Celebrities and cricketers are making news for a shared passion these days. No, not the IPL but something called as NFTs. Starting with Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan from the film industry to Zaheer Khan and Dinesh Karthik among other cricketers, the buzzword all around these days seems to be about NFTs.
But what exactly are these NFTs? And should you invest in them? Let’s find out with a deep dive into the fascinating world of NFTs, arguably the most popular buzzword of 2021.
What Are NFTs?
NFTs are short for non-fungible tokens; these are virtual assets that have no physical or tangible form but can be sold as a piece of property so that only the owner has the original copy of the asset. Let’s break that down a bit.
Fungible means interchangeability – so a fifty-rupee note can be exchanged with another fifty-rupee note without anyone claiming to be the owner of that exact note being exchanged. In fact, fungibility allows fiat currencies issued by central banks as a medium of exchange to trade.
Non-fungible, on the other hand, implies that the tokens or assets in question are not interchangeable. So, any artwork or piece of asset you buy as an NFT will be unique and its original copy will always belong to the owner. Therefore, NFTs can be seen as collectible items in the form of digital assets that cannot be exchanged.
How NFT Ownership Works –
Ethereum leads others when it comes to NFTs. You can buy Ether on a crypto exchange like ZebPay using INR. Ether is the cryptocurrency on the Ethereum Network, which is the blockchain. Remember, the value of cryptocurrency is fungible too, so one Ether owned by you is the same as one Ether owned by your friend.
On the other hand, using the Ethereum blockchain once you create an NFT, which is essentially an unique cryptographic token, you own it and can auction it to the highest bidder. Buying an NFT is as simple as paying up the auction price in cryptocurrency and collecting it as your own unique work of art with your name added to the blockchain to show ownership. A person who has bought an NFT can also sell it to another interested party, although the blockchain platform will always reveal the creator’s name and subsequent owners to maintain its digital history.
NFTs can be any digital asset, from artwork to paintings to motion posters, music pieces, game play, video posts, memes or even your social media posts! Jack Dorsey of Twitter famously sold his first tweet as an NFT for a cool $2.9 million plus in March this year.
How Much Do NFTs Cost?
The world sat up and took notice of NFTs after digital artist Beeple sold his NFT called ‘Everydays’ for a whopping $69 million. Since then, people have bid and sold NFTs of all kinds that have often run into millions of dollars. Memes such as ‘Disaster Girl’ have been sold for $473,000 and ‘Nyan Cat’ was sold for $590,000. Other popular NFTs include ones such as Rick and Morty, Cryptopunks and the original source code of the World Wide Web among others.
The Indian Connect –
NFTs are set to become a buzzword in India too. Actor Amitabh Bachchan has launched his own NFTs, which are themed around his life and also feature verses from his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s legendary work Madhushala narrated by the actor on a platform called BeyondLife. Sunny Leone has also become the first Bollywood actress to launch her own NFT collection of unique, hand-animated art. Salman Khan has also announced his entry into NFTs on a platform called BollyCoin.
Cricketers aren’t too far behind. Dinesh Karthik has turned his last-ball six against Bangladesh during the Nidahas T20 series into an NFT. Rishabh Pant has joined Rario, a platform dedicated to licensing cricket memorabilia, to create exclusive digital collectibles of Pant’s iconic cricketing moments.
Actor Vishaal Malhotra, rapper Raftaar and Cricket Foundation, a Singapore-based blockchain platform has also announced its foray into minting cricketing NFTs with backing from players such as V.V.S. Laxman, Parthiv Patel, R.P. Singh, Piyush Chawla, Deep Dasgupta, Pragyan Ojha among others.
With so much happening around NFTs, its safe to assume that the mania around these digital assets has only just begun. Now that you know what NFTs are, keep an eye out for more announcements coming soon from these personalities and you could be one of the first ones to have an NFT in your collection featuring your favourite cricketer or Bollywood personality.
Don’t forget to start your own cryptocurrency journey and keep up with your favourite celebrities too. Start your crypto investments today.
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