Four years ago, works from the CryptoPunks collection were handed out for a song. Recently, one of these drawings was sold for $ 7.49 million. Now everyone can issue their own NFT token and earn money on it.
Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, managed to become one of the three most expensive living artists in the world thanks to NFT tokens (non-fungible tokens). On March 11, the auction house Christie’s closed the auction for its collection of digital drawings Everyday: The First 5000 Days “(Everydays: The First 5000 Days), in which 5 thousand works were presented. The lot was sold for a record $ 69.35 million.
The artist’s work became the first lot in the history of the Christie’s auction house, which was sold for cryptocurrency. Payment for the painting was done in Ethereum, and Christie’s fees will need to be paid in US dollars.
Recently, the work of another artist, Banksy, was converted into a non-fungible token . The painting itself was burned in an unknown place in New York, and after that a token was created, tied to the “digital image of the art object.” Beyond art, NFT tokens have already begun to enter the real estate industry. A US investor sells a 50 percent stake in a residential building with a non-fungible token.
Growth in popularity
The trading volume of NFT tokens in February 2021 was $ 340 million, which is more than the trading volume for the entire 2020. Attention to tokens is growing due to their unique technology, which allows you to confirm ownership of an object, be it physical or virtual.
NFT technology was created in 2017 based on Ethereum smart contracts. In the same year, a token appeared on the Rare Pepe Directory platform, tied to a card with the image of Homer Simpson, stylized as Pepe the frog. Within a few months, the lot rose in price to $ 500, and a year later it was sold for $ 38 thousand.
NFT technology is widely known thanks to the CryptoKitties game, in which you can collect cats. Each cat is tied to its own unique token and is a digital asset. Collectors have the ability to create new cats and sell them to other players.
How to create and sell your own NFT token
The most popular platforms for working with non-interchangeable tokens are Rarible, OpenSea and Mintable. They provide the ability to create your own collection of tokens. This requires an Ethereum wallet and content that will be tied to the token. Pictures, music, videos, and even 3D models will do. Also, when creating a token, you can add blocked content that only its owner can see.
Most tokens are sold in an auction format. But to sell them, you will need to pay a transaction fee on the Ethereum network. OpenSea creates an NFT token after purchasing it and charges a commission from the buyer. This saves the author from additional costs. Rarible works in a different way and charges a commission from the author. The size of the commission will depend on the load on the Ethereum network. At maximum load, the commission can be over $ 80.
Buying someone else’s token
Thousands of virtual lots are already being traded on Rarible, OpenSea and Mintable platforms. Among them: domain names, digital art objects, virtual real estate, in-game items, collectibles. You will also need an Ethereum wallet with digital coins to purchase these lots.
A collection of CryptoPunks can be found on OpenSea, which contains 10,000 pixelated portraits. Initially, they were distributed by the authors for free, but now the drawings are estimated at hundreds of digital coins. One of the drawings was recently sold for a record 4.2 thousand Ethereum ($ 7.49 million). Also on the site are crypto kitties from the CryptoKitties game.
Also on the site you can find virtual real estate from the sandbox The Sandbox. For example, recently a piece of land was sold for 85 Ethereum ($ 146 thousand), which is at a price equal to the cost of land in the real world.
Free receipt of tokens
Various NFT developers and creators often conduct token giveaways on their social networks to attract new audiences. This is what one of the founders of the Avalanche project Don Vonton does. To participate in the sweepstakes, you need to follow his Twitter account and repost the entries announcing the giveaway. It is also necessary to leave an Ethereum wallet in the comments for the drawing.
You anons voted and this beautiful Monday we have Wojak finally making it.
To get yourself one of these #NFT‘s, like, retweet, and comment your X-address with the hashtag #AVAX. pic.twitter.com/trgYstP5oc
— Don Wonton 🥟 (@Don_wonton) December 21, 2020
The opportunity to get tokens for free is provided by the cryptocurrency aggregator Coingecko.com . Every day on the site you can receive special bonus points. With each subsequent day, the number of points will increase. The service publishes its own NFT tokens several times a month, which can be bought for bonus points. In addition to tokens, they can also be used to purchase souvenirs (T-shirts, notebooks, etc.). One of these tokens was sold on OpenSea for 1.5 Ethereum ($ 2.67 thousand).
