Why Should You Care About NFTs and Web3?

The potential for NFTs and the emerging Web3 platform is limitless, and their ultimate impact on society is likely to be similar to that of the Internet's in the 90’s.

This means that anyone who takes a leap of faith, and sees the benefits of using NFTs could reap dividends. For this reason, all those people who don’t care about NFTs today will one day wish they had.

As technology has advanced, art, music, and real estate have become increasingly digital; For many people, it can be hard to believe that such digital art, music, and real estate are being created and sold for millions each day.

By educating yourself about the new technologies and platforms that make this possible, you'll be better positioned for future opportunities in all areas of life.

Web3 & NFTs: Understanding The Hype

You’ve probably heard the buzzwords Web3 and NFTs floating around. Here’s what they mean and why you should care.

The Internet has given rise to an exciting new culture of digital content that can be created, shared, consumed and monetised in exciting and unexpected ways.

Web3 and NFTs will level the playing field for everyone, in much the same way that email and the internet levelled the playing field for communication. They make it possible for everyone to earn money from their creations as they can now sell items without a bank acting as the middleman.

The Web3 Era will be a time where these new technologies can be used to create solutions that enrich our everyday lives.

In the future, your watch, jewellery, cars, art, health records, favourite football team and even houses can all be improved from NFT technology.

It's also no secret, the NFT Market is booming.

In January alone, total sales for NFT Market reached $7 billion for the first time ever! With millions of people getting involved in NFTs every month, there's no better time to learn more, do some research and try them out—even if you've never used blockchain before.

Web3 is a movement towards greater social transparency and empathy by empowering citizens around the world through a blockchain-based Internet. This movement isn’t easy, but it has potential to change the way we operate and communicate with one another.

That's why there's so much excitement in the community right now—the potential for Web3 and NFT technology is limitless.

In order to raise money for his foundation, Julian Lennon is selling rare John Lennon and Beatles memorabilia as NFTs. Artwork by @Onwards.art

Did You Know That NFTs Are A New Form Of Digital Asset?

While that may sound dumb, it’s really important. Let’s look at a previous time in history where assets became valuable — domains. When people combined assets and the internet, they created assets worth billions of dollars.?

If you remember, .com domains were worth $10 each when they launched but now there are companies like GoDaddy that have $2B a year in revenue and market cap of over $5B.?

In the past few months, it has become clear that NFTs are much more than a speculative investment. They could be the key to bringing real value to the web—not just data but rich experiences with real-world communities and applications that everyone can benefit from.

Whether you are interested in NFTs and Web3 because of financial, social, or artistic reasons, or simply because you want to be a part of the biggest growing global cultural revolution of our lifetime, it is important that you educate yourself on the topic.

Now before we dig into NFTs, let’s get acquainted with the idea of Web3 and why it’s important...

Why Should I Embrace Web3?

It's a new technology that has the potential to change the world and there are many opportunities to be a part of it.

Web3 has been called the "internet of tomorrow," but up until now, it's been hard to grasp what that really means. To understand the Web3 movement, we need to look at where we are today.

Today’s Internet, though revolutionary, is largely controlled by central players. These companies build their fortunes on their ability to capture the monetary value created by users and provide little in return.

In this age of Web 2.0, online business owners are forced to pay big fees to centralized players like Facebook and Google just to reach their audiences.

Web3 is different.

Web3 will be where we go to buy and sell goods using cryptocurrency, meet new people and maintain our identities in a digital world, and much more.

The team behind Web3 is working hard to build a better internet - one that's more private, more secure, and more efficient. A new, decentralized form of the internet in which users are not only consumers but also owners.

Web3 lets all of us use the internet securely, with no need to worry about big companies misusing our sensitive information or about hackers stealing our credit card numbers.

To do this, they're building tools that help us connect with one another and communicate directly on a decentralized platform that isn't controlled by any one entity or group of people.

Imagine a world where you can work with others and create something that actually benefits everyone.?Web3 can allow for this to happen because it allows the creation of decentralized networks that value different participants.

These participants are able to design new incentives mechanisms and organizations in on-chain code like Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs).

Even though centralized organizations like Google and Facebook will not disappear entirely, they may become less central in our lives.

We're still at the very beginning of this exciting new cultural and technological revolution, but I think it's going to be really interesting to see what happens next.

But the real question isn’t whether or not you should care about Web3; it’s why you should care about it. And the answer is NFTs.

Why You Need To Know About NFTs

This movement is global, disruptive and potentially worth billions.

NFT Art by Vector Meldrew

Whilst the principle behind NFTs is pretty simple, the practical applications are endless.

The internet is evolving into a platform where everyone can be rewarded for their passions. It is allowing people to be recognised for the work they do and get paid for it.

If you're an art collector, a music fan, a writer of fiction or a gamer - NFTs are the future of the things you love. Artists, musicians and celebrities can now leverage this exciting new technology to engage with their communities in ways they never thought possible.

They make it easy for creators to create more. Fans gain more access, power and control over their favourite content and are able to interact with creators in a way that has never been possible.

And as someone who prides himself on staying ahead of the curve, I feel it's important that you understand what NFTs are and how you can use them in your own life or business.

Let’s look at some of the potential applications and implications of NFTs…

One of the main current use cases for NFTs is to represent certain in-game assets or collectibles. This is why you often hear about the blockchain being used by game developers. However, I don't think that this is where blockchain technology has the most potential.

Some good use cases for NFTs include:

Online collectibles can be turned into NFTs and marked as limited edition. This is ideal for anything that is unique or one-of-a-kind, including trading cards and video game memorabilia.

SupDucks are examples of 10,000 unique NFT collectibles.

Domain names can be represented by NFTs if you want to sell or lease a website address that has no content associated with it yet. This works especially well for domain names containing premium words or common misspellings.

NFTs are also being used to sell tickets to concerts and other ticketed events. This makes it easier to verify authenticity, since each ticket has its own code that can be scanned at the gate.

Digital art, like paintings and sculptures, can be represented in an NFT and sold on the blockchain. Each NFT contains metadata describing the digital asset, and this makes it easier to verify authenticity.

NFTs are a new form of canvas for artists. They let creators focus on the art without needing the centralized middleman men. It really puts creators directly in touch with their community.

VERSE NFT Gallery: Liverpool

The NFT marketplace is an emerging platform for true fans to connect with their favourite creators and like-minded communities. It's a new way for independent artists to make a living and an exciting opportunity for collectors to interact with art in new ways.

With all new and exciting technologies it’s only natural that this would be met with some skepticism.? Although we can’t predict what will happen to the majority of NFTs, Gary Vaynerchuk‘s estimate that 95 percent of projects are likely to fail could well be correct.

As with past technology bubbles, some early investors in NFTs are more focused on making quick flips than on building sustainable businesses.

However, some communities have been able to create super vibrant spaces for people who own a piece of that particular collection. Like the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).

Bored Ape Yacht Club is not like Supreme and Marvel superheroes, who choose to keep their offerings exclusive. They are creating something new: a digital collectible you can truly own and manage.?

They're making it so anyone who owns an ape can do whatever they want with it as they own the IP. They believe anything that people create with their apes ultimately grows the brand.

But How Will NFTs Play Out In The Future??

What if you could own a piece of your favourite movie? What if you could own a piece of an artist's earnings?

Imagine the artists and creators you love as stocks and your financial contribution to them was not just about supporting them but about building long-term value for yourself.

There’s a reason that people want to get their hands on NFT’s, and it’s not just because they’re new and cool: an NFT may be a small piece of something much bigger than itself — like owning a small portion of the next big animated franchise before it blows up into something massive.

Imagine how exciting it would be if you owned a piece of the next Mickey Mouse or Ninja Turtle before they became famous.?

Tapping into the infinite possibilities of NFTs opens up endless possibilities that were previously impossible.

While today it's not uncommon for people to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for video game skins, tomorrow we could be seeing people paying those same amounts for digital artwork, songs, stories and even physical property.

The possibilities are endless because you can use NFTs to represent just about anything that has value.

NFTs and Web3 are Here. Embrace them.

It’s time to level with the world: in order to stay relevant and continue to innovate in this space, we’re going to need to adapt.?

Web3 technologies and standards are coming, whether we like it or not. And if we don’t adapt, it’s likely that one day these tech solutions will pass us by.?

So be fine with it now and embrace the changes to come, within reason of course. It won’t happen all at once. The vision for Web3 is an evolutionary process. We will see small pieces implemented over time and start to realize how much more powerful they are in terms of storing value (including all types of value) compared to current web solutions.?

We’ll then start looking back at current standards and asking ourselves “What were we thinking? This whole time we could have been using NFTs, not traditional web addresses!

As interest in NFTs continues to grow, the people who invest early will be able to benefit from their investments. However this is so much more to NFTs than just monetary value

NFTs should not be thought of merely as a new marketing tool, but also as a platform for building and strengthening real-world communities that foster positive change.

The NFT space welcomes people from all walks of life and offers a wealth of opportunities for anyone who wants to learn about or participate in the art form.

You are doing yourself a dis-service to not at least learn about how it could affect something that you care about. Whether that's art, music or the future of how we communicate. There is something for everyone so do your own research.

Ultimately, I believe it will really come down to the people who are willing to experiment and try the technology for themselves. Before you dismiss this whole idea as crazy, new, or too sci-fi for your tastes, give it a shot and see what happens! Maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you find.?

Either way, once we take the chance to explore NFTs and Web3 ourselves instead of just talking about them in theory, we’ll have a stronger understanding of how they can fit into our lives.

You have a choice in this new wave; to join and embrace the change, or to be left behind.

Five resources for someone looking to get a start in NFTs:

NFT Now - A wonderful podcast, site and community https://nftnow.com/

NFT Heat Podcast - A short, sweet and super useful insight into the NFT industry by Mark Cuban's team https://twitter.com/nftheat

MET AMS - The First Metaverse & NFT Conference / Festival will take place in Amsterdam from June 14th - 17th. The festival will bring to life much of the groundbreaking web3 & metaverse technology you’ve been reading about, making it one of the most immersive conferences to date. Register now online https://met-ams.xyz/

Palm.IO - An ecosystem for culture and creativity spearheaded by Matt Mason, a creative genius who is changing the way we think about art, culture and creativity. Their blog is a source of useful information about NFTs. https://palm.io/studio/

Twitter -Here are some people from the NFT community who tweet interesting things: https://bit.ly/NFT-Twitter-List