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The Truth about the digital NFT craze is taking the world by storm. This is the true worth of an NFT, and why it is CTRL+C/ CTRL+V will never defeat it!
Image 1: *ALERT* This JPEG is NOT an NFT
NFT stands for Non-fungible Token. The term has become synonymous with JPEGs and Bored Apes, but it did not start that way. The idea behind the NFT was decentralized and irrefutable ownership over something. Most of that absolute ownership is used to flex one’s collections of smoking apes, but the sentiment remains. The NFT craze started slowly in early 2014 with a little project called “Quantum.” Kevin McCoy wanted to immortalize the circle of life, but he unknowingly gave life to a new era of life. The Age of the NFT!
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Getting into the NFT space has never been easier. The world has never been more dynamic and interconnected than it is now, but one problem persists. When everything, and we mean everything, is online, how do we prove our ownership of anything, including our identity? This is a terrifying question to ask yourself!
This is the actual value of NFTs! It is the logical extension of blockchain technology. It gives control back to the people and allows us to flaunt our newly minted Cyberpunks without care. How we can buy our own NFTs is as simple as 1, 2, OpenSea!
It is as easy as that. Welcome to the NFT buyers’ club.
People are strange creatures with many motivations in every aspect of life. In the last five years, people worldwide have been pouring money into NFTs with no sign of slowing down. These are just a few reasons why this is happening:
Why buy an NFT of a digital cat painting if you can copy and paste it for free? To those people, fair point. That being said, that misses the purpose of the technology and its value. There are 5 main reasons people buy NFT assets, but none of them means anything if we don’t understand what makes NFT value.
That leaves the most critical question still floating in the air. What is the difference between an NFT and a JPEG?
The primary difference is that JPEGs belong to the world once uploaded to the internet. At the same time, NFTs, even if every single person has a copy of it on their pc, will only ever be a single authentic owner. This is key to understanding the appeal of NFTs. This is also what makes it so attractive for art collectors, who find pride in the authenticity and uniqueness of their collectibles. This is the case for Pablo Rodriguez Fraile, an art collector, who bought a 10-second video clip for $67,000. He even managed to flip it afterward and sell it for $6.6 million. Try doing that with a selfie.
Overall, the best way to summarize the difference is to understand that a JPEG will only ever be an image, while an NFT is a digital proof that you own an image. This becomes more exciting when you consider that NFTs are not limited to JPEGs or PNG files and can eventually be made of videos and even physical real estate!
Country | No. of NFT Users |
Thailand | 5.65 million |
Brazil | 4.99 million |
United States | 3.81 million |
China | 2.68 million |
Vietnam | 2.19 million |
India | 1.50 million |
Canada | 1.40 million |
Indonesia | 1.25 million |
Germany | 1.23 million |
South Africa | 1.23 million |
Table 1: top 10 countries with the most NFT buyers
It is no secret that NFTs have taken the entire world by storm. From Indonesia to Canada, no country can escape this digital phenomenon. The list above is a snapshot of the nation’s most invested in the NFT space, with the number of users each boasts as of September 2022. There are obvious reasons why certain countries are investing in cryptocurrencies. It provides a certain level of protection from local inflation. Still, it helps other countries engage in international tech without relying on their national technological industry. All in all, Cryptocurrency and NFT technology offers people a level of financial and technical freedom that was unprecedented only ten years ago. It’s no wonder that millions of people are adopting technology.
Image 2: This is a JPEG of an NFT, but it is still NOT an NFT
The image above is the infamous “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” by Beeple, aka Mike Winkelmann. This is currently the second most expensive NFT ever sold. It held the first position until Pak, a pseudonymous artist, sold their “The Merge” NFT for a mind-blowing $91,3 million! Either way, Beeple’s “Everyday” collection of his first 5000 daily readers will always be immortalized for breaking the globe’s perception of the value of the NFT market. It also became the first and most expensive piece of NFT, and digital art, ever sold from a physical art house auction to a single buyer.
The NFT space and its supporting technology are relatively new compared to many others, so it makes sense that some people are still skeptical about it. The idea that all NFTs are ridiculous is quite ignorant, and really, it depends on why the person is investing in NFTs; to begin with, that will determine if it’s worthwhile or not. The truth is that the space is quite volatile and vulnerable to further innovation. This means that, as they will, there are very few experts in the NFT space and fewer, if any, that can predict how the market will look in the next few years or even the next few months.
Regarding secure investments, an NFT backed by the Ethereum blockchain is far better than the business idea proposed by your cousin Donny last week. The opportunity to have actual ownership over an asset will protect you in ways that other asset classes simply can’t. If investing is not your end goal, nobody will be able to take away the fact that you can now own a legendary moment in the NBA, which comes with a lifetime’s worth of bragging rights! That being said, before you invest any of your money into the NFT or any other market, it is always best to do your research.
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