I’m Ready to Invest In NFTs, Now What?!
I’m Ready to Invest In NFTs, Now What?!
04.27.2022 - This article was originally published on Crypto Witch’s blog. To read the full version, tap or click here. To listen to co-founder Shirin on $HMONEY Radio, tap or click here.
Welcome back Crypto Witches! 🔮 Here is your NFT 4 beginners guide — the first in our Crypto Witch Club Medium series on getting started in NFT space.
This is a friendly reminder — you don’t need to be able to create NFTs yourself to be involved in the NFT ecosystem. You can become involved in the NFT space as an NFT collector and investor — investing in projects you believe in, artists you like, and projects with strong fundamentals + perks. (Obviously, witches.)
In addition to art and media files — like music — you can also invest in collectibles and assets you can utilize (and sell later) such as fashion, land, and music in The Metaverse and on gaming platforms. 👾 (If anyone wants to know what we want for Christmas, it’s this.) 🏝
NFT Basics to Know
What is an NFT?
NFT stands for non-fungible tokens. (But you know that already.) 😉 Fungible means ‘able to replace or be replaced’, so a non-fungible token means its unique and non-interchangeable — it cannot be reproduced or duplicated — one of a kind.
Ok sure but, WHY can’t NFTs be duplicated or reproduced?
Great Q, Crypto Witches! ❤️ It’s because each NFT is associated with a unit of data stored on a blockchain. This data is unique and acts of proof of ownership + authenticity. (The power of blockchain, baby.) The purchase of an NFT does not necessarily entitle the buyer to copyright or intellectual property rights. It’s true function is purely proof of ownership.
But can’t I just save the image? Hello, right click.
Of course, you CAN right click and save out the image. You can share that screenshot, put it as your screensaver, and tell everyone on TikTok you own it … But that doesn’t mean you’re the true owner and tbh, there will be no value attributed to your copy of the authentic NFT — rendering it valueless. (Sorry boo.)
For example, we could take a photo of a vintage Birkin Bag (drool), post it to our IG, and tell everyone our invisible beau gifted it to us. But just because we have a photo of that Birkin Bag does not mean we have the actual product or proof of authenticity the bag holds, right? 👜 We could frame a print of a Basquiat and place it in our home — but that copy will never hold the value of the original, authenticated piece of artwork.
NFT Investing
NFTs pieces vary in price — from a few dollars to millions. But that doesn’t mean you have to be a millionaire to invest in NFTs. You just have to find the right projects — and finding the right NFT projects + investing in them isn’t as hard as others may make it seem. We’re going to follow this formula:
#1 Choose your blockchain. Yes! The Step #1 of your NFT journey is to decide WHICH blockchain you want your first NFT minted to run on — this will determine the platforms you’ll use to search for your NFT. Ethereum is the most popular blockchain for NFTs and has the most projects listed — but also can have a hefty gas fees incurred during transactions due to high activity and demand. Other blockchains that support NFTs are: Ethereum (ETH), Polygon (MATIC), Solana (SOL), and VeChain (VET), among others.
#2 Check the market. Good places to start are OpenSea, Rariable, Nifty Gateway, and SuperRare. Once you find project you like, you can also head directly to that project’s website to mint (if minting is still open / NFTs are still directly available.) See what’s trending + take a peek at featured artists on each platform — looking for the following criteria. If you want to stay within a certain price range, you can usually sort + search by price range on each platform.
You’ll want to look at:
Price to mint the token. Don’t forget, the minting price does not include gas fees, which can easily add another $100+ to the price depending on current activity + demand 😳
Floor price — this is the lowest price that an NFT of that series / collection is currently being offered for on marketplace
The # of pieces to series / collection has and how many have been minted so far. The more that have been minted, the more demand the project often has due to scarcity
See if the project is verified by the platform it’s being sold on? (If applicable.) If so, verified projects often have more credibility than non-verified projects
The Roadmap. (This information can usually be found on the NFT project’s website) Who is the team behind the project and what are they working to accomplish? What do you gain when you join the community? (Aside from the NFT purchased.) Don’t forget to check their websites, social accounts — particularly Discord — and make sure you know what their mission is and what they stand for prior to your purchases.
Minting (You Can Do It!)
Purchasing an NFT isn’t complicated. First, you will need a compatible wallet with funds. If you’re purchasing an NFT that runs on Ethereum (ERC-20 token), we recommend a MetaMask software wallet — but you can certainly use others that are compatible with the platform you are purchasing on.
Each platform will tell you which wallets it accepts when you go to connect on-platform. Send funds to your wallet if empty (transfer coins from your exchange into a compatible wallet. Ensure you also send enough funds to cover gas fees + purchase price). Then…
Once you have funds in your wallet, you can mint an NFT directly from the creator’s website (if minting is still available / live) or you can go onto a marketplace to search NFTs from the collection you want and either purchase via auction or purchase for a specified sales price listed
When you purchase, a pop-up (or series of pop-ups) will appear asking you to sign into your wallet + confirmation transaction. This popup will also show the gas fee to purchase at that time. You will have the opportunity to confirm or decline transaction
Once the purchase has gone through, you will receive your NFT into your wallet, OpenSea account (if applicable) or related dashboard (such as Zapper)
Still have NFT questions? Drop in the comments and we’ll answer!
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