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Mike Winkelmann, the digital artist who goes by the name Beeple, made headlines earlier this month when he sold a non-fungible token (NFT) for $69 million.
Following that sale, NFTs were all anyone could talk about.
Even Elon Musk jumped on board with an NFT techno track, about NFTs.
An NFT is a unique unit of cryptocurrency. It’s a digital certificate for intellectual property and is stored on the blockchain, so the owner of an NFT owns an asset, whatever that may be, and the proof of ownership of that asset.
Each NFT is unique and can’t be duplicated.
Confused? This might help with the blockchain side of things:
Back to NFTs.
While it might seem like a new phenomenon, NFTs have actually been around for ages.
Those of a certain age or generation might recognise the NFT Nyan Cat up there. The idea was to ‘Nyan’, which is to watch Nyan Cat for as long as possible.
Record holder Ahon Sarkar Nyaned for upwards of 164 hours. I’ll pop the video in at the end so that you can try your hand at Nyaning.
All of the complex lingo can make it seem like NFTs exist only in the realm of those with advanced tech skills, but according to CNBC, anyone can get in on the game.
The first step is to create a digital wallet.
If you’re on a desktop computer, you’ll need to install a wallet extension for your browsers, such as MetaMask or Dapper. You’ll also need to fund your account with Ether (cryptocurrency), which you can buy. Think of it as similar to the coins or tokens you buy in the games on your phone.
On your mobile device, you’ll need to use an Ethereum-compatible mobile browser like Coinbase Wallet, or Opera Touch.
Follow the instructions on the site for your preferred digital wallet.
On to creating and selling your NFT.
An NFT can be just about anything in the digital realm, from images, to songs, to photos.
Here’s an example from Rarible.com where you can flog your goods:
Now that you have a random digital file to put out there, on to the sales.
- Go to Rarible.com and tap “Create” on the top right.
- Create a single or multiple collectibles (a collection of images or photos)
- Select “Choose File” to upload a PNG, GIF, MP3, or another file type. The max size is 30MB.
- Enter the price you’d like, or leave it as “put on sale”.
- Enter in a name for your NFT and a description.
- Set your royalties. You’ll continue to get paid if it resells on the secondary market. This is based on the current sale price.
- Choose “Connect wallet and create”, and connect the wallet that you created.
- Pay a fee to process the listing.
- Click “Start” to sign the sell order using your digital wallet.
- Click “Sign” in the MetaMask pop-up.
And, that’s it.
If it sells, the funds will be transferred to your digital wallet where you can use them to buy NFTs, or cash out using an app such as Coinbase Wallet.
If you’re keen to buy an NFT, you’ll find those instructions here.
I’ll leave you with to Nyan, as promised:
[source:cnbc]
