NFTs – non fungible tokens - the next level of blockchain technology to go viral

As an artist and crypto enthusiast, I really love the NFT hype that’s exploding this year. It’s the new concept to take hold in the minds of the “avante garde” or front runners in the creative as well as tech industries. NFTs are not new of course. They have been around since 2017 in a big way, with the launch or CryptoKitties on Ethereum. And even the CryptoPunks that are going viral and exploding in value like a massive bubble on top of a volcano, were around in 2017 already. In fact you could initially get them for free back then, if you had an ETH address. Bit it’s this year, in 2021, at the bull market point in the cycle that they are exploding into the minds, screens and wallets of the wider audience in the established cryptocurrency scene.

Each bull market has some item that is the hype of the season. In 2017 it was ICOs. Recently in the early part of the current bull market, just after the halving last year, it was DeFi, which still is a hot commodity. But now it’s NFTs. For example in February alone around $91 million was invested into buying and trading NFTs. Just four artists made over $10 million in sales. One project called NBA Topshots had over $300 million in sales.

These are bull market bubble types of figures, as the hype goes to the euphoric level, which is probably due for a bubble pop soon too. Yet the craze is here. That said, the NFT industry and the concept behind the technology does actually have a massive use case and tremendous value in the real world. So it’s not going away any time soon. Although the prices of those questionable artworks may well dry up in the clear light of day, once the dust settles.

Those CryptoPunks for example, that were once insignificant little 1000x1000 pixel graphics are now selling for $1,6 million at the most expensive, and even the cheapest is 12 ETH or around $24k. If you can even find one still for sale right now. Collectors don’t tend to sell their items as easily as traders do, so the market is highly illiquid. These were the first ERC721 tokens ever and so they have a historic value in the minds of some collectors. They are the kinds of items that will go down in history and be in the crypto museum in 50 years from now, or so the collectors would like to believe.

But what can you actually do with one of them? The answer is ..nothing. They are merely swag or a way to flex and show off online, it seems to me. After all, today the youth admire and respect digital items online more than they do 3D real world stuff. Where I used to collect cards or comics or LP records in my youth, today’s youth collect digital skins or digital game items.

And since we now live online in the social media space (itself already a metaverse), the millennials will want to display their collectibles on their social media sites. And that’s how these items accrue value. It may be over the heads of the GenX or Boomers among us. The fact is that todays metaverse is made up of Twitter, Discord and Instagram, for example. And the OGs or veterans in the space will display their CryptoPunks on their profiles. That apparently is how the youth roll today.

Other NFT memes include items like HashMasks, and little characters called Axies, on Axie Infinity, with its own AXS token and blockchain. There are also NCTs or name changing tokens, and other sub genres of NFT, which can be burned, or which are scarce digital content. One can even merge the industries and have NFTs with DeFi characteristics, where one can earn yield or lend it to someone. They can basically display characteristics of utility and rarity. The NFT space is truly becoming more dynamic the more I look into it.

Another crazy NFT that has gone parabolic for no logical reason is the Uniswap socks – Unisocks - which sold for $12 initially. That real world 3D pair of wearable socks now goes for $130k a pair. Add to that the fact that the most famous NFT artist, Beeple, recently sold a work at the topmost art gallery in the world, Christies, for millions of dollars. And lately we are seeing the arrival of world famous pop stars entering into the NFT space to launch their music, like Lindsay Lohan or Kings of Leon. These celebrities will certainly push the NFT concept into the wider mainstream. After all, visual art isn’t the only use for the NFT. Music can also be minted in the same way, what to speak of those random tweets, now minted and sold for stupid prices. This is what a bubble looks like, if you ask me.

It will make the NFT concept on the blockchain a mainstream item as record labels get on board and ride the new tech to the moon. Artists themselves can now finally also launch their own work and bypass the agents who are known to take such heavy cuts of the profit. And with the idea of royalties added in, the artist can now perpetually benefit with each future resale of their work to secondary buyers. This brings the power back to the actual artist as it should be.

Although Ethereum is suffering under the strain of scalability and transaction fees, there are blockchains with second layer solutions to remedy this. Names like Matic/Polygon, Tezos, as well as others, are adding solutions and their tokens will explode in value this year as a result, so traders and investors would do well to research these NFT platforms, including ones used in gaming, where NFTs are massively popular, like Mana, or Sand – both traded on Binance.

Then there are platforms that offer virtual spaces where one can display their NFT artworks. Besides ones I mentioned in my previous article, there is also Terra Virtua, if you want to be informed on that department. Or you can turn your NFT into a basket of other tokens, or put one NFT inside another, like a nesting doll. In other words the NFT space is truly creatively inspired.

And this is the core valuable item underlying all of the NFT industry – creativity. That is the currency of the future. It was those early leaders in the art field that took the chances, that didn’t follow anybody, but led with their own original ideas, who are the legends of the industry today. It’s easy to copy them now as many are attempting, or to call what they did lame or arbitrary. But they were the pioneers who took us to the next level.

It is true creativity, that is original and unique, which will bring success to an artist in the NFT space. After all, NFTs are merely a tool. It’s up to the artist and how they use it that will determine any success or that will make a difference. And the NFT art scene is decentralized today, from all over the globe. It’s everywhere, so innovation could come from anywhere.
Ideas are king at the moment. Execution can be learned and the tech can be learned. It’s the fresh ideas about how to use the tech that are going to reap the rewards. So if you’re confident – and that is the secret for any artist or creator – you will succeed. Just be yourself, in your own unique way, and do it with confidence in who you are, and your NFT art will come off successfully.

Whether you are a visual, audio or even written word artist, like us bloggers, you can mint your creations as an NFT and claim copyright, as well as gain royalties on your authentic creative ideas from future resales. Anyone can grab the tools of the day and make it big right now. Why not give it a try? I certainly have, and I have made money doing it, thanks to ERC721 and NFTs on numerous blockchains. Check out my NFT artworks at Hive's www.nftshowroom.com/julianhorack/gallery for inspiration or investment opportunities.

(image created by juanmiguelsalas, owned by me and on sale in my gallery collectioin)