As the world of cryptocurrency continues to evolve, NFTs have taken the stage as a popular way to spend currency. However, knowing how to buy an NFT is likely the first challenge many will face. While many cryptocurrencies are available on the market today, most NFTs are purchased using Ethereum. This reputable blockchain helps add stability to the market and offers some “peace of mind.”
Cryptocurrency and purchasing NFTs are not just for the individual investor either. As organizations and associations continue to look for new revenue sources, NFTs can be a lucrative and unique avenue.
But before you start buying that first token, you first need to know how!
As it stands today, the widest usage for NFTs is digital art. Non-fungible tokens can be anything from unique digital art, like Beeple’s The First 5000 Days, which sold for roughly $69 million in March of 2021, or Don Diablo’s DΞSTINATION HΞXAGONIA, an audio-visual NFT that sold for $1.2 million in April of 2021.
How do investors know the value of these NFTs?
According to a Motley Fool article, “investing in NFTs is an investment in a collectible item, and its value over time will be determined by various intangible factors including the quality of the piece, its uniqueness, and the clout of the artist who created it.”
While buying NFTs may still be relatively speculative, the future of NFTs can have far-reaching implications, including in the association world.
So, with all that in mind, if you’re interested in learning how to buy an NFT, there is a process with five basic steps:
And that’s it – you’ve entered the world of cryptocurrency and are now the proud owner of a completely non-fungible token. So what does that mean?
The real value of NFTs is their use of blockchain technology, which was created to decentralize control over currency, enhance transparency and allow for transactions in a trustless environment. When purchasing an NFT, that token is completely unique, secured and ownership is recorded forever on the blockchain.
What does that mean for the future of NFTs?
For starters, they can be used to represent the deed to a physical asset like your home or car. According to a recent Forbes article, “once more real estate contracts get created as NFTs and stored on a secure blockchain, real estate fraud will be a thing of the past, as such Smart Contracts are nearly impossible to alter, easy to verify and permanently stored.”
Similarly, NFTs can help add transparency to the supply chain. For example, an NFT could be used to represent something like a shipping container so as it passes from port to port, blockchain would allow anyone to see where it’s been and for how long.
In short, NFTs could become crucial anytime trust is necessary, such as in contracting and when goods change hands.
Ahead of digitalNow 2021, held in Nashville December 9-11, we’ve created our very own NFT designed to embody the style and culture of Nashville. The proceeds from our digitalNow Nashville NFT will be given to Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee. For those looking to bid, our NFT is currently available on OpenSea.io.
Our auction will begin on December 4, 2021, at 12:00 p.m. and will run through 12:00 p.m., December 11, 2021.
To be sure you’re ready to participate, get a wallet if you don't have one – Metamask is the most popular option. From there, you can put ETH into the wallet using an exchange platform like Coinbase.
You won’t be able to go on OpenSea and "Open an account" or provide a credit card, so be sure you have a crypto wallet with ETH in it to participate.