NFT Beginner’s Guide
| KEY TAKEAWAYS: |
| — Non-fungible tokens or NFTs are everywhere. From digital artists to models, soccer players, and musicians, everyone is creating these crypto tokens and auctioning them to the community. — NFTs offer the ability to record information pertaining to unique and rare assets and prove the ownership of those assets. This is what gives them special leverage over other forms of ownership records. — If this sounds like something you’re interested in, we have curated a comprehensive list of resources so you can stay updated about everything NFTs. |
Looking to start your NFT journey but don’t know where to start? We’ve put together an NFT beginner’s guide to help you on your adventure!
Blockchain and cryptocurrencies never cease to amaze, inspire, and sometimes even overwhelm the world with what they can do or offer. It all started with a peer-to-peer payment network, and today, the potential of crypto is felt across a variety of industries.
Among all this, the newest craze in the crypto world is a non-fungible token (NFT). Famous artists like Beeple and renowned sports organizations like NBA and NFL are all surfing this new crypto wave.
If you too want to join the NFT tribe and learn more about this exciting tech, we have the most comprehensive list of resources to get you going.
What are NFTs?
Crypto tokens like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) and fiat currencies like the dollar and euro are fungible tokens. You can have one ETH and exchange it for any other ETH, or you can exchange a 100 dollar bill with any other 100 dollar bill.
On the contrary, non-fungible tokens or NFTs are crypto tokens that represent information of unique or rare digital and real-world assets. This information stored in each NFT makes them non-interchangeable on a 1:1 basis. An NFT cannot even be divided into smaller parts like other crypto assets or fiat currencies.
In a nutshell, that’s what NFTs are — indivisible crypto assets representing information and value of rare or unique items. If you want to dive deeper into the concept of NFTs, you can watch our School of Block episode on NFTs or explore the resources we share below.
Propel your NFT prowess
The NFT space is growing rapidly and the only way you can learn about it and keep up with its growth is by being in the right place with the right people. Below, we have tried to list down the most credible sources, inspiring curators, and authentic projects, so you can stay on top of the game, forgive us if we forgot some!
Web media
To save yourself from information overload or misinformation, you must know credible web media platforms. They can help you learn and stay updated about the latest happenings in the NFT space.
1. Decrypt – NFT Revolution: Decrypt is a major crypto media publication that, for the love of NFTs, has created an exclusive section called NFT Revolution. From NFT news to tutorials, NFT Revolution has everything sorted in one place.
2. Larva Labs: Started by highly popular creative technologists behind the face of the Android brand, Larva Labs is an NFT project with a highly informative blog. It is the perfect place to stay updated on some of the most interesting NFT projects.
3. Artblocks: Artblocks is a platform for programmable on-demand NFTs. It has a curated list of NFT artists and projects that you can explore to get a first-hand experience of the NFT world.
Podcasts
If podcasts are your thing, it’s time you bless your ears with some of the best NFT podcasts. Let’s look at our favorite ones.
1. Nifty Show: Hosted by the New York Times best-selling author Joel Comm and marketing technologist Travis Wright, Nifty Show is a weekly NFT podcast. It has hosted many big shots in the NFT and blockchain gaming space to unravel the mysteries around NFTs.
2. The Defiant: Founded by a former Bloomberg news reporter Camila Russo, The DeFiant is a place for all things DeFi. Apart from its newsletter and NFT-focused YouTube playlist, you can also find The Defiant’s podcast episodes focused on NFTs.
3. Modern Finance: As the name suggests, Modern Finance highlights the potential of new-age financial technology through brainstorming sessions with industry experts. With the rising popularity of NFTs, the podcast host Kevin Rose has also posted multiple new episodes focused on NFTs.
People with interesting thoughts
Crypto influencers make an interesting part of the crypto community and they can keep you both entertained and informed. Some of them are particularly popular for their vision and curation of NFTs, here are three that are worth your time:
1. Roham Gharegozlou: Roham Gharegozlou is hands down one of the most successful NFT entrepreneurs. Gharegozlou founded the NFT company DapperLabs and has been behind popular NFT games such as NBA TopShot and CryptoKitties. You want insights on NFTs, you need to follow Roham.
2. 6529 is the pseudonym of Twitter’s premier NFT philosopher: a Bitcoin OG whose reflections about the emerging NFT space – and what it means to society – have amassed a cult following among crypto fans and followers of pop culture alike. Check out 6529 Museum and education projects for a peak into the mogul’s mind space.
3. Zeneca is the poker player turned NFT dealer who built a multi-million dollar collection of NFTs from zero in 12 months. The investor and content creator uses their instinct for reading the room to provide insight on the evolving NFT space, as well as data and emerging trends, via his daily podcast.
3. Snowfro: Founder of Artblocks, Erick, a.k.a. Snowfro, is an NFT mastermind and a brilliant person to follow for NFT-related content.
Interesting Artists
Recently, NFT art and music have become extremely popular. So, you certainly should follow some of the artists out there who are spearheading the NFT revolution. Below are a few names whose work we insist you check out:
1. Beeple – you could say that Beeple, also known as American artist Mike Winkelmann, was one of the sparks that lit the NFT fire, making NFTs a conversation point not just for crypto fans, but also for regular people. He made global headlines in 2021 when his famous work “Everydays: the First 5000 Days” sold at a Christie’s auction for a staggering USD 69,000, the most expensive NFT ever and one of the most expensive artworks in history. The social commentator may not be the first NFT artist, but his artwork captures the zeitgeist of the NFT explosion.
2. Fewocious: Fewocious is an 18-year-old digital artist who has sold multiple digital art pieces as NFTs. You can follow this artist and see how a young mind is redefining art.
3. 3lau: The popular electronic music artist Justin Blau recently released NFTs of one of his most popular albums and sold them for over 11.6 million dollars. You can check out his latest NFT work on his NFT page.
4. Pak is an entity so enigmatic that we don’t actually know if they’re an artist or a team of creators operating an AI, but for simplicity you might compare them to a digital Banksy for the NFT generation. Pak’s M.O. is using experimental NFT art, and more recently NFT based projects such as the mysterious Lost Poets, to redefine participants perceptions of value, their reality and themselves. A key agenda setter in the space who is worth keeping an eye on.
5. Mad Dog Jones: Michah Dowbak aka Mad Dog Jones is an Ontario-based NFT artist, with a unique style, who recently sold an art piece for a whopping 4.1 million dollars.
Image Credit: The Verge
Interesting Projects
1. RTFKT: After crafting designs for several gaming and fashion companies for years, RTFKT became an NFT project in 2020. They are spearheading the digital fashion revolution with viral sneaker designs and other digital collectibles.
2. Bored Ape Yacht Club: If apes are your thing, this one’s for you. Bored Ape Yacht Club is a project that has created an art collection of 10,000 unique bored apes on the Ethereum blockchain. You can buy these apes to unlock members-only features.
3. Meebits: Created by Larva Labs, Meebits are a CryptoPunk-like collection of 20,000 unique 3D characters. Once you buy a Meebit character, you get access to the full 3D model and use it to animate your Meebit.
Your NFTs beginner’s guide, your freedom
The rise in popularity of NFT art is only the beginning of how these assets can fully redefine exclusivity and ownership across industries in a world headed toward digitalization. NFTs will most surely participate in redefining the concept of digital ownership, jump on board, the time is now!
Knowledge is power
