When most people hear the letters NFT, they immediately look confused or start loading on a myriad of questions they may have.
I used to be the same as you. Hundreds of questions popped into my mind. For starters, what is an NFT? Why is everyone talking about them?
An NFT, or non-fungible token, is a digital asset with its own unique signature designating ownership of that asset to a consumer. This means every NFT ever made is a one-of-one. They can only be traded on blockchain-based platforms like Ethereum, OpenSea, Rariable, etc.
One of the beauties of NFTs is anyone can make them. The hard part is the creativity for the idea. The most popular have been those that are simple, yet unique. Those that successfully create NFTs take small royalties every time any of their NFTs get traded. Hence why many people believe NFTs to be a get-rich-quick scheme. That is not the case.
A good example of an NFT is Cryptopunks. Started in 2017 by Matt Hall and John Watkinson, Cryptopunks are 10,000 pixel portraits of “punks.” Cryptopunks is one of the original NFTs and started out being offered for free. Eventually, Cryptopunks started rising in value in January 2021, with some prices hitting close to the $1 million mark. This was mind boggling to me.
With all that being said, I can firmly tell you that NFTs will be the next internet and are here to stay.
For example, people thought selling online was a scam for low-life businessmen when the internet was invented. Online dating was for crazies or losers living in their parents’ basement. Fast forward to now, and the internet is the primary way business gets done and helps people connect. This shows just how resistant humans are to change. I too was resistant to it at first.
So why has it changed? People are slowly beginning to hop on the bandwagon including myself.
I listened to a podcast on NFTs hosted by Gary Vee, he said: “I don’t think people understand when something comes along that changes the world. The internet changed everything.”
He said he believes 98% of NFT projects will eventually fail and hit zero based on the trajectory they are headed in right now. Many people are paying absurd prices to get their hands on these NFTs. This will lead to the eventual devaluation of said NFTs, and the ones that survive will continue the trend upwards.
Even I shake my head when I see people spending millions of dollars on a picture of an ape, but the ape is just the first step in what NFTs will soon turn into.
Soon NFTs will be the ticket to getting into an exclusive club. If you buy a certain company’s NFT, you will get access to things others won’t. Think about it like a membership, only you have it until you trade it. I think that would be something worth value to everybody, not just the company.
My advice would be to wait it out. Wait until the 98% fail and then see which ones kept their head above water during the collapse. Now you may be thinking: “Whoa! Didn’t you say NFTs would be the next big thing?” Yes, I sure did, and I fully believe it too. The problem is prices for NFTs are so high people aren’t going to be able to afford them anymore and most will lose their value in the long run.
To all those who think NFTs are a get-rich-quick scheme, just wait twenty years. I’ll be laughing when you were wrong.
