WTF ARE NFTS AND WHY SHOULD IT MATTER TO TRAVELERS?
NFTs or non-fungible tokens are digital assets that are recorded on blockchains. What are blockchains? Put as simply as possible, they are like Excel sheets in the cloud that everyone with an Internet connection can see. Of course, blockchains are much more complex in real life, so if you want to dive into that world you can start by reading this explanation on Investopedia. After you're done, could you summarize it in the comments section below in no more than two paragraphs? Thanks, LOL.
Unless you’re a nerd like me, you probably first heard about NFTs recently from the sale of an NFT for over $69 million attached to a digital collage called “The First 5,000 Days” by a digital artist known as Beeple! How many of us were thinking, I’ve got at least 5,000 photos on my phone right now! Who wants them?
In the last few months, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey sold an NFT for his first Tweet for $2.9 million, EDM musician Steve Aoki sold $3.4 million in NFTs for music and digital art, NBA Top Shot NFTs have generated over $230 million in revenue, and a man in NYC is selling NFTs of your choice of a year’s worth of his farts, or just individual farts.
Now, why am I bringing this up to travelers who are on social media platforms? Because you’re all content creators, even those who aren’t full-time bloggers, YouTubers, Instagrammers, etc., you’re still creating content that could have value, and an NFT might just be the way for you to unlock some of that value.
In no way am I saying that all of you should go out and mint and sell your own NFTs. What I am saying is that it’s important to be aware of new developments in technology and societal trends so that you can spot opportunities for a side hustle (or just additional amusement during COVID).
NFTs can be created for just about any digital file these days such as an image, a video, a text file, etc. Travelers have a habit of taking way too many pictures and shooting way too much video. Because of this habit, we often capture unique moments that could be valuable not only to ourselves but to others too. You don’t have to film Big Foot or an alien invasion - just remember our friend with the fart recordings - but, it does help to have a story or to connect with a sentiment that’s prevalent in current society (like our friend did with the farts) so that others can relate to your image, sound, video, or words. Think of all the modern and contemporary art out there that never made any sense to you, but sold for millions. It was because the artist managed to create something that perfectly captured or expressed a moment in time via a canvas, a sculpture, or an art installation. They were then able to sell the story to an audience who valued their vision. With this in mind, you may just have a million-dollar NFT somewhere on your Instagram page.
I don’t know the first thing about creating an NFT, so if you’re interested you should definitely do your own research. I did find a few things that I haven’t reviewed in depth that seem to provide some basic guidance. Here they are:
Please don’t jump into this without first completing thorough research and don’t risk money you can’t lose. The last thing I need is to get a bunch of angry DMs from parents, spouses, creepy kids, and former reality TV stars.
Finally, if you do go through this and mint your own NFTs, let me know how it went. Or, even better, let me know in advance and I’ll dedicate a blog posting to it so that your NFT sale can be promoted to the three people who read this blog.
I know this is a bit of a different topic than my usual travel-related content, so let me know in the comments below if any of this was of interest to you or if you just hated it.
P.S. - I read that people are buying NFTs for blog posts, so DM me if you want to buy an NFT of this one...