Since NFT's are all the rage it makes sense to see how it works. Apart from that it is also good to see that it is one of the crypto sectors where they have started to realise if you want people to use your shit then you need to have a proper interface.

So off I went to Rarible.com and made my first NFT. I am not sure if I cheated since I used an old emblem that I made but never got any real usage out of.

The art

Now I get most NFT people are always talking about the Art and although the Art is a great use case it is still just a digital file. With that, the only reason someone's Art would become worth a ton is because of reputation.

From what I see on Rarible.com and OpenSea the aggregate NFT interface for crypto art on Ethereum etc is that the Crypto Art scene unless heavily regulated will keep gaining bad rep.

That is why sites where they truly curate and check an artist's works and track record is a better choice for people who want to have a chance at selling NFT Art for higher amounts.

Rarible and OpenSea like the others on Ethereum follow the ERC721 and ERC1155 standard contracts, with the ERC1155 seemingly being a collection contract such as when I listed via Rarible it went into the Rarible collection or how you own Gods Unchained or even Splinterlands cards they are part of those collections.

Then there is the unfortunate case that frankly image or asset storage is still centralized and can be removed at a whim. Good for removing bad actors assets but still sits a bit uneasy if a person thinks that well the image or digital asset is the thing I am selling.

It should soothe you then to just realize that it is not really the case and you are then better off allowing for physical redemption if the actual art is supposedly the thing being sold.

If you are an artist and wish to use NFT's to monetize then just do not think you will magically get big bucks by remaining in some crypto realm bubble. That is the crypto way after all.

Useful NFT

Although I technically made an art NFT with 3 editions available, that rarity actually means nothing without reputation and provenance. Given how any idiot with some Gas can create an NFT and some sites do not regulate and remove copyright infringed items it definitely is the wild west.

The real interest for me with NFT's then is seeing how I can use it as an asset store. Since one NFT can represent whatever I want it to at the start and be controlled further by buy offers, regardless of outside - like DEC - it then makes sense how domains and tickets to events can be sold.

Once you also add that each can have on-chain details, and those details can be updated say with Chainlink or in simple terms just modifying values then you get Dynamic NFT's which are actually useful.

On Hive.io there is a city builder game I think it is called Dcity and I perused it once then sneered at them selling NFT cards. Now I think that it is pretty nifty. Once you realise that NFT is just a representation and the ability to automate or change what it represents is all in the code things start to click a bit more.

I can definitely see how they can then represent achievements as NFT's that either multiply as in you can only own the next if had the previous or it can upgrade and burns the previous or even just never changes and only upgrades to a max.

Assets can be represented and transferred and because it depends on the contract code what values those assets hold they are then driven by proprietary algorithms. Open data and private business.

I am looking forward to play a bit more with NFT creation and although Ethereum has the biggest market and is the most accessible from what I could deduce - being lazy. I think they are ok for basic testing and playing as a layman. However, GAS costs even just for my 3 editions were $1 and that is a lot which makes each items creation have a cost of 30cents.

Fortunately, we have projects like Flow and I think Polkadot or even Thor chain might be a better option when actual usage of NFT and cost-effectiveness comes into play. I only mention Thor chain because I think any "DeFI" system should do fine, all in all, they can call it what they want but it is all just code that executes some shit based on some shit.

Obviously, we can interrogate the code without waterboarding it so that tends to be better.

Musings

As I mentioned this all seems like a good match for open data with private business opportunity. Once an NFT collection is on-chain then it is even worth noting there are business opportunities for people to use those beyond what the original creator intended.

I can't really picture a good internal model for using it say as a community currency where things get rewarded but also holds value beyond the said community. I would like to use NFT for provenance but also as an actual currency with low frequency.

Kinda like those gold tokens in John Wick, I think.

Some more experience with them will bring new ideas so, for now, I will keep clicking buttons and see what happens.

You can buy this NFT here if you like, it will give me a dopamine hit.

Previously posted on LEO Finance