nexo Giveaway

 Es gibt nichts Besseres als eine Explosion von Blockchain-Nachrichten, die Sie denken lässt: "Ähm... was ist hier los?" Das ist das Gefühl, das ich erlebt habe, als ich gelesen habe, dass Grimes Millionen von Dollar für NFTs bekommt oder dass Nyan Cat als Ganzes verkauft wird . Und als wir alle dachten, wir wüssten, was der Deal war, stellte der Gründer von Twitter einen signierten Tweet als NFT zum Verkauf. Jetzt, Monate nachdem wir diesen Erklärer zum ersten Mal veröffentlicht haben, sehen wir immer noch Schlagzeilen darüber, dass Leute Hausgeld für ClipArt von Felsen zahlen – und meine Mutter versteht immer noch nicht wirklich, was ein NFT ist.

Sie fragen sich vielleicht: Was ist überhaupt ein NFT?

Nach buchstäblichen Stunden des Lesens denke ich, ich weiß es. Ich glaube auch, dass ich heulen werde.

Okay, fangen wir mit den Grundlagen an:

WAS IST EIN NFT? WOFÜR STEHT NFT?

Nicht fungibles Token.

Das macht es nicht klarer.

Stimmt, tut mir leid. „Nicht fungibel“ bedeutet mehr oder weniger, dass es einzigartig ist und nicht durch etwas anderes ersetzt werden kann. Zum Beispiel ist eine Bitcoin fungibel – tausche eine gegen eine andere Bitcoin und du wirst genau das Gleiche haben. Eine einzigartige Sammelkarte ist jedoch nicht fungibel. Wenn Sie es gegen eine andere Karte eintauschen, haben Sie etwas völlig anderes. Sie gaben einen Squirtle auf und bekamen einen T206 Honus Wagner von 1909, den StadiumTalk „die Mona Lisa der Baseballkarten“ nennt. “ (Ich nehme ihr Wort dafür.)

Wie funktionieren NFTs?

Auf sehr hohem Niveau sind die meisten NFTs Teil der Ethereum-Blockchain. Ethereum ist eine Kryptowährung wie Bitcoin oder Dogecoin, aber seine Blockchain unterstützt auch diese NFTs, die zusätzliche Informationen speichern, die sie anders als beispielsweise eine ETH-Münze funktionieren lassen. Es ist erwähnenswert, dass andere Blockchains ihre eigenen Versionen von NFTs implementieren können. ( Einige haben es schon .)

Was lohnt sich im NFT Supermarkt abzuholen?

NFTs können wirklich alles Digitale sein (z. B. Zeichnungen, Musik, Ihr Gehirn heruntergeladen und in eine KI verwandelt), aber die aktuelle Aufregung dreht sich um die Nutzung der Technologie zum Verkauf digitaler Kunst.

Dogecoin ist kein NFT. Aber dieses GIF eines Dogecoins ist es.

 GIF: NyanCat auf OpenSea

Du meinst, Leute kaufen meine guten Tweets?

Ich glaube nicht, dass dich irgendjemand aufhalten kann, aber das war nicht wirklich das, was ich meinte. In vielen Gesprächen geht es um NFTs als Evolution des Kunstsammelns , nur mit digitaler Kunst.

(Randbemerkung, als wir mit der Zeile „meine guten Tweets kaufen“ kamen, versuchten wir, an etwas so dummes zu denken, dass es nicht real wäre. Also verkaufte der Gründer von Twitter natürlich einen für knapp 3 Millionen US-Dollar kurz nachdem wir den Artikel veröffentlicht haben.)

Glauben die Leute wirklich, dass dies wie das Sammeln von Kunst werden wird?

Ich bin sicher, einige Leute hoffen es wirklich – wie zum Beispiel die Person, die fast 390.000 US-Dollar für ein 50-Sekunden-Video von Grimes bezahlt hat, oder die Person, die 6,6 Millionen US-Dollar für ein Video von Beeple bezahlt hat . Tatsächlich wurde eines von Beeples Stücken bei Christie's , dem berühmten, versteigert.

Yoink!

 Bild: Beeple

Entschuldigung, ich war damit beschäftigt, mit der rechten Maustaste auf dieses Beeple-Video zu klicken und dieselbe Datei herunterzuladen, für die die Person Millionen von Dollar bezahlt hat.

Wow, unhöflich. Aber ja, da wird es etwas peinlich . Sie können eine digitale Datei beliebig oft kopieren, einschließlich der Grafiken, die in einer NFT enthalten sind.

But NFTs are designed to give you something that can’t be copied: ownership of the work (though the artist can still retain the copyright and reproduction rights, just like with physical artwork). To put it in terms of physical art collecting: anyone can buy a Monet print. But only one person can own the original.

No shade to Beeple, but the video isn’t really a Monet.

What do you think of the $3,600 Gucci Ghost? Also, you didn’t let me finish earlier. That image that Beeple was auctioning off at Christie’s ended up selling for $69 million, which, by the way, is $15 million more than Monet’s painting Nymphéas sold for in 2014.

This last sold for $3,600, but the current owner is asking for $16,300.

 GIF by Trevor Andrew

Whoever got that Monet can actually appreciate it as a physical object. With digital art, a copy is literally as good as the original.

But the flex of owning an original Beeple...

I think I remember hearing that NFTs are already over. Didn’t the boom go bust?

But surely you’ve heard of penguin communities?

P...Penguin communities?

Right, so... people have long built communities based on things they own, and now it’s happening with NFTs. One community that’s been exceedingly popular revolves around a collection of NFTs called Pudgy Penguins, but it’s not the only community built up around the tokens. It could be argued that one of the earliest NFT projects, CryptoPunks, has a community around it, and there are other animal-themed projects like the Bored Ape Yacht Club that have their own clique.

Of course, the communal activities depend on the community. For Pudgy Penguin or Bored Ape owners, it seems to involve vibing and sharing memes on Discord, or complimenting each other on their Pudgy Penguin Twitter avatars.

What’s the point of NFTs?

That really depends on whether you’re an artist or a buyer.

I’m an artist.

First off: I’m proud of you. Way to go. You might be interested in NFTs because it gives you a way to sell work that there otherwise might not be much of a market for. If you come up with a really cool digital sticker idea, what are you going to do? Sell it on the iMessage App Store? No way.

Also, NFTs have a feature that you can enable that will pay you a percentage every time the NFT is sold or changes hands, making sure that if your work gets super popular and balloons in value, you’ll see some of that benefit.

I’m a buyer.

One of the obvious benefits of buying art is it lets you financially support artists you like, and that’s true with NFTs (which are way trendier than, like, Telegram stickers). Buying an NFT also usually gets you some basic usage rights, like being able to post the image online or set it as your profile picture. Plus, of course, there are bragging rights that you own the art, with a blockchain entry to back it up.

No, I meant I’m a collector.

Ah, okay, yes. NFTs can work like any other speculative asset, where you buy it and hope that the value of it goes up one day, so you can sell it for a profit. I feel kind of dirty for talking about that, though.

So every NFT is unique?

In the boring, technical sense that every NFT is a unique token on the blockchain. But while it could be like a van Gogh, where there’s only one definitive actual version, it could also be like a trading card, where there’s 50 or hundreds of numbered copies of the same artwork.

Who would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for what basically amounts to a trading card?

Well, that’s part of what makes NFTs so messy. Some people treat them like they’re the future of fine art collecting (read: as a playground for the mega-rich), and some people treat them like Pokémon cards (where they’re accessible to normal people but also a playground for the mega-rich). Speaking of Pokémon cards, Logan Paul just sold some NFTs relating to a million-dollar box of the—

Please stop. I hate where this is going.

You’ve activated my trap card (which sold for $17,000).

 Image by Logan Paul

Yeah, he sold NFT video clips, which are just clips from a video you can watch on YouTube anytime you want, for up to $20,000. He also sold NFTs of a Logan Paul Pokémon card.

Who paid $20,000 for a video clip of Logan Paul?!

A fool and their money are soon parted, I guess?

It would be hilarious if Logan Paul decided to sell 50 more NFTs of the exact same video.

Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda (who also sold some NFTs that included a song) actually talked about that. It’s totally a thing someone could do if they were, in his words, “an opportunist crooked jerk.” I’m not saying that Logan Paul is that, just that you should be careful who you buy from.

Are NFTs mainstream now?

It depends on what you mean. If you’re asking if, say, my mom owns one, the answer is no.

The response from my mom when I asked her about owning NFTs.

But we have seen big brands and celebrities like Marvel and Wayne Gretzky launch their own NFTs, which seem to be aimed at more traditional collectors, rather than crypto-enthusiasts. While I don’t think I’d call NFTs “mainstream” in the way that smartphones are mainstream, or Star Wars is mainstream, they do seem to have, at least to some extent, shown some staying power even outside of the cryptosphere.

But what do The Youth think of them?

Ah yes, excellent question. We here at The Verge have an interest in what the next generation is doing, and it certainly does seem like some of them have been experimenting with NFTs. An 18 year-old who goes by the name FEWOCiOUS says that his NFT drops have netted over $17 million — though obviously most haven’t had the same success. The New York Times talked to a few teens in the NFC space, and some said they used NFTs as a way to get used to working on a project with a team, or to just earn some spending money.

Can I buy this article as an NFT?

No, but technically anything digital could be sold as an NFT (including articles from Quartz and The New York Times, provided you have anywhere from $1,800 to $560,000). deadmau5 has sold digital animated stickers. William Shatner has sold Shatner-themed trading cards (one of which was apparently an X-ray of his teeth).

This one I like. Maybe not for $700, but...

 Image by deadmau5 and Mad Dog Jones

Gross. Actually, could I buy someone’s teeth as an NFT?

There have been some attempts at connecting NFTs to real-world objects, often as a sort of verification method. Nike has patented a method to verify sneakers’ authenticity using an NFT system, which it calls CryptoKicks. But so far, I haven’t found any teeth, no. I’m scared to look.

Look? Where?

There are several marketplaces that have popped up around NFTs, which allow people to buy and sell. These include OpenSea, Rarible, and Grimes’ choice, Nifty Gateway, but there are plenty of others.

I’ve heard there were kittens involved. Tell me about the kittens.

NFTs really became technically possible when the Ethereum blockchain added support for them as part of a new standard. Of course, one of the first uses was a game called CryptoKitties that allowed users to trade and sell virtual kittens. Thank you, internet.

I love kittens.

Not as much as the person who paid over $170,000 for one.

My face when I’m worth $170K.

 Image: Cryptokitties.co

Arrrrrggggg!

Same. But in my opinion, the kittens show that one of the most interesting aspects of NFTs (for those of us not looking to create a digital dragon’s lair of art) is how they can be used in games. There are already games that let you have NFTs as items. One even sells virtual plots of land as NFTs. There could be opportunities for players to buy a unique in-game gun or helmet or whatever as an NFT, which would be a flex that most people could actually appreciate.

At least it’s not digital pet rocks... right?

In fact, there are people who are spending tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on NFT pet rocks (the website for which says that the rocks serve no purpose other than being tradable and limited).

Can I cry on your shoulder?