Founder/CEO

Saturday, September 04, 2021

I minted my first NFT this week! So what the hell does that mean?


I just minted my first yet to be released NFT [Non-Fungible Token] via the Atlantis School For Gifted Youngsters and I am super excited about venturing into this technological territory. 

What the heck is an NFT?

An NFT is a digital asset or unit of data that represents real-world objects like art, music, videos and photos. It is stored on a digital ledger known as a blockchain. That blockchain records every transaction associated with that NFT and certifies proof of ownership, that it is unique and not interchangeable.

For example...

Imagine if you took a rare photo of Michael Jordan in a Chicago Bulls game during his rookie year and he autographed it. After that you made a digital copy and stored the original photo in a secure location that would preserve/protect it from damage, theft and copies. The digital copy you convert into an NFT. That NFT is stored on a digital ledger [blockchain] that certifies its authenticity, proof of ownership and allows you to securely transfer ownership, license or sell it using cryptocurrency [Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.] or electronic money [U.S. Dollar]. You can either include the original copy with the sell of the NFT or keep the original copy and only sell its NFT. You can also assign a 10% royalty fee every time that NFT is transferred to someone else. 

Even though NFTs go back to 2012, what really got the world's attention was the above NFT that was created and sold by digital artist Beeple [Mike Winkelmann] in March of 2021. This piece titled The First 5,000 Days sold for an unbelievable $69 million dollars. Yeah, that wasn't a typo. I said $69 million dollars and now Beeple is considered one of the top three living artists. The First 5,000 Days is a digital collage of online images Beeple has posted over the last 14 years. Vignesh Sundaresan, [AKA MetaKovan], the person who purchased the NFT, received a JPG, a hyperlink and some limited rights to publicly display it; giving him multiple opportunities to further monetize it. Imagine if Trump harvested all of his tweets and turned it into a digital lookbook  NFT. People would pay millions for that sh*t. Even the most liberal serial entrepreneurs would buy it just to resell it for more to some wealthy racist. Crazy huh? Well that is just a peak into this digital landscape. Keep reading.

NFTs are like digital heirlooms and they don't need to be some rare Michael Jordan photo or digital collages either. They can be voice clips, music, graphic art, even tweets! Some Influencers are even creating NFTs that can be redeemed for personal messages and live video chats that can undoubtedly boost the purchaser's brand recognition. Folks are out here buying/selling digital rocks for $200,000 and an all-NFT wine brand is now out on the market. Just this week an article came out about a company called the VCR Group who will be launching the first NFT restaurant in NYC the autumn of 2022; offering an exclusive membership-only dining experience for people. According to their website:

"VCR Group will be launching the 1st NFT Restaurant concept in the world. To experience the restaurant, guests will require a membership. Memberships can be purchased through an NFT (Non-Fungible Token). The NFT will represent ownership of your membership which will provide access to the restaurant throughout the month, in addition to unlimited enjoyment of the cocktail lounge and access to private culinary experiences. There will be 3 different NFT Tokens representing a multitude of experiences in the restaurant. Each NFT is an asset and can be sold or transferred in the secondary market."

The possibilities are endless the more that we learn about this technology. Your grandmother's wedding ring. The family home. Other inheritances. Imagine 100 years from now your family also owning rare, valuable digital assets that you created. This is not a wave, it is a technological paradigm shift in how we can redefine, reevaluate and preserve our legacies. My first NFT is just one of a series of rare collectibles that I will eventually make available to the public and I look forward to seeing many of you also investing in this digital space. There is more than enough room for all of us.

Peace,

Saladin

2 comments:

Absolute Truth Allah said...

I applaud your venture into this field. Interesting to discover NFT’s go back to 2012! I took notice when I found out Topps (baseball cards) revamped their product.

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