one of the first popping in my mind.
I have heard a lot about them over the crypto world, and most likely you have as well, and yet I do not understand why they are so popular. NFTs do have great benefits, which I will go through later in the article, but the fact that they are sold for thousands, or even millions, of dollars is unbelievable. However, as I am thinking of NFTs while writing this article, they seem to appear much more valuable than before.
What are NFTs?
NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token, meaning that an NFT is a unique asset, just like a sports card or antique. Cryptocurrencies are fungible, meaning that if you have one Ethereum, you can trade that Ethereum for another different one and they will be the same. With NFTs, if you were to trade one NFT, let's say an artwork, for another, you would not get the same one in most cases. NFTs can be sold either in single sales or over thousands of copies like playing cards.
What is big about NFTs is the ability it has to battle online copyright and other issues which impact the owners and creators of content. Most NFTs are based on the Ethereum blockchain, and when one is bought, the database is changed for sale. The change takes computing power to complete which is achieved by Ethereum miners who complete and verify the trade, thus changing the database to successfully carry out the sale.
NFTs are claimed to provide a range of benefits both for the creator and buyer, which I agree with. Some of the benefits for NFTs coming from my memory include the following:
Decentralised (most cases) market - since NFTs are mostly run on Ethereum, they are decentralised
Promote fairer assets in the crypto world - NFTs are designated to each owner based on the database, ensuring that no one can steal from another and that the owner has full ownership
Create more engaging crypto services - services include video games, where assets usually are temporarily bought from a centralised game company in the real world, but with NFTs are instead established within the owner's hands
Benefit content creators - benefits include stronger copyright regulations and rewards for each activity done on the content sold as an NFT
NFT Purposes
There are so many different purposes with NFTs which are and beginning to rise, which is incredible! They make the crypto world a more interesting place, spicing things up for a fresh round of decisions. Going deeply through everyone would take a while, so I am just going to list some of the purposes following this sentence:
Digital art
Sports
Gaming
Fashion
Virtual real estate
NFT Cryptocurrencies
Alongside so many different purposes for NFTs, there are also so many different NFT cryptocurrencies! These cryptocurrencies are specialised in serving NFTs to create a more efficient community in the NFT world. The majority of them are purposed for their service which is incorporating NFTs in their project. Some of the major ones you may have heard are listed down below with some brief information on them if you do not know what they are. Just like the previous section, naming all the NFT cryptocurrencies would be a pain, and an even greater one to explain each!
Chiliz (CHZ)- exchange for sports-based coins, especially for football (Barcelona, Real Madrid, PSG, etc.)
Enjin Coin (ENJ)- a cryptocurrency that rewards people using its NFT ecosystem
Decentraland (MANA) - currency for Decentraland, a game similar to Ready Player One (decentralised VR), based on the Ethereum blockchain
WAX (WAXP) - a cryptocurrency that makes e-commerce transactions better for all users
If you want to see more NFT cryptocurrencies and information regarding each of them, click here.
Opinions & Thoughts
NFTs overall seems like an incredible project. The money, support, projects, and so much, make such a huge difference in the crypto world. NFTs are a whole new environment within crypto, growing rapidly from the first seed that sprouts just recently. Although NFTs are amazing for the community with a range of benefits, there are also other issues originating from NFTs. One of the most concerning is the carbon footprint it has. Changing the database for an NFT exchange takes huge amounts of energy, coming across different devices to carry out the transaction. Most energy runs on fossil fuels, and so a great quantity of carbon emissions is released into the atmosphere, contributing to environmental issues. Possibly this issue can be solved with renewable energy, which I would see as a good option.
Conclusion
That concludes today's article on NFTs! NFTs is such a huge thing in the crypto world that I have barely talked about it. There are so many things within it, lying both open and hidden, which unlock new adventures for new experiences. The number of NFT cryptocurrencies, services, and purposes is enormous, each with its intricate ecosystem to keep it alive and nurturing. I hope everyone who reads this finds it enjoyable and helpful for future use, another article which I possibly will use in the future as a reference.
Digging inside the NFT world, I have only unlocked the beginning of an open cavern, others lying inside and beside it within the overarching crypto mine.
