VIBRAin Academy Live Session Recap: NFTs
On Wednesday, 9th February 2022, VIBRA hosted another exceptional VIBRAin Live session. The objective of the session, hosted by Louis Dike, was to introduce community members to the wondrous world of NFTs. Our guest was Franklin Peters, CEO of Boundless Pay and tech enthusiast building solutions on the blockchain. The session covered everything you need to know about NFTs and much more. For those who couldn’t make it, we’ve included a comprehensive recap below.
What are NFTs? NFTs are non-fungible tokens. The fungibility of an asset means that it is interchangeable and not distinguishable from another e.g. naira and dollars.
NFTs however are cryptographic tokens that represent unique assets or tokenized versions of real-life assets. Our universe was not created by humans, however, we have created material things and constructs such as money and cars, that we attach value to.
NFT and the Metaverse The metaverse is an artificial version of our universe. Many of the constructs in the metaverse are created as NFTs. Think about it this way, there are people who want to buy land because there is a need for it. They want somewhere to build homes, farm or start businesses. if I had the opportunity to buy a piece of land in Lagos 7 years ago, it would yield a lot of money today. It’s the same with the metaverse, if you missed out on the building in the physical universe, there is infinite access to resources in the metaverse.
In the last two years, we have seen that we can survive living and working virtually. With remote working, many businesses survived and even became more effective. With this new reality of living virtually, many people are experiencing a loss of companionship with co-workers, which is one of the reasons why virtual reality is rapidly developing. There has to be a new form of virtual experience where people will have a sense of presence. Imagine working from home and you can see your colleagues in the metaverse. Merged together with virtual reality, there is a world of possibility ahead of us.
What makes an NFT valuable? Utility, scarcity and uniqueness make an NFT valuable. Every NFT is unique, and its rareness makes it more valuable. The only way you can get it is by purchasing it from the owner. Lands in the metaverse, cannot be duplicated. There are preset square meters that are available and once sold, they cannot be bought again. If I like the position or location of your land, I have to pay for it or look for another one. But two persons cannot own the same piece of land. And that is basically how this works.
The Connection Between NFTs and Cryptocurrency The same technology that stops cryptocurrencies from being double-spent also stops NFTs from being duplicated and non-fungible. However, the main difference between NFTs and crypto is that you can exchange one bitcoin for another but you can’t spend NFT like currency, it is a single unique record that can only be passed from one owner to another. In addition, you cannot use naira or dollars or any fiat currency to purchase an NFT it has to be cryptocurrency.
Promising NFT Networks at the moment In the same way, bitcoin runs on Bitcoin Network and Ether runs on the Ethereum network, there are networks that facilitate NFTs. Platforms like Polygon and Solana is in the limelight now, however, other platforms such as Cardano, Binance Smart Chain, and Drip, are coming up with their NFT products and chain as well.
Are NFTs the future of art and collectables? The normal crypto we know is perceived as a counterpart to fiat currency. The major sector crypto is threatening is the financial sector, and many financial institutions and governments are waging a heavy war against cryptocurrency.
However, NFTs came with a different direction or perspective which I believe will usher us into mass adoption of cryptocurrency. NFTs provide a major utility apart from finance which people will embrace as we now live in a creator economy. Everyone like you and me has the ability to become a creator or artist. There are people building real estate in the creator economy, such as 3D models. What if you can experience real estate? Before purchasing a house you could walk into the house, and see all the rooms virtually.
Same with the game industry, virtual museums where artists can showcase their art or virtual immersive musical concerts, military or pilot simulations etc. These are all the use cases that come with NFTs and the metaverse. We will see a whole lot of adoption; some major platforms like Meta, Apple, YouTube, Twitter, and Microsoft are already creating their NFTs and making plans for Web3 and the metaverse.
How NFTs solve the problem of land acquisition in the real world. You can visit the land in the metaverse before buying. Be in Nigeria and view and in the UK. You can also own land in the metaverse and build without owning land in the physical world. There are also no limitations. If I have land in Lagos and travel to the Middle east. For as long as I’m not in Nigeria, I can’t go to my land. In the metaverse, however, you can have access to your land and NFT at any time.
This live session on NFT was organised by the VIBRAin Academy, an initiative set up to ensure Africans are equipped with crypto knowledge across all sectors. The VIBRAin Academy partners with young and enthusiastic Africans who are willing to teach crypto classes and earn big in the VIBRAin Tutor Program. A VIBRAin tutor can earn up to $300 teaching two classes. To become a tutor, sign up here - https://forms.gle/igBihaaJXJJgLfbJA
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