Non-fungible tokens (NFT) – it is one of the newest phenomena in the crypto world. Several hugely influential people have already spoken out about it and some even released their own. For example, Elon Musk and Gary Vaynerchuk released their own NFT.
Also ‘pieces of art’ that we have all known for years suddenly become an NFT. For example, the Nyan Cat was recently sold as a non-fungible token, but also the Charlie Bit Me video.
The technology behind the non-fungible tokens is perhaps even more special than the fact that they are sold for such large sums and this technology could potentially drastically change the world in the future.
But what exactly are these NFTs and on which platforms can they be launched? You can read that in this article.
What is a non-fungible token (NFT)?
An NFT, which stands for a non-fungible token, is a representation of a unique value in the form of a token.
Fungible means simply replaceable. Not unique and not special. In everyday life, for example, your shoes or your phone are fungible. So a fungible token is a non-unique token, one of which there are many others.
Non-fungible means not replaceable. So unique and special. An example of this is a plane ticket. There are many airline tickets for the same flight, but only one is in your name and your seat number. A non-fungible token (NFT) is a token of which there is only one, so it is unique.
Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) are fungible tokens. If you sell a Bitcoin today and buy a Bitcoin back next week, you basically have exactly the same thing, a Bitcoin. However, this is not always exactly the same coin and you can never really find out whether this is the case or not because the coin is not unique.
When you look at a non-fungible token you can check this. Of the NFT there is really only one unique.
At the moment, non-fungible tokens are mainly linked to the property rights of digital art and this is the most popular form of NFT today. In the future, non-fungible tokens could possibly develop further and could also be used to store the property rights of, for example, a house.
In addition, non-fungible tokens can help promote financial decentralization. For example, an insurance policy could be stored in the form of an NFT. This market works with smart contracts, which means that everything can be automated and that fraud can no longer take place.
Would you like to know more about what exactly NFTs are?
On which platforms can you launch a non-fungible token?
With non-fungible tokens becoming so popular, many people are interested in and are in the process of launching their own NFTs. It is therefore extremely important to know on which platforms you can do this and how this works exactly.
Of course, as with most things in crypto, it can be done on different platforms. Each of these platforms has different advantages and disadvantages and it is therefore extremely important that you weigh up for yourself which advantages and disadvantages are more important to you than other advantages and disadvantages. This way you can make the best choice on which platform you want to do this.
In the next part, we will discuss the different platforms and tell you how they work and what the advantages and disadvantages are.
OpenSea
OpenSea is a decentralized online marketplace for non-fungible tokens. On OpenSea, you can both buy and sell NFTs, as well as launch your own NFTs on it. According to OpenSea itself, they are the largest in this regard.
OpenSea has partnerships with some of the biggest names in the crypto industry, e.g. Coinbase and Trust Wallet, as well as big names outside the crypto world, e.g. Y Combinator.
In addition, several big names have indicated their support for OpenSea. Think of Mark Cuban and Tim Ferris. This trust from big names is of course enough reason to delve further into the platform, but is the platform really that good?
The platform has several advantages. For example, the commissions are very low. They charge 2.5% per successful sale. This may not sound that low, but it is definitely lower than most NFT platforms.
In addition, OpenSea offers a huge variety of options when launching NFTs, more than on most platforms. For example, things you can add to NFTs are royalties.
Another advantage of the platform is that a lot of trading takes place. There are millions of NFTs on the platform and a huge number are added every day. Another advantage is that the security on OpenSea is better than on any platform. This ensures that as an artist you really only have to worry about your art, and not about being robbed, for example.
Of course, the platform also has some drawbacks. For example, the platform only accepts cryptocurrency payments. On the one hand, this is not surprising, and perhaps a good progressive step. However, it also raises the threshold to start. Some people are just not very familiar with the world of crypto yet and may feel less comfortable with the fact that they have to pay in cryptocurrency. As a result, they may sooner move away from non-fungible tokens.
Another thing that can be seen as a disadvantage is the fact that you a crypto wallet necessarily need to start on OpenSea. Again, this is not necessarily a disadvantage, but again an increase in the threshold. Of course, not everyone has a wallet and for some, it is also very unfamiliar territory, so they may move away from NFTs when they find out that they need a wallet per se.
MakersPlace
Source: The MakersPlace website (MakersPlace.com)
The two platforms we look at is MakersPlace. MakersPlace is an American platform that offers artists the opportunity to market themselves online. You can buy, sell and launch NFTs via MakersPlace.
MakersPlace works with the Ethereum blockchain and has some of the best-known NFT artists on its platform. Because of this, according to OpenSea, they are often in the top 3 of the highest trading volume. This means how much is being sold on the platform.
A big advantage of MakersPlace is that this platform accepts credit card payments. This makes the threshold to start with non-fungible tokens, as mentioned earlier, a lot lower. Of course, crypto payments are also possible via the platform. Payments in Ethereum are also accepted on the platform via a wallet.
Because credit card payments are also accepted on the platform, you do not necessarily need a wallet to start buying, selling, and launching on the platform. This makes the platform easy to use because it requires little real knowledge. So very attractive for beginners!
A disadvantage of the platform is that they charge a relatively high commission. MakersPlace charges a 15%. In addition, when you use credit card payments, an additional 2.9% is added. So there is certainly something to all these advantages for beginners.
In addition, it is important to know that there is another significant advantage for artists on the platform. Adding royalties is done automatically on the platform. With the second sale of an artwork, of the 15% that normally goes to MakersPlace, 2.5% now goes to the maker and 12.5% to MakersPlace. However, this can also be seen as a disadvantage, as you are not free to add royalties. On OpenSea, for example, you can simply indicate that you want to receive 10% royalties on the next sale, something that is not possible on MakersPlace.
All in all, MakersPlace is a very user-friendly platform, but there are certainly costs involved.
Rarible
The video below explains very clearly how to launch an NFT via the Rarible platform.
As a third platform, we look at one of the best known, if not the best known, NFT platforms in the world. We are looking at Rarible. The marketplace can be used for both buying, launching, and selling of non-fungible tokens.
Rarible makes these services accessible to people who have no experience with coding or how cryptocurrencies work by taking it out of the hands of the users, just like the aforementioned platforms.
The platform ‘only’ came out at the beginning of 2020, but it is already one of the largest in the world. There are a lot of non-fungible tokens listed on the platform and more than 100,000 euros worth of NFTs are sold on the platform per day.
But how is it possible that Rarible has grown so large in such a short period of time? Of course, the platform has several advantages, but also disadvantages. We will now go deeper into both.
The first advantage of Rarible is that it is open source and decentralized. Open source means that the platform is extremely open to the development of the platform and that anyone can contribute to it. Decentralized means there’s no one running the platform with rules and stuff like that. As a result, users are actually almost not limited in their actions.
Rarible’s commission is very low compared to other non-fungible token-related platforms. Rarible takes a 2.5% share on both sides of the sale. So in total, 5% of the total sales price goes to Rarible and the seller misses this part. Not very much, which can certainly be an advantage.
A disadvantage of Rarible can be for some that the platform only works with cryptocurrencies and therefore a wallet is required to get started. As mentioned before, this raises the threshold and may deter people from getting started with NFTs. This would be a great pity.
In addition, the platform accepts payments in tokens built on the Ethereum network this is of course not super bad, but simply a limitation.
All in all, if you have no problem with cryptocurrencies and wallets, Rarible is a very user-friendly platform. It is definitely worth taking a closer look at the platform if you are planning to start with non-fungible tokens.
Conclusion
So, NFTs are one of the newest crypto developments. The non-fungible tokens have become very popular in a short time and several big names have already spoken out about it or even released one.
The developments of NFTs are interesting and may only become bigger and more important in the future. For this reason, many people are involved with it and more and more people want to start publishing their own NFTs.
How do you do this? And on which platform is this possible? We hope to have given you a clear answer to these questions in this article.
It is of course difficult to say which platform is the best because this is different for everyone. For some, a certain advantage or disadvantage weighs more heavily than for others and it is therefore extremely important that you make a good assessment yourself about which platform you choose for the sale of your own NFTs. In addition, we have treated ‘only’ 3 platforms and there are of course many more.
