In a crypto world where NFTs will dominate the landscape in 2021, we are of course all looking for a way to get started with our own non-fungible token. In early March 2021, Beeple sold a non-fungible token (NFT) for a whopping $69 million, an absolute monster amount. We are now familiar with the phenomenon of NFTs and what possibilities it offers, but how can we buy and trade NFTs ourselves, and also make them ourselves? Discover OpenSea, the platform for all NFTs.
What are NFTs
What are NFTs and why do they dominate the crypto landscape? Non-fungible tokens are unique digital assets that cannot be replicated. In traditional crypto trading, we send coins over the blockchain where they are always owned by another investor. The cryptocurrency we currently own in our portfolio is currently ours, but once we trade it, it is no longer traceable who owned this crypto. Are you investing in a new crypto pearl? Then you receive a coin, but you have no idea who the previous owner was.
Such an NFT has the property that this digital asset is a unique item, which is recorded in the source code by the user. It is used to represent ownership of something. In the physical world, we can compare this to buying real estate. There is only one owner of a certain piece of land and the unique plot cannot be produced either. You can have several replicas of the famous Mona Lisa, but there is only one original work of art.
The nature of these digital items can range from artwork, songs, or even in-game items. We see many game-related projects enthusiastically leveraging NFT and offering an in-game NFT platform where users can trade their unique assets. They can create an avatar and then put it up for sale so that a player can use a unique in-game personification that you can’t see anywhere else.
NFTs can exist on different blockchains, but for now, we will focus on the unique tokens offered on OpenSea’s platform.
What is OpenSea?
OpenSea is a decentralized marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFT) for buying, selling, and trading these unique tokens. They themselves claim to be the largest platform for trading NFTs. For the first time, you can own a digital product. In the past, we see that existing works of art, such as images, can easily be copied so that no more credits go to the effective artist. With blockchain technology, all information about this NFT is recorded so that the rightful owner can always be found in the source code.
These digital items were previously part of a company’s data. Let’s look at popular games like Fortnite. You can change the outfit of your favorite avatar, but it will never be yours. This is because rules have been imposed by the central administration that determines what is possible in the platform and what is not.
Unlike NFTs, you can start designing an outfit that doesn’t belong to the platform, but that you own. A platform like OpenSea immediately demonstrates the freedom that everyone has when it comes to designing and trading NFTs. OpenSea has over 14 million items listed and more are added every day.
Ethereum wallet
Before you can trade NFTs on OpenSea you need an Ethereum wallet. This is a wallet linked to ERC20 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. There are several options for opening an Ethereum wallet. In the past, we have already written manuals for different wallets. Find out which one works best for you here:
Types of Ethereum
- Wallets MyEtherWallet
- Exodus
- MetaMask
- Ledger
Started with OpenSea
Now that your wallet is connected, you are ready to start trading unique NFTs. Always make sure you have some ETH in your wallet to buy your items but also to pay the additional gas costs. We now know that transaction costs can be quite high.
You will immediately see the options on the OpenSea dashboard. OpenSea profiles itself as the largest NFT marketplace. You immediately see that you can look for NFTs yourself or let your creativity run wild. Before we go into this further, let’s first discuss the menu.
Browse
There are a lot of NFTs in circulation at OpenSea so it is important that you can navigate easily. You can search for articles via the Browse tab. If you know the name of the particular artwork, you can navigate directly. If not, you can use the filter options. You can choose between art, but also collectibles or sports. When you choose a market segment here, you will immediately see the top collection and the trending items. These appear at the top of your search results.
By activating additional filters, you can choose to immediately show the NFTs with the highest price, or items that will expire soon. Are you only willing to buy an item that is on sale? There are several filter options so that everyone can easily navigate through the network.
The network also uses different statuses per item. At the top, you can filter between types of NFT by default, but on the left, in the menu, you can choose different statuses:
Buy now
These are the works that are immediately offered for sale. These are works that have been available for some time and, of course, this is the largest group of NFTs.
New
Looking for the latest NFTs on the platform? You can see which works have recently been added to the platform via the ‘New’ filter. You can use this filter to see whether new trends are occurring in the world of NFT. This is not only useful to buy these but also to get started as a maker yourself.
On Auction
It also happens more often that artists do not opt for an average sale, but that they decide to auction their work through an auction. This has a fixed end date. When this has expired, the work is sold to the highest bidder. For each item, you can see what the highest bid is and who made this bid.
Has Offers
Not every work is interesting and gets offers, that would be too nice. You can therefore choose to only show digital assets that already have offers. This way you don’t endlessly scroll through new works that are not interesting but that keep coming back.
These filters do not stand alone but can be combined with each other. For example, you can filter on new items that have already had bids. Why is this interesting? This way you can see what the question is, and how many people are interested in a certain NFT or art form. You can then get started yourself to create an NFT and offer it for sale on the platform.
Buying
Buying is of course also an important aspect of a trading platform like OpenSea. The question is of course not only why you buy an NFT, but also how. First of all, you must of course make sure that your wallet is connected and that you have enough capital to buy an NFT, including the gas costs and transaction costs.
The overview page gives you detailed information about the sale, but also about the artist. This way you can see which works of art the artist has still made. Are you a collector? This way you can quickly buy multiple items from the same artist. In the current example, it is a new item that has only just been listed on the platform and has currently been viewed 13 times.
We see that the artist wants to sell this item for $50. Are you willing to buy this for the full amount? If not, you can also choose to make a non-binding offer. At the bottom, you see a trading history where you can see if other interested parties have made a bid and of how much. Here you also get an idea of whether the artist has set a realistic price.
Create
OpenSea does not only want to be a marketplace for NFTs, they also share knowledge on how you can get started to create your own items. In the menu at create, you can suddenly navigate to ‘develop with us’. Here Open Sea offers you numerous manuals to get started in an easy way. Of course, you can also choose to make your own NFT separately from these manuals. The advantage is that there are no rules about these items. Do you choose to create an animated version of a static image? Would you rather create an abstract work of art and offer it on the platform? Everyone is free to create whatever he or she wants.
You can also make your NFT outside the platform and then trade it on OpenSea. When you are logged in to your wallet, for example, MetaMask, you can choose in your own personal dashboard to create a new NFT or to upload an NFT that has already been created.
Describe your artwork or item and get to work yourself. Did you make your NFT through another platform or did you make it yourself using graphics programs, for example? The nice thing is that really everything can be an NFT. Do you want to make a childishly simple job in Paint? It may just be that you can sell it for a nice amount if there is interest.
You can upload your NFT here from your computer so that it will immediately appear in your own personal dashboard. Your digital artwork is on your computer and by uploading it to OpenSea, you turn it into an NFT. To emphasize again here that there are no regulations for designing an NFT, that is precisely the freedom that prevails in the decentralized network where everyone can decide for themselves what they want to create and what they want to offer and trade on the platform. While some NFTs mainly focus on use cases, such as unique avatars that can be used on a game platform, an NFT can just as well be a static image that needs the imagination to interpret what it represents.
Are you creative and do you want to get started designing and trading NFTs yourself? Then OpenSea is a user-friendly and effective platform. You can not only view which items are traded but also the developments that take place in the world of NFT. Discover the latest new items and list your own unique token. Ready to trade now!
Conclusion
The use cases of NFTs are only increasing and evolving to such an extent that there are almost no limitations. There are more and more possibilities to integrate these use cases into another platform. Until now, especially the in-game industry is gaining popularity but also think of art, collectibles, or the latest trend. There are sure to be more things and variants to come, especially as the sector continues to evolve with decentralized finance (DeFi). More integration also means more NFT asset classes and an expansion of the capabilities and number of integration platforms.
There are several protocols competing for NFTs, but a central place like OpenSea for listing and trading NFTs will only gain popularity as use cases grow. Especially now that you can also recently buy and sell SOLANA NFTs. An advantage is the great degree of freedom with which anyone can be an artist to create an NFT.
