Let’s face it — the recent FTX collapse and the subsequent domino effect could mean this crypto winter may get a lot colder. Despite this, a Bored Ape was sold for 800 ETH (about $900,000) just last week.
What’s a Bored Ape? A million dollars? Here, we break down some background and basics of NFTs.
An NFT or ‘Non-Fungible Token’ is a code registered in a blockchain. It’s an individual unit with a unique value thereby allowing the blockchain network to generate official certificates of authenticity and ownership.
Now, what’s a blockchain? It is a publicly accessible digital database that allows us to carry out digital transactions without the intermediation of third parties in a fast, safe, and decentralized way. Each digital asset obtains an identifier in which metadata is recorded. This stores all the digital assets’ information, such as the history of the file, name, author, current owner… etc. making it possible to track and verify the originality and ownership of the assets. Therefore, registering a code in a blockchain (essentially an NFT) makes it unique, indestructible, and verifiable.
To illustrate this, we can think of a physical painting say, Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet. Sure, there are many reproductions and copies, but there is only one authentic, unique, and unrepeatable work in Paris.
Since Satoshi Nakamoto’s famous white paper was released in 2008, there has been a lot of development in the cryptocurrency world. And in 2014, the potential offered by the blockchain technology was already being leveraged. In May of that year, the artist Kevin McCoy minted what is considered the first NFT “Quantum” — a digital image of an octagon that changes color, alluding to the hypnotic changes of octopuses.
Artwork in NFT Quantum, by Kevin McCoy. (Image: SOTHEBY’S/MCCOY)
But it wasn’t until 2017, with the Ethereum that a new protocol was created to generate non-fungible tokens, known as “ERC-721 token” or NFT. And with that, there began a revolutionary way of owning digital assets.
To summarize, an NFT can be anything that can be converted into a digital asset and registered in a blockchain — art, books, photographs, music, literary works, and even tweets.
NFTs: a new way of connecting brands, icons, and fans!
Sporting giant, like Nike, remain at the forefront and view the Metaverse as the next step in creating fan communities. To invest in their web3 ambitions, they acquired RTFKT Studios — a company that develops collectible digital assets.
Likewise, sport superstars have leaped at web3 opportunities. Argentine star, Lionel Messi launched a series of crypto art called ‘Messiverse’ by artists BossLogic and Impossible Brief and also recently announced a collaboration with the Sorare NFT project. On the other hand, partnering with Binance, Cristiano Ronaldo launched his first NFT collection designed to immortalize Ronaldo’s footballing legacy. In all likelihood, we will only continue to see higher adoption rates and quirkier collaborations as artists, brands and stars push creative boundaries in the web3 space.
Speaking of pushing boundaries…
Our friends at Erste Bank Open recently took their first swing at web3. We captured and minted key sporting MO:ME:NTs LIVE over the course of the tournament. These were made available in the MO:ME:NT marketplace where fans could collect NFTs of their favorite player’s victory.
To celebrate the successful collaboration, we’re giving away 2 historic MO:ME:NTs featuring Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev. Head to our Instagram to participate!
Erste Bank Open x MO:ME:NT collaboration.