Learn everything you need to know about non-fungible tokens, including how to gather, mint, and sell them (NFTs).
NFTs are transforming the worlds of gaming, art, and collectibles by changing the way we handle unique assets in digital form.
You’ll learn everything you need to know about collecting, minting, and selling NFTs in this beginner’s tutorial.
What is an NFT?
An NFT is a digital token that uses blockchain to prove the authenticity and ownership of a unique asset.
NFT is short for non-fungible token, which means they are unique and cannot be interchanged for another asset like it. 2
The term “fungible” refers to assets that aren’t one-of-a-kind. Because one US dollar is worth the same as the next, currencies are fungible. Paintings, on the other hand, are non-fungible since no two are same.
Despite the fact that NFTs have been around for a while, their growth has accelerated in 2021.
NFTs allow the authenticity of the product and history-of-ownership to be verified where fraud is otherwise opportune, such as artwork, in-game assets, sports cards, and other assets that hold value for certain groups of individuals.
This verification is useful for assets that pass through several owners during the course of their lives. After all, if you’re buying an ultra-rare trading card, you’d want to be sure it’s authentic.
Communities such as gaming fandoms or card collectors, assign a lot of value to their assets. By owning the assets in a verifiable way, **NFTs allow communities to express what they personally value. **That’s exactly why communities are spending millions on NFTs representing their prized goods.
The art world is no exception . As an industry filled to the brim with unique assets, NFTs are a haven for artists everywhere.
Where and How Can I Buy NFTs?
NFTs are available in various places depending on the context. Gaming NFTs can be found in-game, whereas NFTs for artwork can be found at art auctions, for example.
For the most part, however, you are able to find the most popular NFTs for sale or auction on online NFT marketplaces.
NFT Marketplaces:
Click here for a guide on how to buy NFTs on OpenSea . The process is similar on other marketplaces.
In a nutshell, all you need to do to buy an NFT is connect your crypto wallet, such as Trust Wallet, and then purchase the NFT you want (while paying using cryptocurrency for the transaction fees and the item itself).
What Are Some Popular NFTs?
CryptoKitties
- Release: November 2017 on Ethereum.
- Concept: Each kitty represented as an NFT, has one-of-a-kind genes that can be used to breed even more unique kitties. These kitties can be bought and sold to develop your collection.
- Most Expensive: The most expensive CryptoKitty called ‘Dragon’, is currently on sale for 600 ETH.
CryptoKitties brought everyone’s attention to the power of NFTs. At its peak, it congested 10% of the entire Ethereum network.
These kitties provided much-needed inspiration for exploring other use cases of NFTs. Released in 2017, CryptoKitties were not actually the first high-valued NFTs.
Click here to start your kitty breeding journey with Trust Wallet!
CryptoPunks
- Release: June 2017 on Ethereum.
- Concept: An assortment of 10,000 unique characters known as ‘punks’ differing in rarity and thus perceived value. Each punk is represented by an NFT.
- Most Expensive: Multiple punks make the list of the most expensive NFTs ever sold with two having sold for 4200 ETH.
These 10,000 punks were originally designed to show the potential of the ERC-721 NFT standard. They’re all equipped with an assortment of common and or rare features allowing variation in their perceived value.
Since no more than the original 10,000 CryptoPunks can ever exist, these NFTs are still highly valued.
Battle Pets
- Release: October 2020 on Binance Smart Chain.
- Concept: Buy and then hatch an egg, represented as an NFT, to get a pet capable of fighting in-game modes. Win matches to level up your pet and increase its value.
- Most Expensive: On the BakerySwap NFT Market there is a pet kitty on sale for 300,000 Bake. However, some pets out there have more power and are actually worth more.
For those familiar with yield farming , Battle Pets is seamless gamification of the same concepts. Some game modes involve staking your pet NFTs in certain positions to mine currencies introduced by the game.
For a guide on playing and profiting off of Battle Pets, click here.
Gods Unchained
- Release: Nov 2019 on Ethereum
- Concept: Win cards by outplaying your opponents’ cards in matches and tournaments. Cards have a differing rarity and thus different values.
- Most Expensive: The most expensive card, Hyperion, has sold for 137.8 ETH.
Involving strategic card playing, Gods Unchained can be a good source of pocket money for a skilled player.
Rich with the lore behind the cards and their characters, the game isn’t hard to dive waist-deep in. Click here for a guide on this one-of-a-kind card game!
NFTs in Sports
The sports world has always been fascinated with collectibles. Whether it’s sports cards, sports video game assets, or the jersey of a famous player, NFTs can represent them all on the blockchain.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of NFTs that have entered the Sports World:
- The NBA with NBA Top Shot.
- Football (soccer for Americans) with Sorare
- Formula 1 with F1 Delta Time
- American Football with Rob Gronkowski’s Championship Series NFTs
- Baseball with the MLB Champions NFTs
To learn more about the NFTs on this list click here.
Virtual Worlds
As the world becomes increasingly digital, some people aren’t afraid to start another life in a digital universe. To fill these needs, many games exist as digital simulations of the real world.
As these simulations grow in popularity, so does the value players assign to their possessions in these worlds. What better way to possess those in-game assets but with NFTs!
A non-exhaustive list of Virtual Worlds with NFTs:
Click here to learn more about this list.
Thanks to the help of NFTs, these platforms can have millions of dollars of trading volumes monthly for their in-game assets. Users can use these NFTs in many different ways within the open-world gameplay many of these worlds offer.
For more info about popular NFTs, here’s a list of the top five best-selling NFT collections.
How Do I Mint My Own NFT?
To create an NFT, you first need to choose a blockchain network that suits your needs. Different blockchains are designed for different purposes so choose the best one for your use case.
Ethereum is the network that popularized NFTs as we know them. However, Binance Smart Chain is an option with lower fees and faster speeds.
Minting an NFT requires:
- A blockchain wallet like Trust Wallet
- A small amount of crypto to pay minting transaction fees
- Possession of the digital item you’re minting for
Click here for an easy way to get your first NFT on the Ethereum network .
Click hereto mint your own artwork NFT on Binance Smart Chain .
NFT Market Data
The NFT market consists of a huge variety of assets, both digital and physical.
“The total spent on NFTs jumped from $95M in Q4 2020 to about $2.5B in Q1 2021.”
These figures come from a report on nonfungible.com and don’t include NFTs sold on traditional marketplaces.
The top 30-day NFT marketplaces involve well beyond millions of dollars in their monthly volumes.
For the same period, here are the top 10 highest selling NFTs:
As mentioned earlier, NFTs sold on traditional markets are not included in this data. For example, the artist Beeple sold a digital art NFT for 69 million , but it wasn’t auctioned on an online NFT marketplace.
For more info on the question “ Why Are NFTs Selling for Millions ?” Click Here.
Celebrities and NFTs
The growth of NFTs hasn’t missed the attention of celebrities.
Notable celebrities who’ve released NFTs include:
- Snoop Dogg and his “A Journey With The Dogg” collection
- Tony Hawk with a clip of his last 540 Ollie ever, as an NFT
- Lindsay Lohan has released a few NFTs including one of her song ‘Lullaby’
- Artist Damien Hirst announced ‘The Currency Project’ which consists of 1000s of NFTs for planned future paintings
- NFL star Rob Gronkowski has sold a card collection of NFTs to honour his career
- UFC fighter Francis Ngannou made more from NFTs following his fight against Stipe Miocic than he did for winning the actual fight
- DJ Aphex Twin sold an NFT he calls “afx/weirdcore/blockscanner” for $128,000
- Singer and Elon Musk’s girlfriend, Grimes, has sold a collection of NFTs for a total of $6,000,000
- Even Soulja boy has participated in the boom by releasing a collection of 20 NFTs called “crank that”
Why are Celebrities Embracing NFTs?
NFTs can serve as ownership certificates for unique assets that have a psychological value associated with them.
Considering the admiration fans have for celebrities, it’s clear to see why digital items released by them can be considered valuable.
It’s a chain reaction as more celebrities recognize their ease of success in the NFT world and take full advantage of this new earnings opportunity.