From the sale of the $69 million digital artwork which ushered the concept of NFT to the internet to accruing over $10 billion in sales since its development (which is barely a long time), NFT is the internet favorite and latest obsession which doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon.
Its recent records and massive involvement has brought up the obvious, which is the question hanging on every internet user’s lips: Is NFT puff or the real stuff?
Before condemning or upholding any of its features or working mechanism, what is an NFT? NFT means Non-Fungible tokens, in simpler terms fungible means the feature of an object that makes it interchangeable with another object of similar because of their identical nature hence, non-fungible tokens mean one-of-a-kind, unique, non-interchangeable, distinct, and rare.
How do I own an NFT?
Since NFTs are digital, you need a digital wallet to fund before purchasing one. Luckily, several platforms allow for the sale and purchase of NFTs — a great example is Opensea which uses the currency Ether it Ethereum.
OpenSea supports the use of other cryptocurrency wallet platforms but favors Metamask or Trustwallet; connect the wallet containing Ethereum to your OpenSea platform.
Go to the OpenSea platform and utilize the interface by tapping the Explore button showing all sorts of NFTs for sale. Choose an NFT of choice and press the Buy now, checkout, and submit buttons respectively. Now you own an NFT.
Cons of an NFT
Possibility of going out of style
Financial experts warn against the possibility of NFT overstaying in the market. Several predictions from renowned business schools and financial scholars put NFTs as a bad investment. However, these same skilled individuals predicted the death of Bitcoin before the year 2016, Bitcoin is waxing stronger as of today.
Environment impact
In a bid to shit the activities of NFTs, several articles and researches have placed NFT as one of the contributors to environmental pollution. However, the average streaming company computing machines contribute as much pollution as NFTs.
Pros of NFTs Financial growth
Every investment risk aims at making a profit and the purchase of NFTs are not an exception. For example, in 2017, the CryptoPunk artwork named Dragon was worth around $2200. Despite
thousands of offers, the creator decided to sell it in 2021 for a whopping $7.5 million, an investment rate no traditional bank can offer.
They can be transferrable
Since NFTs are based on the completion of the clauses of a smart contract, transferability is possible. This can help solve the issue of holding and allow buyers to transfer ownership at will. Transferability allows you to sell your tokens or gift them out easily.
It’s the trend
How does a trend equate to being beneficial? This was the same scenario in the up-and-coming days of Bitcoin. Harnessing the opportunity NFTs gas created allows individuals to make either short or long-term profits quickly. Users can purchase low-value NFTs, hold them for a while and sell them off when their prices are high — the same working mechanism of cryptocurrency of ‘Buy low, sell high’.
