NFT, that's what it is and why it's talked about so much...!
The NFT — the non-fungible token — is mine and I manage it . Right in the sea magnum of the web where everything is available, free, downloadable at no cost, here is the NFT mania . The latest to take advantage of this new form of “copyright” in online content was Jimmy Wales . The founder of Wikipedia , a few hours ago, auctioned the first modification made by Christie’s on January 15, 2021 on his Wikipedia portal. The screen where it says “ Hello world” Was frozen and immortalized in an NFT which was then auctioned and its proceeds pocketed to the author. Of course, Wales will give everything to charity, but to understand, the NFT on this page would be worth , according to Christie’s, between 100 and 150 thousand dollars .
Those who buy it by December 15 will also take home the iMac Wales was working with at the time and can edit the page as they like, as well as restore it to its original form. Strange? You can see that you do not frequent the world of games and crypto-art, as indeed when it comes to blockchain you roll your eyes and fall off your chair. But let’s go in order. What is an NFT? Let’s take the classic definition written right on Wales’ Wikipedia the “non-fungible token is a special type of cryptographic token that represents the deed of ownership of a single asset (digital or physical ); the non-fungible tokens are therefore not mutually interchangeable. This is in contrast to cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin and many network or utility tokens, which are inherently fungible. “ In short, bitcoin can be replaced with another, but NFT is a unique piece that cannot be replicated or replaced .
Again: an NFT can be a video, a photo, an audio file, a text (as in the case of the first page of Wikipedia designed by Wales) that is certified as original , just as there was the author’s signature at the bottom. Obviously the NFTs — we will see other examples shortly — rely on the blockchain (usually Ethereum), a sort of digital register / archive on which the transactions of unalterable, unchangeable and even less eliminable data are stored with a generic blow of the delete key. . In short, it is like a digital notary who officially registers the uniqueness and non-copyability of the NFT . “NFTs are designed to give you something that cannot be copied, that is the ownership of the work., although the artist can still retain copyrights and reproduction rights, just like with the 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 ”. Between 2017 and 2018, NFTs exploded thanks to what happened around the online game CryptoKitties when players started being able to buy their crypto cats in the form of NFTs. Kittens can then be bought, raised and then traded / sold, and to do so they need to use a crypto currency. Each NFT kitten is unique and owned by the buyer / user which has validated the purchase act through the blockchain and its value can increase or decrease based on the market value. CryptoKitties cannot be replicated and cannot be transferred without the user’s permission even from the game developers.
The highest value for a crypto kitten? 170 thousand dollars . Let’s move on to crypto-art where this sort of highly speculative dual market channel (our addition, ed ), has nevertheless achieved excellent results in recent years. We cite an emblematic case where the use of NFTs has caused the value of the work to splash like never before in reality with physical pieces sold at auction. The digital artist known as Beeple- Mike Winkelmann -, someone who sold the prints of some of his works for a few hundred dollars, in March 2021 he made a bang . The digital collage Everyday— the first 5000 days has reached a Christie’s figure of 69 million dollars . Those who have bought the work now have a digital file in their hands and can boast of owning the original, can publish it online and can set it on their profile. Then of course, the same thing can be trivially done by anyone with a digital copy of the same work: right click, then paste on their social profiles. Of course, no dollar would turn around and no NFT would be recorded, but above all over time, perhaps the file of which will boast a resounding property(although the author in this field still receives sales percentages in subsequent passes). In short, depending on your point of view, we are between the ideon of the century and yet another speculative financial bubble. The last Italian chapter, very Italian, on NFT is the one that Achille Lauro saw as protagonist a few hours ago. On the stage of the Teatro degli Arcimboldi in Milan, on 7 December during a live with a symphony orchestra, the singer showed live the creation of an obviously unique and exclusive NFT Development: the reproduction of his heartbeat and the emotions felt during the concert detected thanks to hi-tech sensors applied to his body during the performance. To buy the work just go to Crypto.com. And for those interested there are also other NFT shopping sites: NiftyGateway, Markersplace, Rarible, Supersea, but also a specific site like NBA Top Shot where you can buy video moments of the NBA basketball championship.
