A conventional investor will not be able to wrap his head around the thought of investing in Non-fungible tokens, imagine a static jpeg image that is not tangible but mostly virtual and digital priced for $460,000? that’s half a million dollars! Well, that’s the price of Eminem’s bored Ape called “EminApe” created by the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, one of the most famous NFT collections, a whimsical series of unique images depicting an ape with different personalities.
Eminem’s bored ape called “EminApe”
Image src: hong kong life style
It starts to look even worse and more of a scam when it can not be touched or felt.
But the truth remains that as bitcoin has had a 6.9% drop in worth, NFTs’ total value grew from $100 million in 2020 to more than $21 billion in 2021, according to a report by TradingPlatforms.
What are NFTs
NFTs are Non-fungible Tokens.
That’s a vague explanation, right? Ok, let us get this whole thing demystified by picking it apart! A crypto token or token is a smart contract that could represent anything from tangible objects such as a Diamond Rolex and collectables to intangible objects such as digital arts, smart contract rules because once they’re in place, they are unalterable. After a contract is written, neither the user nor the programmer can change it. The next thing to know is that Tokens can be fungible or Non-fungible. Fungible tokens are tradeable assets, such as your Binance coin, built on an existing blockchain like Ethereum. Fungible tokens, such as ERC-20 and BEP-20 tokens on Ethereum and Bitcoin respectively, can be traded in parts which means you can trade 1 bitcoin for cash or another bitcoin or 100,000,000 satoshis (units of bitcoin) and you will have the exact value.
The opposite which is the Non-fungible token is exactly what the NFTs are. They can not be traded in parts because they are created using hash methods and linked with digital assets, such as png, videos or jpeg while leveraging blockchain technology. NFTs are unique unlike fungible tokens made so by the digital “title deed” associated with the asset when minted.
What is created and value-adding is not just the digital asset but the unique ERC721 token – the ‘title deed’ or artist’s signature, which is the original.
HOW ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS TURNING UP THE VALUE OF NFTS ANOTHER NOTCH
The introduction of the metaverse is a game-changer for NFTs! with the help of haptic gloves and virtual reality glasses you can enter the digital world and feel the texture of your NTF digital art. Furthermore, just like earth, assets will need to be purchased in the metaverse, digital houses, digital cars, digital arts, digital pets etc
Metaverse Haptic Glove
Image Src: The verge
A typical day in the metaverse – a shared immersive virtual world – will soon resemble the familiar world we live in. We will visit shopping centres, drive across town, meet friends in cafes, and exchange contacts in ways that seem strikingly real – thanks to rapid advances in virtual reality, with the help of AI and 5G communications.
the Metaverse has existed for several decades in the form of online games but things are rapidly evolving into immersive virtual reality highly indistinguishable from the real world. this evolution will foster the beginnings of true society, with individuals settling land disputes, interacting socially, exchanging goods and asserting ownership right only in the digital world! Phew! hope that is not too much to take in at once? brace up because it’s upon us and will be a reality as early as 2024.
And this is where the NFT will be playing a major role in conferring smart and unalterable contracts to determine the owners of these digital assets. Remember they are called assets because with time there is a potential for these assets to appreciate in value and there is only one way to ascertain that you have purchased the original art and that is by these smart contacts that bear the original digital ‘title deed’ of the creator.