NFT's are viral at the moment. There's a lot of money to be made in this space over the coming months and years.
I mean, a lot. From gaming to digital art, NFTs are going to replace collectibles as we know them. And by jumping in now when the niche is young, you're sure to improve your chances of getting those NFTs everyone will be drooling over in the future.
I'll be telling you why you should be paying attention to projects centered around NFTs, as these could be your ticket out of your parents basement.
Ironically, NFTs will be really attractive to those of you who still live there. You see, NFTs’ biggest application at this time is in the world of gaming, eSports and Collectibles, due to their unique nature and potential for providing users with true ownership over their digital assets.
NFT stands for non-fungible token, which is a special type of token just like you, unique. This is exactly what non fungible means. When you say an asset is fungible, like a dollar, it means it's interchangeable.
When you are tipping a stripper, I mean your delivery man, it doesn't make a difference which dollar bill you put in the G string or on the pizza box.
They're all the same.
Now, compare this to an art piece like Goya’s fascinating and terrifying Saturn Devouring His Son or Da Vinci’s emblematic Mona Lisa.
If an art were to acquire it, we would not settle for an exact copy of it. Sure, I can have it in my living room and pretend it is the same, but it is not.
The original will always be one of a kind and have more value than an exact replica. NFTs are the perfect way to represent such a work of art, as all of them are different from each other, which is not only a benefit when it comes to art.
NFTs can represent property, achievements, trophies, unique video game items, digital collectibles, and even digital IDs.
There's just a lot of potential waiting for more people to jump in, as its use is still in the early stages compared to what is to come. You see, non-fungible tokens are already used by several projects and have seen massive success with collectibles, like CryptoKitties, which, if you don't remember, were enough to crash the entire Ethereum network in a way similar to what DeFi is doing now.
There are also other collectible games like Decentraland, My Crypto Heroes, Gods Unchained, and more.
Now, this collection of NFTs represented over $99 Million in lifetime trading volume, with some predicting that it could become a trillion dollar industry in the next few years. You might think this is exaggerated, but as I have said, NFTs can be applied to a lot of different industries, especially gaming.
Gaming has been described by many as the gateway for the mass adoption of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.
This isn't surprising. The gaming industry surpassed both the music and movie industries combined a long time ago in terms of revenue.
Think about that for a second. According to Statista, a total of 2.81 billion people are playing video games around the world.
This is more than a third of the global population. So, why are NFTs such a big deal in gaming? Well, these tokens could help alleviate some issues that both game developers and gamers experience under the current models.
For gamers, the main problem is not really owning their digital assets. If a player was going to be banned from the game, their assets would be lost.
It doesn't matter if their shiny sword is worth $10,000, it will be gone. If the player wants to sell it, he would be restricted by the company's policies on that matter.
Taking and handling the item out of the game is also not a possibility. See the problem? Sounds kind of like centralization.
The player is basically borrowing the item from the developer. NFTs can actually change that. By creating an NFT token, users would be given control over their assets, being able to take them out of a developer’s servers and into a blockchain network.
This would also provide developers to generate extra revenue if they were to allow the trading in such a way, charging a fee for the trading of assets, as this can be automated with smart contracts.
The security of the assets would also increase. As we all know, the blockchain is one of the most secure technologies at this time.
And most importantly, gamers would truly be rewarded for their efforts on acquiring the assets, as it wouldn't matter if the publisher goes out of business and the game disappears throughout your nerdy quest.
Blockchain would ensure the player’s asset is still there. Such an application of NFT tokens would also open the door to interesting concepts.
Could you imagine moving your items from one game to another? Companies could find ways to create an expanded universe for their games, where users can flawlessly move between them, even cooperating with other developers to do so.
I'm not a game developer, but that sounds interesting. Enough about video games though. I made so much emphasis on them because they're truly the greatest application of NFTs.
However, all of those same features that make NFTs effective in the video game industry can be used in other areas.
Digital works of art. Paintings distributed through NFTs which certify their authenticity.
Real estate industry. Owning an NFT token for a property could be owning the property itself.
Maybe a sneaky way around your HOA. Tickets for events, IDs, copyrights, licensing, anything that requires uniqueness can be converted into an NFT token.
Digitalization is happening. And blockchain will be the one guiding the way. It's not a matter of if, but when.
Just like with any other token, NFTs are part of a blockchain network of projects. By investing in the networks that allow the creation of popular NFTs, you'll be benefiting from all the trading that takes place.
Take Ethereum for example. If you were to hold ETH, and CryptoKitties return with a craze like the old days, in a ball of yarn, or any project did, this would result in ETH’s value going up, easy.
The other option is investing in solid projects in this niche. Projects like Engine and Wax are a way to invest in NFTs without acquiring them, as the raise of NFTs in the network will have an impact on their coins.
The success of NFTs would also have a direct impact on coins like Ethereum for the same reason, as Ethereum is home to many NFT games.
What I mean to say is that you don't need to invest in a specific virtual cat or piece of digital art, but you can find the network that has tokens and invest in it. Investing in projects who focus on their own NFTs, like The Sandbox, OVR, and Nifty Gateway, how nifty, which is a marketplace owned by Gemini, will also allow you to capitalize on the NFT craze and make good money.
If you have an eye for CryptoKitties, you can tell me how much this specific kitty is worth, you might be able to benefit from trading specific NFTs.
I'm really sorry about that. But it doesn't have to be with virtual cats. If you have a knowledge of art, real estate, sneakers, or gaming, focus on that specific market and invest in tokens that will gain value with time.
By the way, that cat was worth $172,000 and I hope you enjoyed this article.
