What are NFTs? Maybe like our very own Xaroc, you’re confuddled when it comes to this particular fad.
Wikipedia says “A non-fungible token (NFT) is a financial security consisting of digital data stored in a blockchain, a form of distributed ledger” but lets face it, that means little, if anything to the majority of people, right?
Chances are, you’ve heard of NFTs because, while they’ve not been headline news on many outlets, they have been a hot topic for a good while now around the web, with even big mainstream media sites like BBC News, Wired and The Independent reporting on the rapid rise and now fall of these unusual artforms. Some, like CNN have even got in on the game! With some of the most well known NFTs selling for the crypto equivalent of millions of dollars, you can’t really blame anyone for trying to cash in on their popularity.
I have even dipped a paw into this pool myself, though I’m not expecting much of an outcome, it’s a fun little side project that’s kept me amused for a few months now with researching, creating and learning how to sell some of my very own images on the world’s most popular NFT marketplace, OpenSea.
Now, I’m definitely no expert in this field, so I won’t bore you with a guide to basic terms or anything, this is just my interpretation and a bit of Wolfy musing after a conversation with my fellow Frienemies. Cut down to the very basics, NFTs are media that can be images, audio, video or 3D models that are anonymously traded in the virtual world for cryptocurrency.
This example of an NFT isn’t real, I created it with the help of the Midjourney image AI and one of these nice Frame Vectors by Vecteezy, one of my favourite sources for royalty-free images to use in my edits!
To be a little brutal, I think that NFTs at heart are pretty much a fad that goes along with the idea of VR and the Metaverse which some tech giants seem to have grabbed and clung onto for dear life in recent years. We all love the idea of getting to be someone else, a refined version of ourselves or even somebody completely different, that’s why a lot of us play RPGs after all, no?
Some people add that it all seems a bit… well, if it were any more fishy, it would belong on OnlyNam.com put it that way. Personally, I’m in two minds about that as there do seem to be some genuine artists selling their work on this new marketplace, but also there does seem to be a huge backdoor left open for the potential trading of nigh-untraceable cryptocurrency as by it’s very nature, everything around NFTs and crypto is kept largely anonymous between users.
Despite any misgivings, I’m willing to give this new way of trading art a try and I won’t dismiss it outright as a scam but I urge you all to be cautious when trading in any cryptocurrency and to never invest any money that you can’t afford to lose, because after all, even playing the stock markets is gambling, in it’s own way.
