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What is NFT in Crypto? and why it matters in crypto world?

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Understand NFT in Crypto

It is seen that the Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have exploded from the ether this year. Ranging from any form of art and any kind of music, types of tacos, and varieties in toilet paper, these particular digital assets have been selling like the exotic Dutch tulips from the 17 to-century—some even for around millions of dollars.

However, are these NFTs worth your money or this hype? Experts say that NFT crypto is a bubble poised to pop, much like the previous dot-com craze or the Beanie Babies. However, others believe that the NFTs have come here to stay and change the investing game forever.

Table of Contents

  • What is essentially meant by an NFT?
  • How Is an NFT Different from Cryptocurrency?
  • How do the NFTs Work?
  • Why are NFTs so popular?
  • What are the NFTs usually used For?
  • What are the risks to be kept in mind while investing in NFTs?
  • What is the possible future for the NFTs? 
  • How do I get to invest in NFTs?
  • Conclusion

What is essentially meant by an NFT?

To get to know the famous question of what is NFT crypto, one must understand how NFT is essentially a particular digital asset that tends to represent numerous real-world objects like any art, certain music, countless in-game items, and multiple videos. They are usually bought and are as well sold online and often about cryptocurrency. These have generally been encoded with the same particular type of underlying software as many other cryptos.

Numerous NFTs, which are at least in these particular early times, have been multiple digital creations that are already existent in some other form in any other platform, like the several iconic video clips from that of the NBA games or any different securitized versions of any state of digital art that has already been floating around and about on Instagram.

How Is an NFT Different from Cryptocurrency?

NFT basically stands for non-fungible token. It has been generally built by using the same particular type of programming, just like cryptocurrency, which would either be Bitcoin or Ethereum; however that is where this similarity would end.

It is to be understood that any form of physical money or any cryptocurrencies are basically “fungible,” meaning that they might get traded or exchanged for one another. They have also been equal in their value, just like one dollar would always be of the same value as another dollar. Similarly, one Bitcoin would always be similar to any other singular Bitcoin. The fungibility of Crypto makes it a relatively reliable means of being able to conduct transactions on any given blockchain.

However, NFT cryptos are indeed different. Each NFT has a unique digital signature, making it impossible for these NFTs to get exchanged for another or become equal to any one of the others and hence are deemed non-fungible. 

How do the NFTs Work?

NFTs tend to exist on a particular blockchain, usually a specific distributed public ledger that records the multiple transactions that occur. You would probably be the most familiar with any blockchain as a basic underlying process that makes these cryptocurrencies a usual possibility.

To be very specific, these NFTs are usually held on the various Ethereum blockchain, even though the other blockchains might give them the necessary support.

The NFT, which is created, or rather “minted” from any of the digital objects which tend to represent both the tangible and the intangible items, often include :

  • Art
  • GIFs
  • Videos and sports highlights
  • Collectibles
  • Virtual avatars and video game skins
  • Designer sneakers
  • Music

It is to be understood that these NFTs tend to get any sort of exclusive ownership rights. Yes, you read that right. The NFT cryptos can have only one particular owner at any given time. The unique data of the NFTs usually makes it extremely easy to get verified with their very own and helps to transfer numerous other tokens in between their owners. The particular owner or the initial creator might also store any precise information within them. For instance, an artist might sign their artwork, and they can do so by including their particular signature in the metadata of the NFT.

Why are NFTs so popular?

This particular coronavirus pandemic has indeed played a massive role in the present NFT boom. The absolute value of these NFT transactions quadrupled and went up to $250 million in the previous year, according to research from NonFungible and the BNP Paribas-affiliated research centre or firm L’Atelier.

That has been in no tiny part since the stay-at-home restrictions had paved a path that eventually resulted in the people spending much more of their precious time surfing on the internet and saving cash, which resulted from the lack of commuting. It has been similar to the particular rise of the retail traders who would be betting on the GameStop and the other, which led to historically unloved stocks, which were eventually promoted on the Reddit board of the WallStreetBets.

What are the NFTs usually used For?

Several blockchain technologies and the best NFT crypto artists and content creators have provided a unique opportunity to monetize their numerous wares. For example, the artists would no longer be dependent or rely on multiple galleries or any particular auction houses to sell their art. Instead, this artist might sell this piece of their art directly to any interested consumers as a specific NFT, which would also allow them to keep with them much more of their profits. In addition to this, the artists might also program in the royalties to receive a certain percentage of the numerous sales whenever their submitted art would get sold to any particular new owner. This has been an attractive feature since the artists generally do not tend to receive any future proceeds right after their art has been first sold.

What are the risks to be kept in mind while investing in NFTs?

NFTs have constantly been catching the necessary attention of several high-profile technology investors, numerous major global corporations, and the famous artistic community. The various NFT proponents tend to say that these could, in turn, turn out to be the future of the multiple collectables and would, in turn, allow the users to be able to prove that they own the necessary digital assets. However, this flurry of interest tends to echo the particular Gamestop Saga and also the rise of the Wall Street Bets available on Reddit. 

Like any other investment, NFTs also tend to come along with their concerns and risks. When given their seeming infancy, the particular fact that these NFTs have yet again been ready to gain a certain mass acceptance would mean that they have been a somewhat speculative investment. This would, in turn, suggest that they have been prone to both the high rises and the steep drops in any such values.

The supply and the necessary demand usually drive NFTs, and as a result of this sudden surge in demand, there have been buyers who are very well prepared and are ready to pay what would seem to be a ridiculous price. However, it is to be noted that there would be no such guarantee to ensure that these prices would always continue to rise.

What is the possible future for the NFTs? 

While these might appear to be somewhat speculative at this moment, many technologists believe that NFTs could represent an entirely brand new economy based upon specific digital ownership. 

The songwriters or any such creators could make good money just by selling their works directly to their determined fans and, in turn, collect a specific royalty with every time their deemed NFT gets re-sold. The developers might also be able to build an infrastructure and the platforms, which would help enable these new markets. 

How do I get to invest in NFTs?

Well, if you have been looking for multiple ways to invest in the necessary NFTs, you would be required to be familiar with the cryptocurrency and the essential need to own the same, which would, in turn, have to be kept in a particular digital wallet. You might use specific platforms like that of the CoinJar, the Coinspot, or maybe the Independent Reserve to purchase the required Ethereum, which could, in turn, be used as the necessary currency for the NFTs. 

Conclusion

It is to be understood that there has been a relatively wide range of multiple reasons which prove why people are often attracted towards investing in these NFTs. People might want to collect these NFTs for any particular emotional reasons (which might be the social status), or maybe because of the prospect of the re-selling of these NFT cryptos at a relatively higher price which would, in turn, be based on the necessary excitement and the momentum of that particular moment or the scenario. For better understanding, you might as well refer to  https://www.blockchain-council.org/.

What is NFT in Crypto? and why it matters in crypto world?

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Blockchain in Telecom Explained

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Wondering why telecom companies are adopting Blockchain technology? What are its use-cases in the telecom domain? This article has got you covered.

Table of Contents

  • Definition of Blockchain
  • Why Discussing Blockchain in a Telecoms Context is Crucial?
  • Blockchain Use-Cases in Telecommunications 
  • Concluding Lines: What is Achieved and What can be Achieved Further?

Definition of Blockchain

In most simple words, Blockchain is a Peer-to-Peer(P2P), decentralized, public ledger that records online transactions and works without involving any third-party.

It records all the transactions that have taken place in a secure and immutable way, thus ensuring security and privacy. Blockchain technology has become popular because of its ability to offer decentralization, reliability, and security. Apart from this, Blockchain does not take a lengthy process for verification, agreement, and approval.

Want to gain an in-depth understanding of Blockchain and become a Certified Blockchain Developer? Get started today with Blockchain Council.

Why Discussing Blockchain in a Telecoms Context is Crucial?

Blockchain, which started as a peer-to-peer version of electronic cash, has the potential to revamp and reconstruct almost every industry, including supply chain, finance, healthcare, logistics, telecom, among others. Technology has captured the popular imagination due to its ability to provide complete transparency, immutability, privacy, and security. When it comes to the telecom industry, there are various challenges. 

Despite the fact that the telecommunication sector has changed a lot over the last 20 years, still, both providers and subscribers struggle with roaming, high fees, risk of fraud, privacy issues, and so much more. When it comes to inter-carrier transactions, they rely on a mix of automated and manual systems that make the method of doing business together complicated, delayed, and expensive. 

Blockchain Use-Cases in Telecommunications 

Blockchain is arising as a revolutionary technology to manage all the existing issues in the telecom industry, thus opening a new era in terms of efficiency, transparency, and security. Due to its potential to enable full automation in financial settlement and fraud prevention to KYC procedures for onboarding customers, this technology is transforming telecom for good. Let’s explore some of its use-cases in the telecom industry.

  • Roaming and Settlements

As we already mentioned, roaming is one of the major issues because intermediaries are involved in controlling roaming partner settlements, which takes around two months to get resolved. This process further leads to manual errors, frauds, lack of transparency, and other issues.

This complex process can be automated by using smart contracts functionality. Smart Contracts on the Blockchain network can ensure the settlement between the participating members by eliminating third-party intermediaries and automating the SLA agreements through tamper-proof verifiable transactions and real-time updates to the end-users.

  • Identity Management and Fraud Prevention

Identity Management and fraud prevention in the telecom industry is another crucial aspect because multiple third-party agents handle the submission of identity documents; thus, the chances of misuse and leakages are more. Blockchain can address such issues by offering decentralized storage with control remaining entirely in the hands of document owners. Its immutable nature will not only help reduce forgery but also control the submission of fraudulent documents. 

In the telecom industry, the large instances of databases and storage can be replaced with distributed ledgers, thus eliminating various issues.

  • Mobile Number Portability (MNP)

If you have ever gone through the MNP process, you must have realized that it’s a long, time-consuming process. The reason for high processing time is essentially due to data mismatch between operators and periodic updation required from the central database.

Blockchain can streamline this entire complex process by providing a single source of truth where all service providers can review and action requests for Mobile Number Portability. The distributed ledger will help eradicate single-point failure, as all service providers have access to the shared data. Thus instead of days, MNP can be achieved almost instantaneously.

Concluding Lines: What is Achieved and What can be Achieved Further?

Due to Blockchain’s potential, various telecom industries, including Airtel, AT&T, Vodafone, among others, are utilizing this technology to enhance their services. For instance, Telefonica has collaborated with IBM and uses the IBM platform to log information collected by various networks when routing international calls in order to improve the reliability and transparency of collected information. Similarly, Vodafone, a global telecom giant, leverages Blockchain to bring clarity and efficiency to transformed processes. Moreover, other well-known telecom industries are using Blockchain to enable micropayments for music, mobile games, and other value-added services. 

Thus from the above discussion, we can conclude that this distributed ledger technology is taking the entire world into the future, and despite this, there is so much room for exploring and discovering new opportunities.

To get instant updates about Blockchain Technology and to learn more about online Blockchain Certifications, check out Blockchain Council. 

Blockchain in Telecom Explained

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New Milestone Reached: 100 Cryptocurrencies Hit a Market Capitalization of $1 Billion

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Are you a crypto enthusiast? Want to get updated and stay tuned regarding the crypto sector? This article has got you covered. 

Table of Contents 

  • What’s This New Milestone All About?
  • Driving Forces for the Growth of Crypto Ecosystem
  • Concluding Lines 

What’s This New Milestone All About?

As cryptocurrencies continue to gain traction among investors and traders, the crypto sector has risen to a total valuation of more than $1.2 trillion. In Feb 2021, it was seen that there were more than 55 unicorn status projects that had a market capitalization of over $1 billion at that time. 

Now, according to Cointelegraph, there has been a surge in the number of crypto projects. It reports that a new milestone has been reached as 100 cryptocurrencies reach a $1B market capitalization.

Want to get started with cryptocurrencies? Become a Certified Cryptocurrency Expert now!

Driving Forces for the Growth of Crypto Ecosystem

Now comes the question, what are the significant factors that are responsible for the growth of the crypto ecosystem. Let’s explore all these factors in detail.

Multi-Billion Dollar Companies Investing in Cryptocurrencies 

One of the driving forces that contribute to multi-billion dollar companies such as Tesla, MicroStrategy, and others.

MicroStrategy, which is a prominent business analytics platform, has adopted Bitcoin as its primary reserve asset. Unlike other CEOs who generally hide their personal investments, he announced in October 2020 that he holds around 17,732 BTC. In December 2020, the company announced that it had raised $650 million worth of convertible bonds to finance more Bitcoin purchases. 

Also, in February 2021, it was announced that electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla has invested $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and is expected to begin accepting the digital token for its cars and other products. After the announcement, it was seen that the BTC price soared. Square bought $170 million worth of bitcoin with the belief that BTC has the potential to become the native cryptocurrency of the internet. 

DeFi Takes Center Stage 

For the past year, Decentralized Finance, also commonly known as DeFi, has been one of the most contributing factors in the growth and development of the cryptocurrency sector. 

For instance, Uniswap, a decentralized exchange (DEX), has evolved from a basic exchange framework dApp to a sprawling trading network with an average trading volume of $6.72 billion. Similarly, SushiSwap, a competitor to Uniswap, has also attained unicorn status with a current value of over $1.8 billion. Moreover, PancakeSwap (CAKE), a BSC-based DEX that promotes the trading of BEP-20 tokens and implements AMM, is recently gaining attraction, rapidly climbing up the charts, ranking as the fifth-largest DeFi platform by total value locked, with $6.18 billion currently locked in the protocol.

At the time of writing, the total DeFi crypto market cap is $95.83B. 

Stablecoins and their Associated Protocols Received a Boost 

After the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency of the United States of America provided the clear run for national banks to run independent nodes for distributed ledger networks, stablecoins gained momentum. 

One protocol with a stablecoin component that is helping in establishing a stable store of wealth in nations undergoing hyperinflation like Venezuela is Reserve, whose Reserve Rights (RSR) token has increased by around 400% this year. Another emerging entrant to the field of stablecoin is TerraUSD (UST), whose market cap skyrocketed from $182 million on January 1 to $1.66 billion on April 2. 

Interest in Non-Fungible Tokens is Surging

Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have been around for a while, but their value has skyrocketed in the last few months. As interest in NFTs is surging by celebrities and influencers, it is bringing more sales and distribution worldwide. It was announced that Christie’s auction house sold its first NFT-linked digital art for $69 million.

As NFTs are becoming popular, Enjin Coin (ENJ) has been one of the biggest beneficiaries. On March 15, ENJ witnessed an all-time high of $3.08 and raised the project to Unicorn status with a $2.6 billion market capitalization.

Decentraland (MANA), a virtual reality network that allows the acquisition of digital plots of land that can be created and monetized, and Flow (FLOW), a blockchain intended to be the framework for “the next generation of games, applications, and the digital assets that fuel them, are two other prominent NFT-related additions to the Unicorn club.

Concluding Lines 

This has brought us to the end of our discussion. From the above discussion, we can infer that crypto space is going to bring revolutionary changes that none of us ever imagined.
As this space is continuously growing and showing no sign of slowing down, scope for Crypto Experts is booming. 

If you want to gain all the ins and outs of cryptocurrencies and become a Certified Crypto Expert, get started today with Blockchain Council. 

To get instant updates about Blockchain Technology and to learn more about online Blockchain Certifications, check out Blockchain Council. 

New Milestone Reached: 100 Cryptocurrencies Hit a Market Capitalization of $1 Billion

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German Man Lists Physical House on NFT Marketplace, Wants 34 ETH

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A house located in Kransberg, Germany, has been listed for auction on popular non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace, OpenSea. 

House Being Auctioned on NFT Marketplace

The Kransberg-situated auctioned house has a price tag of $74,000, according to the details of the listing. 

While there is no bidder yet for the NFT, it is gathered that the eventual buyer of the token will have full control and ownership of the house, including negotiation and agreement with the seller.

However, this action appears unprecedented in the NFT marketplace. The seller of the property earlier disclosed on OpenSea that he decided to sell the house as an NFT to set the pace for others to follow.

The listing shows that the auction ends on April 25. The potential buyer is due to pay 34 Ethereum, which is equivalent to $75,000.

While the primary function of NFTs is to promote digital content such as images and videos, there is growing adoption of the token for other purposes in recent times.

With many celebrities and artists launching personal NFTS, according to The Business report, it appears that more individuals are considering using the digital token to carry out the sale of physical assets.

Using the NFT marketplace to sell houses is not new in some countries, although it may be the first to happen in Germany.

Recently, a Canadian artist, Krista Kim, sold her house for more than $500,000 through an NFT marketplace. 

The house known as Mars House was regarded as the first NFT house sold in the country. 

Contrary to Kransberg’s house, it was revealed that Mars House doesn’t exist in reality as a house, but the artwork was designed by Kim and existed only in the digital realm.

However, the virtual house’s new owner will explore the place using virtual reality (a digital world). 

The owner of the platform, SuperRare, described the project as the first of its kind in the realm of NFT digital house.

The Emergence Of NFT Marketplaces

More than any other time, artists and creative minds have intensified efforts to explore NFT marketplaces.

A blockchain project, Victoria AR, disclosed it is developing a virtual reality platform in recent times. 

The platform reveals that the project will support non-fungible tokens, and members will be allowed to play games and trade goods.

It is projected that it will be the first Massive Multiplayer Online Open World in which photorealistic graphics are used.

Interestingly, these innovative ideas have fueled asset tokenization and NFTs, particularly in areas such as Web 3.0 and DeFi. 

However, the support of NFT by renowned influencers like Paris Hilton and Snoop Dogg has also had an impact on the sector’s growth. 

German Man Lists Physical House on NFT Marketplace, Wants 34 ETH

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Crypto user modifies old school Game Boy for Bitcoin mining

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An IT security researcher has been able to adapt Nintendo’s first major handheld game console to mine cryptocurrency.

According to a recent YouTube video, user Stacksmashing used the hardware from a Nintendo Game Boy first released in 1989 as a starting point to mine Bitcoin (BTC). Because the gaming console has no built-in wireless capabilities — and largely predates the internet — the YouTuber said he used a Raspberry Pi microcontroller board attached to the Game Boy’s link port and a USB flash card to establish a connection to a BTC node run from his computer.

Screenshot from YouTube

“My goal was to use an original, unmodified Game Boy,” said Stacksmashing. “I want to plug in a cartridge, and start mining.”

Stacksmashing wrote his own mining code for the Game Boy’s read-only memory, integrated mining software — modified for the gaming console — and ran a BTC node on his computer. The result was nonces getting incremented on the console’s green screen, showing the rig was attempting to mine crypto.

“The hash rate is pretty impressive, roughly 0.8 hashes per second,” said Stacksmashing, explaining: 

“If you compare that to a modern ASIC miner, which comes in at around 100 Terahashes per second, you can see that we are almost as fast, only off by a factor of roughly 125 trillion. At this rate, it should only take us a couple of quadrillion years to mine a Bitcoin.”

Screenshot from YouTube

Many crypto enthusiasts have been looking to gaming consoles as a way to mine BTC or other cryptocurrencies for some time, but in general the systems are neither designed nor marketed towards miners. Earlier this month, a Chinese software developer seemed to have pranked the crypto space by claiming to have mined Ether (ETH) using a PlayStation 5. Last year, developers from 1st Playable denied rumors one of its games could be used to hijack Nintendo’s Switch console to mine BTC.

Stacksmashing’s attempts to use an 8-bit gaming console to mine crypto may have been just for the experience, but he has said on Twitter he’s not finished yet. Already the IT security researcher claims to have used Nintendo’s Super Game Boy — an adapter released in 1994 that allows original Game Boy games to be played on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System — to mine BTC in much the same way.

“Obviously, mining Bitcoin on a Game Boy is everything but profitable, but I learned a lot of things while building this, and definitely had a ton of fun.”

Crypto user modifies old school Game Boy for Bitcoin mining

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WINk (WIN) soars as retail DeFi investors flee high Etheruem gas costs

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Decentralized finance has exploded in popularity over the past year and many analysts have pointed to the 2020 ‘summer of DeFi’ as the primary catalyst for the rallies seen in Ether (ETH)  and Bitcoin (BTC). 

In the beginning, investors were able to easily secure 4-digit annual percentage yield (APY) on an almost endless number of attractively priced assets on Uniswap but the increased activity on the Etheruem network eventually led to unsustainable spikes in gas fees and serious network congestion.

These skyrocketing gas fees have priced out the average retail investor from participating in even the simplest protocol interactions like token approval or staking. The current Etheruem proposals do not provide an immediate solution to these issues and this has motivated investors to look for non-Ethereum-based networks that offer yield farming and other DeFi opportunities.

Average Ethereum gas price. Source: Etherscan

With no simple network-wide solution to high ETH fees planned in the near future, it is worthwhile to explore some of the other options available on competing blockchain networks.

One such option is WINk (WIN), a Tron-based (TRX) gambling platform that allows users to play, socialize and stake assets across multiple blockchain ecosystems through the utilization of the native WIN token.

Low-fee, multi-asset staking

Interacting with the WINk protocol requires a Tron wallet with about 8 TRX which is roughly $0.48 at the current price. 

When compared to $40 (or more) in fees per transaction on Ethereum, the ability to make multiple transactions over several days for less than a dollar becomes quite appealing to the average investor.

Similar to many DeFi platforms, WINk’s platform has many staking opportunities for tokens within the ecosystem, including TRONbetDice (DICE) and TRONbetLIVE (LIVE), which allow token stakers to earn a portion of the proceeds from the activity which takes place within those games.

According to the most recent monthly report from the project, the APRs for staking WIN, DICE and LIVE on the protocol for the month of January were 64%, 123% and 137% respectively.

With WIN currently trading at $0.000394 and DICE and LIVE priced less than $0.05, the low entry cost and price of staking and unstaking might be more appealing for the average retail investor when compared to the sky-high valuations of tokens like Yearn.Finance (YFI) and Aave.

Evidence that traders have begun to notice this opportunity can be found in the recent price performance of WIN which has rallied 700% from a low of $0.000058 on Jan. 1 to a high of $0.000477 on March 20 thanks to a record $344 million in trading volume.

WIN/USDT daily chart. Source: TradingView

VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for WIN on March 18, prior to the recent price rise.

The VORTECS™ Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historic and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.

VORTECS™ Score (green) vs. WIN price. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro

As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score registered a high of 65 multiple times on March 18 and the most recent pop to 65 occurred roughly six hours before WIN rallied 90%.

Increased activity for the cryptocurrency sector due to mainstream exposure from institutional investors and big-name influencers like Elon Musk and Mark Cuban has the ecosystem poised to see a continued influx of new users looking to earn a high return on smaller-sized investments.

Projects like WIN are well-positioned to capture some of this growth as smaller investors look for options outside the Ethereum network.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

WINk (WIN) soars as retail DeFi investors flee high Etheruem gas costs

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