HOW DOES CRYPTO WORK?

A lot of us have stumbled upon crypto many times in the last decade, trying to figure out how it works. Now we know that crypto uses a decentralised system which frees it from the hierarchal structure of power for recording transactions and issuing new units through a process called as mining. All the math enthusiasts benefit here since new coins are generated by solving complex mathematical problems. You must have come across words like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, Dodge coin, NFTs, Tether and PolkaDots etc.

These are all substitutes to online payment which uses encryption algorithms; and in order to use cryptocurrency you must have a wallet which is able to store your keys and access your coins. Wallets consist of public key and private key (online (web), mobile, desktop, hardware, and paper wallets.) for signing to your cryptocurrency transactions.

The bitcoin network relies on a block-chain which is a digital ledger or collection of accounts which facilitates recording of transactions which is set in the stone and cannot be changed over time. Confirmed transactions are collected in the block chain and the block of the bitcoin always consists of a magic number, block size, block header & transaction counter.

Yes, I know this is getting very nerdy, but we need to be able to wrap our heads around these terms.

Each block is limited to 1MB and must contain data (value 0xD9B4BEF9) which can be verified by the network to be validated and adjoined to the block chain. Block header is made up of 6 components adding to an 80-byte field namely:

These records of blockchains are owned by the currency holders and owning digital currency is very volatile. They are intangible assets and block chain technology is still emerging into the financial world.

How to buy cryptocurrency

Disclaimer: Buy only as much as you can feel comfortable losing. I know I don’t like to lose but if you don’t then this investment is not for you.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are coins which you can earn by completing tasks while playing the most played games like Axie infinity (Pokémon NFT), Decentraland (Buying and selling virtual lands), PirateXPirate (PXP tokens in a Pirate Metaverse), Sandbox (Investing in future and Metaverse gaming), STEPN (Winning rewards for your steps) and you can either earn NFTs which can be transferred into your digital wallet, which can be sold for currencies for real-world payments.

Let’s dive into earning while playing your favorite games. As a child, you always dream of getting rich while doing something you really love. Gaming industry makes billions of dollars because of the blockchain technology today and ‘play-to-earn’ games have hiked in the last 5 years.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are coins which you can earn by completing tasks while playing the most played games like Axie infinity (Pokémon NFT), Decentraland (Buying and selling virtual lands), PirateXPirate (PXP tokens in a Pirate Metaverse), Sandbox (Investing in future and Metaverse gaming), STEPN (Winning rewards for your steps) and you can either earn NFTs which can be transferred into your digital wallet; which can be sold for currencies for real-world payments.

Planning to travel today? Expedia’s Vice President of global product believes in adopting to payment technologies, which lets you purchase hotel reservations by indicating bitcoin as their payment option. CheapAir’s fandom dates to 2013 despite the serious financial difficulties of 2022, they accept dozens of crypto payments till date including, Cash, Ethereum, Dodgecoin, Litecoin etc.

You can also book a virgin galactic flight experience. German branch of Burger King has been accepting Bitcoin online payments since 2019; followed by Starbucks and subway using the Bakkt crypto company and lightning network subsequently.

BitPay cryptocurrency processor can be used to buy fashion products from Gucci, Jomashop, Tag Heuer, Farfetch, Balenciaga etc. It is safe to say that crypto has become a world of its own. It has now become a medium of exchange and has the potential to gain even more popularity in the upcoming years.

We can observe that crypto has now started to gain legal tender by some countries like El Salvador, Slovenia, Germany, Canada, Malta, Singapore, Portugal, Switzerland, Estonia, The Netherlands which shows the value of regulations in crypto landscape. However, a few questions of taxation policies, rules and regulations, volatility in nature, long-term investment, expandability, hacking and phishing still exists.

THREE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT CRYPTO

• Roller coaster ride: There are two ways to the crypto street, you can either become filthy rich overnight or lose everything in a jolt and there is no going back from there. In the last decade crypto has crashed 8 times and the pace setters have gone through these fluctuating losses.
• Crypto is taxable: Yes, your earnings on crypto are taxable to income tax or capital gains tax (CGT) depending upon your sold commodity. Income tax-goods and services and trade-CGT. First $12,300 of any financial year for CGT is tax free. Meeting the threshold of trading is achieved, Net profits will be subjected to income tax at 20%, 40% and 45%.
• Extortionate energy consumption in crypto: IT USES A LOT OF ENERGY and when we say a lot, we mean it! To verify transactions, Bitcoin needs computers to solve more complex problems. Total global usage for assets is accounted at 120 and 240 billion kilowatt-hours/year; which exceeds the total yearly usage of electricity usage of countries like Australia, Norway and Argentina.

This leads us to the real question of whether there is a future to cryptocurrency or not? And can it replace cash in the future?

The reason why barter system was taken over by currency was its dependability of store of value. Although, crypto is in high circulation it will always be unstable and volatile; subjected to a risk of cyber-attacks and in case of national emergencies. It will be a questionable medium of exchange, economists and bank regulator says. It is difficult to predict where the cryptocurrency market is headed in the long term due to the industry being in its infancy and a highly erratic market.

The system is currently prone to cybercrime due to its relatively new, evolving and decentralised technology. Institutions are not hostile towards the idea of cryptocurrency, however, a long-term approach to establish firm laws and regulatory framework is needed to appeal to investors and to initiate a global adoption of the technology. Crypto can never escape paradoxes and analysts estimate that the global cryptocurrency market will more than triple by 2030 hitting a valuation of nearly $5 billion!

The post HODL CRYPTOCURRENCY – BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA? first appeared on wbsdigital.

Today, we’re narrating what critical aspects caused the drastic downfall and subsequent bankruptcy of crypto FTX. Two weeks ago the Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange saw its value collapsed from $32 billion to zero in a single day.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the company’s creator (who goes by SBF), saw his net worth fall from $16 billion to nothing . The entire drama played out on Twitter and this blog post serves you to have a better understanding of what’s going on!

From Valuation to Peak

What’s really criminal?

The theft of almost $10 billion in customer deposits is the criminal aspect in the case of FTX (as a teaser of what’s to come, SBF informed Reuters that mis-handled monies were caused by “confusing internal labelling”).

The sad saga is still ongoing but here are key points:

• The now 30-year-old SBF is an MIT grad who worked at a quant trading firm (Jane Street) before founding a crypto hedge fund/market maker (Alameda Research) and a crypto exchange (FTX) in 2019
• The relationship between Alameda Research and FTX has always been opaque (eg. some people believe that Alameda front runs trades based on the information it has from the FTX exchange; SBF has denied this but…well, you’ll see)
• One of the earliest investors in FTX was Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange that is run by Changpeng Zhao (everyone calls him CZ). In 2019, CZ invested $100m into FTX for 20% of the firm. 
• FTX has an underlying token called FTT, which offers certain benefits for users of the FTX crypto exchange but — in reality — has no underlying value outside of what people believe it is worth (like most crypto tokens) 
• Over the past year, SBF’s profile has risen significantly as FTX raised >$2B from platinum investors and gained a valuation of $32B. SBF’s personal wealth swelled to $16B and he talked up his commitment to effective altruism (he only wanted to make money to “give it away”). SBF also became one of the Democratic party’s biggest donors. 
• FTX deployed $300m+ on marketing to woo retail investors including stadium naming rights (Miami Heat, which has since dropped FTX), sports partnerships (Steph Curry, Tom Brady) and Super Bowl ads (Larry David). The PR push worked with FTX becoming the 2nd or 3rd largest crypto exchange in the world (FTX also has a US-based firm called FTX US — once valued at ~$8B — which was ostensibly not involved in the financial shenanigans but…well, you’ll see). 
• CZ sells out of FTX. By the Fall of 2021, FTX had become a serious competitor to Binance and CZ wanted to sell his FTX stake. SBF bought CZ out for $2B+, but part of the deal included CZ receiving a lot of FTT tokens (remember this fact). 

What lead FTX to be cornered?

In March 2022, the Fed started raising rates to battle inflation. 

Speculative assets, like cryptocurrency, started to decline. Several cryptocurrency funds and brokerages went bankrupt.

SBF entered the picture as a bailout “saviour” (crypto lender BlockFi was reportedly saved in order to draw depositor money into FTX’s scheme). As we now know, the crypto collapse had a significant impact on SBF’s hedge fund Alameda Research as well. SBF, however, was able to cover up the issue for a while by “borrowing” (*cough* steal *cough*) customer deposits at FTX (between $5B and $10B) to close the gap at Alameda. The offence is this action, which contravenes the conditions of service.

Binance step back

After Binance and FTX started talking to buy the company, suddenly Binance stepped back… Look at this tweet!

The “revelations” that surfaced were probably a Coindesk post stating that Alameda Research’s own FTT tokens made up almost half of its assets ($6 billion out of about $15 billion).

Now, remember how we said the relationship between FTX and Alameda Research was opaque?

Well, Jon Wu explains how the game may have been played: 

• FTX creates FTT token
• Alameda buys FTT at a super-low price 
• FTX pumps FTT 
• Alameda posts FTT back to FTX as collateral, borrowing “real” assets from FTX’s customer deposits

The “value” of FTT relies entirely on the public’s perception of SBF and FTX (and the sky-high reputation was due to fawning press, famous partnerships and a seemingly strong business).

By early October, there were visible cracks in the flawless façade (as described in a Twitter thread):

1. Trading volume had decreased due to the cryptocurrency crash;
2. Decentralised exchange competition was growing;
3. Top executives were quitting their jobs;
4. SBF was engaging in sporadic side projects (even attempting to enter Elon’s deal for Twitter);
5.  The market manipulation allegations persisted.

Back to CZ, You know who he is?

He is the richest individual in the sector and runs the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. CZ is the type of person that may shatter trust in a crypto asset. When he sold his FTT investment ($500m+), that is exactly what happened. He may have done it after seeing Alameda’s balance sheet….

In any case, after CZ ditched the FTT, SBF attempted to calm the market. Among his assertions: “FTX is fine, the assets are good” and also later removed posts like “FTX has enough to cover all client holdings” which will very probably wind up in court because the internet never forgets.

Customers of FTX withdrew $6B between Sunday and Monday, a significantly greater rate than typical. Withdrawals from FTX were immediately throttled, and on Tuesday, SBF and CZ stated that Binance had acquired FTX. Thousands of users were tweeting and making memes about the incident at the same time. It was bizarre to witness.

What happens right after Binance pulls out and what is found later on?

On Wednesday, Binance pulled out of the agreement, and SBF informed investors that he required $8 billion to compensate customers (clearly, FTX had commingled user deposits with the hedge fund).

And the scheme was very much not a “mislabelling” of funds. Per a Reuters report, SBF implemented a “back door” which foiled auditors:

“In a subsequent examination, FTX legal and finance teams also learned that Bankman-Fried implemented what the two people described as a “backdoor” in FTX’s book-keeping system, which was built using bespoke software.

They said the “backdoor” allowed Bankman-Fried to execute commands that could alter the company’s financial records without alerting other people, including external auditors. This setup meant that the movement of the $10 billion in funds to Alameda did not trigger internal compliance or accounting red flags at FTX, they said.“

SBF posted an apology on Twitter on Thursday. Then, the next day, he announced that FTX, FTX US, and Alameda Research, together with more than 130 affiliated organisations, were declaring bankruptcy.

What assets consist in the bankruptcy? Tricky question…

The bankruptcy filing, have “assets in the range of $10 billion to $50 billion, as well as liabilities in the range of $10 billion to $50 billion,” according to CNBC . However, according to a Financial Times study, FTX has $9 billion in obligations and less than $900 million in cash on hand. Additionally, “$470 million in Robinhood shares owned by a Bankman-Fried vehicle not listed in Friday’s bankruptcy filing” was the highest liquid stake. (If you’re wondering where the missing money is, a large portion was put into venture bets and illiquid tokens.)

In the bankruptcy procedures, it is hoped that smaller investors will be given priority; nonetheless, there has been another ludicrous development: over $600 million in client deposits have disappeared from FTX accounts.

It was first noted as a hack. The general counsel for FTX then promised to look into it. The money was then marked as having been stolen. The crypto community then followed the money’s movements. After then, the general counsel for FTX claimed that the fund transfers were related to the bankruptcy procedures. Currently, it appears that $450 million was stolen, with $200 million “rescued” by a white hat hacker. It’s been an insane week for crypto but the insanity doesn’t look like it will end anytime soon. 

Implication for crypto world?

This has been the worst few days in cryptocurrency history, according to a scroll through Crypto Twitter. Worse than every foolish ruse and failure that came before.

Why? There is a widespread crypto sell-off in BTC, ETH, and every other asset, raising concerns for those exposed to FTX who may face even more sell pressure (eg. BlockFi paused customer withdrawals). Then there is the demise of SBF, which had the support of numerous platinum names and was positioned to bring crypto into the mainstream. Instead, he damaged industry trust and burned through billions in consumer deposits. Retailers’ and big institutions’ confidence in cryptocurrencies has been pushed back for five to ten years. Regulators will also tighten their controls.

All to increase his hedge fund’s profit a little and more will be coming in the next few weeks, as the Delaware commission analyses data and decides how to proceed with SBF, so stay tuned!!!!

The post FTX Crypto Platform Downfall : A Look At Critical Aspects first appeared on wbsdigital.

Some call it the Passion Economy, some go with Creator Economy, but what is it really? A very fascinating movement is unfolding in the lives of those who crave flexibility, freedom and creative outlets at work and in their everyday lives. 

Platforms, apps and mediums are being promoted to people with different creative abilities which has led to the rise in the ‘Creator Economy’.

 

Source: ArmTheCreators.com

In the above image we see that the use of traditional social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. are evolving to create more opportunities for creators to monetize their own content with platforms such as Patreon, Kajabi, Teachable, Twitch, etc. it’s evident to see the migration from Web 2.0 to 3.0, this will be the Block Chain / Crypto era.

Manifest this: I’m going to make a living doing and creating what I love and what I’m passionate about.

Source: Pearl Agarwal on Medium

Let’s delve into the Creator Economy movement by taking a brief look at the history of the internet:

1. Web 1.0: The Internet Age (our lives would never be the same…)

Also known as the ‘Information Age’ where computers and the internet were widespread. It was the age with the height of innovation bringing the internet closer and closer to us, and eventually quite literally in our pockets, through the invention of the smart phone.

2. Web 2.0: The Digital Age (social media era; picture or it didn’t happen?)

The mainstream use of the internet created the digital age as we know it. This is when Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and YouTube dominated the industry with their ability to allow users to interact online, share content, and explore their creativity. The rise of influencers and influencer marketing was a notable aspect of this era as this was the primary cause to shift from the digital economy to the creator economy. Influencers were being featured in brand endorsements, ads, campaigns, etc. in this era, the social media ‘influencers’ started becoming self-employed people who relied on digital platforms to express, create and earn an income.

3. Web 3.0: The Creator Economy

The influencers / creators in the digital age who relied on brands to earn an income are now building their own brand based on their unique talent, creative skills, never seen before ideas, topics, and / or their passions. This creates the rise of digital platforms that allow these creators and their followers to connect in a space regarding their niche. This is when platforms such as Twitch (gaming and entertainment), Podia (selling knowledge and courses), etc. come in play.

So, what kind of content can creator’s produce in this economy?

The future is for freelancers. If you can do one or more things you’re passionate about and make it your full-time job, while being self-employed and flexibly working, you’re a freelancer.

The possibilities are endless, I’m a bit overwhelmed myself. People are getting incredibly creative, and surprisingly, there’s always an audience ready to feed on what they have to offer.

Here’s a list of things I put together that freelancers can do which would most likely be huge in the creator economy:

• Graphic design
• Photography
• Videography
• Poetry
• Writing
• Culinary
• Motivational speeches, protesting, etc.
• Podcasts
• Art
• DIY’s
• Fashion design
• Dancing
• Singing
• Music
• Illustrations
• Courses (teaching, designing, languages, speaking, anything you can imagine)
• Pottery
• Comics
• Fitness
• Yoga and meditation

There’s truly an endless list of infinite options, and I’m sure we’ll be seeing the immergence of  many more creative jobs of this kind.   

“To be a successful creator you don’t need millions. You don’t need millions of dollars or millions of customers, millions of clients or millions of fans. To make a living as a craftsperson, photographer, musician, designer, author, animator, app maker, entrepreneur, or inventor you need only thousands of true fans.” – Kevin Kelly

If you’re still a bit confused about it all (which I was too at the start), check out this 5-minute run through video explaining what the creator economy is:

Let’s talk Block chain and the Metaverse…

It’s important to understand that the rise of this economy is a result of creators wanting to essentially own their content and the platform they post it on. When the platform makes money so do they.

In order for a content ownership policy to be designed, voting rights come in to play which is done through block chain consent. Not even a president can dispute the consensus reached on block chain.

Let me put this in simple terms, web 3.0 is basically a decentralized country (the metaverse) on the internet with a large population (of content creators and their audiences) and with a democratic leadership system (block chain).

“Blockchain is going to allow information that shouldn’t be free, not to be free. Remember Napster? You could download music for free and nobody, not even the sooks in the band Metallica, could stop you.” Mike Novogratz, Serial Entrepreneur.

The Next Generation

Abdullah Al Ghafri, known as QQQ by his social media followers, took less than a year to reach 1 million followers on YouTube. In an interview with him he says:

“I started everything on Snap chat- it’s an incredible app, Snap chat is different. Why? Because it’s real. These days we go on Instagram and can see many people have about two million – four million followers. They almost show a fake reality. However, on Snap chat, everything is real. I wanted to be a part of the YouTube community; many people encouraged me to do so a few years ago but I waited. YouTube needs a whole team. And yeah, seven months ago I said, I have to start on YouTube, but in very high quality, you know, like more, maybe more than TV. These days, 80% of the kids I’m sure want to be singers. They want to be football players. They want to be on social media dancing or something.”

Storytelling on social media platforms is no longer Childs play. Content creators don’t just do it to pass time or as a side hustle. In the next generation, the creator is a full-time job and a primary method to earn income. As technology becomes mainstream and social media has become very much integrated into our daily lives, creators are already monetizing off of web 3.0 and the ‘creator economy’. With that being said, this will be a slow and steady growth for most creators since the new web has still not come into full play as of yet.

Who are the Consumers in the Creator Economy?

The consumers in this economy were social media followers in the previous eras. The creators / influencers bring them along with them on their story telling journey and continue to target their niche content to them. These consumers are very willing to buy products / services from these creators as firstly, they’re a loyal fanbase, and secondly, have admired their work and trust them more than other ads they see from companies who they don’t know personally.

Here are my final thoughts…

The Creator Economy is coming, slowly but surely, in many industries such as graphic design, gaming, entertainment and broadcasting. There may be some influencer fatigue in the beginning stages. I can say for sure I’m quite overwhelmed yet excited by all of this myself, but I see a future where we’re operating in the Metaverse and using crypto as money, though this is still in its infancy stages. it will be exciting to watch the new ‘creators’, ‘freelancers’ and ‘influencers’ be creatively liberated by platforms designed for them and for their niche customers. Because, while social media apps such as Tik Tok, Instagram and Facebook have high rates and a large audience, they benefit more from creators than vise versa.

Stay tuned with news about the Creator Economy, subscribe to this podcast. 

References:

https://www.armthecreators.com/mapping-the-creator-economy/

https://bettermarketing.pub/the-creator-economy-will-slowly-then-quickly-migrate-to-web-3-0-3971d5d32f54

https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/

https://medium.com/eximius-ventures/web-3-0-101-c75cda55f0fa 

https://slidemodel.com/creator-economy-quick-guide/

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What is an NFT ?

An NFT is a digital asset that symbolises physical objects such as art, music, in-game goods, and films. They are purchased and traded online, commonly using cryptocurrency, and are typically encrypted with the software just like any other digital currencies.

NFTs are unique and each art contains a digital signature that prevents NFTs from being swapped for or equivalent to one another. 

NFT have been suggested as a way for establishing ownership over an item that may otherwise be easily replicated. So, when someone purchases an NFT, they are receiving a digitally authenticated receipt proving that they are the only owner of the asset. Furthermore, unlike traditional works of art, NFTs cannot be destroyed since they are recorded on a blockchain identical to cryptocurrencies.

Despite the fact that they have been present for nearly a decade, NFTs are gaining attention rapidly as a popular means to buy and sell digital artwork. Initially, NFTs existed as digital artworks in a variety of forms, such as video clips of memorable sporting events or digital artworks reproductions of high value that were maintained under strict protection.

However, NFTs gained popularity in 2021 and made news when the auction house Christie’s produced a record-breaking NFT sale of 69.3 million dollars for Mike Winkelmann’s digital art “Everydays: The First 5000 Days.”

So how Does an NFT work?

NFTs are a component of the Ethereum blockchain, which houses the vast majority of the world’s NFTs. Ethereum, like bitcoin and Dogecoin, is a cryptocurrency, but NFTs include extra information that allows them to operate differently than cryptocurrencies.

NFTs are supported not just by the Ethereum blockchain, but also by other block chains, such as Tron’s NFT TRC-721, which was launched on December 20, 2020.

Because the majority of the people in the world is unfamiliar with the realm of NFTs, here are some examples of NFTs that exist at the moment.

• Graphic Art
• Videos
• Digital Collectibles
• Game skins
• Music
• Designer sneakers

NFTs are essentially digital collector’s items, like actual collector’s items. So rather than receiving a genuine painting or a unique piece of sculpture, the buyer receives a digital file that only belongs to the owner.

In essence, if an individual possesses an NFT, the person can easily verify that they are the owner using your private key, which is the evidence of ownership that the NFT owner obtains from the NFT creator, which is the certificate of authenticity. The NFTs are built in such a way that future resale provides a possibility for the developer to receive a royalty share.

On the other side, if you are an NFT creator, you get to define the scarcity of the digital objects and have the ability to sell in any NFT market or peer – to – peer, rather than being confined to any platforms or middlemen.

What is the purpose and where is it used?

Increases the earning capacity of Creators

The most common use of NFTs nowadays is in the field of digital content. This is due to the fact that the industry is now in a state of disarray. Platforms are sapping content producers’ income and earning potential.

When a creator shares their work on social media, the platform earns money by selling adverts to the artist’s followers. They earn exposure in exchange, but exposure alone does not cover the artist’s expenditures.

However, NFTs pave the way for a new creator economy in which creators retain control of their work rather than handing it over to the platforms that promote it. Ownership is ingrained in the content and the creator has the advantage.

When a creator manages to sell their work, the money goes straight to them and If the NFT is sold by the new owner, the original creator may indeed be entitled to royalties. Since the creator’s identity is part of the token’s metadata, which cannot be changed, this is ensured every time an NFT is sold.

Potential to improving the game experience

Game makers have shown a lot of interest in NFTs. NFTs may be used to keep track of who owns what in-game items, drive in-game economies, and deliver a variety of other incentives to players.  

Like In many regular games, you may purchase in-game items that can be used in your game. However, If the item was an NFT, you can recover your investment by auctioning it once the game is over and if the creator is lucky and that item is more appealing at that time, the creator can even make a profit.

As producers of the NFT, game makers can receive a royalty every time an item is bought and sold on the market. As a result, a more mutually advantageous business model emerges, in which both players and developers profit from the subsequent NFT market. 

This also implies that even if the creators stop supporting a game, the items you’ve gathered continue to stay as yours. As a result, in-game artefacts become digital collectibles with a significance beyond the game.

Making Domain names more notable 

The Ethereum Name Service employs NFTs to provide Ethereum addresses the flexibility to names like thisismywallet.eth that are easier to remember. This implies that instead of a more technical domain like 0.X098781, you might ask someone to pay you ETH via the customised address

This functions in the same way as a domain name on a website does, in that it makes an IP address more relevant to the company. ENS names, like domain names, have a particular value based on their length. Unlike domains, ENS does not require a domain registry to permit ownership transfer. Instead, you may use an NFT marketplace to sell your ENS ids.

NFTs in the world of Advertising and Branding

Nothing has sparked as much interest in the marketing of brands as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in the past year. Some companies are utilising NFT collectables or special editions to generate new income streams, increase brand loyalty, and raise funds for a great charity, while others have used them to promote their brand, tell a narrative, or reach more customers

While they gained interest in 2021, they are expected become mainstream instrument in the marketing industry in 2022. Brands like Asics, Clinique, Taco Bell, Coca- Cola regardless of their industry have started using NFTs in novel ways to advertise new product launches, increase social media following, support a campaign, or demonstrate support for a charity or cause.

Coca-Cola produced four NFTs, animated, one-of-a-kind digital artworks that give multi-sensory experiences and unlock surprise goods for the first owner upon purchase. The surprises included a ‘Coca-Cola Bubble Jacket Wearable’ that can be worn in virtual reality platform Decentraland, which was designed to build anticipation and provide entertainment value.

How to buy NFTs

Getting your first NFT can be summarised into these simple 4 steps.

Step 1: Purchase Ethereum from a regulated broker or exchange, such as Binance, eToro

Step 2: Create a Metamask wallet and deposit your ETH into it.

Step 3: Link to an NFT marketplace like  Crypto.com

Step 4: Using the ETH in your metamask wallet buy your first NFT

Setting up a cryptocurrency wallet is the first step in purchasing an NFT. There are many of alternatives to select from, but an Ethereum compliant wallet is the best place to start.

The following are some of the websites that sell NFTs like Rarible, Foundation, OpenSea.io

There are two approaches of selling NFTs. You can do it by owning an NFT. An NFT can also be minted by the person selling it. NFTs may be created on sites like OpenSea, SolSea, and others. After minting the NFT, it may be listed for sale on any of the sites.

The future

Even as NFTs rise in popularity, there is always the chance that the bubble may burst, just as there is with any other asset class. NFTs may be the hottest thing in town right now, but they still have a long way to go before being generally accepted and become mainstream, just like any new technology. Despite the staggering amounts of money injected into the economy, NFT remains to be a niche commodity that may prove to be a passing interest.

However there is still more that is yet to be explored in the realm of NFTs with major developments coming through. If you are looking for more information on NFTs or seeking to invest the below mentioned podcast could be a good start

Sources:

Codedesign. 2021. How brands are using NFTs?. [online] Available at: <https://codedesign.org/how-brands-are-using-nfts> [Accessed 12 April 2022].

ethereum.org. 2022. Non-fungible tokens (NFT) | ethereum.org. [online] Available at: <https://ethereum.org/en/nft/#ethereum-and-nfts> [Accessed 12 April 2022].

Kane, I., 2022. TRON introduces NFT standard TRC-721. [online] Dappradar.com. Available at: <https://dappradar.com/blog/tron-introduces-nft-standard-trc-721> [Accessed 12 April 2022].

Sardana, S., 2021. NFTs: what are they and why are they so popular?. [online] Moneyweek.com. Available at: <https://moneyweek.com/investments/alternative-finance/bitcoin/602928/what-are-nfts-non-fungible-token> [Accessed 12 April 2022].

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