Non-Fungible Token or NFT for the Creator Economy

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A Non-Fungible Token or NFT erupted in 2021, with virtual currency enthusiasts and traders scrambling to get a piece of the action. NFTs first came into existence in 2015, with the first few projects launching in 2017. Unique items, such as collectibles are sold online using NFTs. Because each piece is one-of-a-kind and cannot be duplicated, NFTs create exclusivity, making them attractive to collectors, artists, and other vendors. Several musicians and multimedia artists have recently explored the NFT sector to sell their creations as collectibles or art. WazirX, a cryptocurrency exchange in India, has officially launched India’s first NFT platform. 

Description: A digital collage infusing Michelangelo and binary digits
Description: A digital collage infusing Michelangelo and binary digits

Notable NFT Transactions

New billionaires have emerged due to the bitcoin boom, and they are exploring other cryptocurrencies to invest their earnings. In December 2020, the total traded volume for NFTs was roughly $12 million. According to data from NFT blockchain company Enjin, the value surged to well over $500 million in March 2021. The most successful NFT ventures in 2021 so far were seen selling limited-edition products, such as digital art, music, trading cards, and other collectibles, at exorbitant rates.

Everyday: The First 5000 Days

At the world-famous auction house, Christie’s, Mike Winkelmann, an artist, aka Beeple, made non-fungible token (NFT) history. At the end of February 2021, the auction house hosted its first-ever auction of an NFT without any physical artwork. In a matter of minutes, the auction rose from $100 to $1 million, clocking the sale of the digital artwork at $69 million.

CryptoPunk #3100

CryptoPunks is a brand-new type of NFT production. These are some of the first NFTs to be created on the market. After the NFT boom, most of them are now trading for millions of dollars. This artwork is the most costly CryptoPunk. It’s made great strides since it started with a $76 offer in 2017 and ended up selling for $7.58 million in March of this year.

Crossroads

This artwork represents Beeple’s signature style, which focuses on criticizing prominent personalities or political leaders with a dystopian twist. Just days before the huge sale of every day, Crossroads sold for $6.6 million. The artist sold the piece on Nifty Gateway. Essentially, the artwork was a political depiction of the US presidential elections in 2020.

The First Tweet

After founding Twitter in 2006, CEO and developer Jack Dorsey sent out the first tweet. Later, he sold his tweet as an NFT for a whopping $2.9 million. He sold the tweet to Oracle CEO Sina Estav, who considered it as valuable as purchasing the Mona Lisa painting. All revenues from the NFT sale, according to Dorsey, were converted to bitcoin and donated to GiveDirectly, a nonprofit that helps the poor.

Axie Infinity Genesis Land

Axie Infinity is an Ethereum-based virtual video game in which users can purchase and raise fictional creatures identified as Axis. An estate in the game sold for $1.5 million in February 2021. It was valued at 888.25 Ether at the time of sale. “This is the largest digital land sale ever recorded on the blockchain,” read Danny’s tweet, the virtual property seller. 

httpswww.cryptokitties.co
Description: Two illustrated kitties. Source: CryptoKitties

Non-Fungible Token or NFT Startups 

The startup ecosystem seems to have made its way to the NFT marketplace. Recently, NFT startups have attracted significant sums of money as investors banded together to fund early entrants in the digital collectibles industry. Earlier this year, Andreessen Horowitz and Naval Ravikant led a $23 million fundraising round for OpenSea, one of the most prominent NFT hubs. Meanwhile, SuperRare, an invite-only NFT marketplace, raised a $9 million Series A round in March 2021. Here are some interesting startups to keep an eye on in the NFT space from around the world.

CryptoKitties

CryptoKitties, released in 2017 by developer Dapper Labs, was instrumental in bringing NFTs into the spotlight. It was the first to implement the ERC-721 standard, which enables the creation of one-of-a-kind digital assets. On the Ethereum network, gamers raise and trade virtual cats for profit in the CryptoKitties game. Each CryptoKitties token represents a different digital cat and is non-fungible.

Enjin

Enjin was established in 2009 to create a gaming network. It developed the Enjin Coin (ENJ) in 2017 and began constructing a blockchain ecosystem specifically for NFTs. In 2018, Enjin unveiled one of the world’s first gaming multiverses. Today, its services are used by more than 40 game developers. In fact, Enjin Coin had the biggest market cap of all NFTs in March 2021.

Rarible

Rarible was launched in January 2020 as an NFT marketplace for creating and exchanging rare collectibles. Art, memes, music, domain names, and DeFi insurance coverage are among the digital assets supported by the system. Rarible made headlines when it introduced its governance token, RARI, which is more often used in the Defi sector. 

Decentraland

Decentraland, released in 2020, is a decentralized virtual reality world driven by the Ethereum blockchain that allows users to develop and distribute content and applications. Individuals can buy virtual land plots, customize avatars, take part in governance, and trade unique digital artworks. To join Decentraland, participants will need fungible tokens along with NFTs.

OpenSea

OpenSea, founded in 2017, is known to be the world’s largest decentralized NFT marketplace. Developers can use the platform to create marketplaces for their digital assets based on Ethereum and interoperable standards like ERC721 or ERC1155 and earn a commission from secondary products. To automatically trade collectibles, game makers can create specialized stores.

A non-fungible token or NFT allows the development of hitherto unimagined business models. Artists can include provisions in an NFT that guarantee they receive a portion of the revenues every time it is resold, so they gain if the value of their work rises. Don’t disregard NFTs as a fad. In the long run, it has the potential to grow exponentially in the virtual world.



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