Non-Fungible in the sense that they are unique and cannot be interchanged like fungible assets such as Bitcoin. Each NFT has a distinct signature used to designate and verify ownership of assets — there is no two original copy.
NFTs are digital assets that are usually representations of real-world objects such as in-game items, videos, music, collectibles, virtual assets, and arts. These crypto-assets are largely part of the Ethereum network, however, there have been other versions of NTFs implemented on other blockchains such as Algorand, Tron, WAX, Tezos, EOS, Solana, Cardano, Binance Smart Chain, and Flow.
“Minting” an NFT is the process of writing a digital item to the blockchain. This establishes its immutable record of authenticity and ownership. You may have heard people ask, “Why can’t I just screenshot an NFT?” Minting is part of the answer. When you mint an NFT, it becomes stored on the blockchain, where its authenticity and ownership is established. And because the blockchain record can’t be edited, minting is the start of that NFT’s immutable history. For the first time, creators can publish limited edition digital works, whose authenticity is validated on the blockchain. Ownership is undisputed and public, allowing creators to build special communities and perks for those who hold their NFTs. Creators can also set “creator fees” to earn on every secondary sale of their NFTs, and these fees are automatically programmed and executed by the NFT’s code. On OpenSea, creators can receive up to 10% of every sale after the initial sale.
An NFT drop happens when a new NFT collection is released. NFT drops can vary in both how the NFTs are sold (listed for sale or auction), and in who they’re released to (the public, or a specific list called an “allow list”).
Often, NFT drops coincide with when the NFTs in the collection are minted, that is, written to the blockchain. You might hear these terms used interchangeably— a drop might be referred to as the project’s mint.
OpenSea is an American online non-fungible token marketplace headquartered in New York City. The company was founded by Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah in 2017. OpenSea offers a marketplace allowing for non-fungible tokens to be sold directly at a fixed price, or through an auction.
A crypto wallet is a program that helps you buy, sell, and store your cryptocurrency and (in many cases) your NFTs. Think of it as your address on the blockchain— you can send and receive items from it, it stores your items, and you want to keep it locked and safe. In this article, we’ll walk through the types of crypto wallets and how to set one up.
A blockchain is a decentralized record that gets its name from how it stores its data. Once a set of transaction data reaches a certain size, it forms a “block.” This is where every transaction on a blockchain is validated and then permanently stored. The “chain” part of a blockchain is a series of consecutive blocks linked together, forming the immutable ledger.
An NFT can represent anything, but let’s explore some of the ways NFTs are being used today, and potential implementations for the future.
ART, PFPs, COLLECTIBLES, DOMAIN NAMES, GAMING, FUTURE APPLICATIONS…