A Brief Introduction to NFTs

Do you remember the painting of a horse eating grass in the movie “Dhammal” or the famous painting of a horse and a donkey in “Welcome”? Those paintings are still trendy in memes even today. But have you wondered why these normal-looking artworks get sold for such a huge amount of money at auctions? Well, the reasons might differ, but I want to draw your attention to something similar happening, for which people are going crazy. 

NFTs have become so popular nowadays that even celebrities have not been able to resist themselves from getting into the new digital asset. People are also confused about whether it is worth investing in or just another hype. 

Let’s look at first: What is this new digital asset? 

  • NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token. Non-fungible means that it’s unique and cannot be replaced with something else. Fungible tokens like Bitcoin have some value, so they can be exchanged for other Bitcoins. 
  • The significant difference between fungible and non-fungible tokens is that the fungible tokens have some value while the NFTs have a record of any particular work, like art, achievement, or academic record. 
  • NFT is a new digital asset class that represents real-world objects like art, music, sports, videos, and a lot of other things. These art forms can be converted into AI and then sold digitally across the world. People can even buy NFTs of memes, tweets, GIFs, or anything digital. 
  • You can consider a real-life art auction where the artist auctions his or her painting, and once the painting is auctioned, there will be only one owner, i.e., the one who buys that painting. The same thing happens with NFTs, but in NFT, no one can create duplicates of the same artwork. It is because the NFT is based on blockchain technology, where duplication is not possible. 
  • In 2021, many Indian celebrities launched their own NFTs, which were sold for millions of dollars. For instance, 
    • Dinesh Karthik-last-ball six in 2018’s Nidahas Trophy Final),
    • Yuvraj Singh-3D version of him carrying his 1st-century bat,
    • Amitabh Bachchan-“Madhushala,” Sholay movie posters 

But, you might be thinking, why spend huge amounts on publicly available pictures or artwork? 

  • So you have a valid point. There are some perspectives about why people spend millions on NFTs. Some people see it as a way of supporting the artist financially, and they might be art enthusiasts who want to collect artworks. Some other people buy NFT as an asset. Someday, if the value appreciates, they can sell the NFT and earn profits. The remainder are those who prefer to boost their self-esteem by purchasing expensive artwork. Broadly, people go with either of these perspectives, but there can be other thought processes as well. 

So, I hope this blog will give you a brief introduction to NFTs. There is a lot to know about this current trend, which has the potential to become a mainstream form of art distribution in the future.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *