Three Reasons Why Creators Should Drop Their Own NFTs

The beauty of the internet is anyone can create an account and sell anything. But if you’re going to be a creator and want to sell something that’s original, you need to understand what it is you want to sell. In this blog post, we cover three reasons why you should drop your own non-fungible tokens or NFTs.

NFTs are the next wave of creative expression. NFTs allow creators to tokenize their creative process or create a digital creative trail using blockchain technologies.

One of the main reasons NFTs are so popular is that they give us digital verification (public data on blockchain networks) when we need to know someone’s ownership (crypto coins or tokens) or identity (crypto addresses).

While fungible tokens ($BTC, $ETH, $BCH) can be easily traded (or swapped) for one another, the value of non-fungible tokens cannot be easily swapped since each token is unique.

The most notable implementations of NFTs thus far have been CryptoPunks (circa 2017), or Art Blocks (circa 2020), NBA Top Shot (circa 2020), and Bored Ape Yacht Club (circa 2021), and CryptoKitties (circa 2017).

Let’s compare these NFT projects by sales volume. CryptoPunks has a total sales volume of 1.244B $USD, Art Blocks 743M $USD, NBA Top Shot 707M USD, Bored Ape Yacht Club 454M $USD, and CryptoKitties 44M $USD, according to CryptoSlam! These amounts were calculated from transactions on all marketplaces tracked and include owner-to-owner sales only (not initial sales from the product directly to the owners).

Some of the first NFT projects went on to trade millions on secondary markets, proving that all collectibles can be digitized and tokenized.

You can have more creative ownership over your products with NFTs

NFTs are unique digital assets. You can own them, verify their authenticity, transfer them easily, and trade them securely. All of this leads to greater ownership over your assets.

The ecosystem around NFT minting is expanding. Ethereum (smart contract-enabled blockchain) and its side-chains ( Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism, Ronin) have been the dominant networks for NFT creators. We’re also seeing creators jump into non-Ethereum networks such as Flow and Binance Smart Chain.

NFTs are tools in the creator economy. They provide a way to store and transfer digital assets in an efficient and provably scarce way. These tokens can represent digital assets (coins, items, collectibles) and even physical assets (cars, houses, vaults). While these NFTs are still in their early days, many see them as the next step in the evolution of digital ownership.

The era of digital ownership is currently upon us thanks to crypto tokens. It’s time for creators, and creatives to look into creating (or minting) their own NFTs to maximize ownership of their creations.

NFTs are now within reach for even small creators

NFT creators are banking serious capital in their crypto wallets. But NFT drops are not reserved for famous artists like @beeple, even small creators can now drop their own tokens for profit or fun. If you are a small creator and you own your own content, you can drop NFTs on any smart contract-enabled blockchain network ( Ethereum, Flow, Binance Smart Chain, Polygon).

Dropping NFTs typically requires capital up-front. The transaction fees are necessary to use the technology (sign blockchain transactions). The first generation of NFT marketplaces ( OpenSea, Rarible, Zora, Foundation, SuperRare) required creators to pay up-front. The second-generation platforms ( OpenSea, Rarible, Cargo, Mintable) feature lazy minting (aka gasless minting or magic minting) which allows creators to make NFTs without any upfront gas cost, as the NFT isn’t transferred on-chain until the first purchase or transfer is made. With lazy minting enabled, creators can tokenize their creative process for free.

Leverage marketplaces to sell your NFTs to your fans and your community

One of the fastest ways to increase the value of your digital items is to let someone else distribute them for you. This makes both centralized marketplaces and decentralized counterparts very attractive to creators. Third-party marketplaces or auction houses provide a quick and easy way to turn your NFTs into revenue without knowing how to develop and launch your own smart contracts.

There are three major reasons why you should drop your own NFTs on third-party marketplaces: You will monetize your work faster; you can build stronger ties with the existing collector community, and you will receive free marketing for your work. What’s the downside of relying on existing NFT marketplaces? Marketplaces typically take 1–15% of the selling price. If you are still deciding on which NFT platform you want to use for your NFT drop, check out 🚀 Dstack.

It’s easier than ever to drop NFTs that become more valuable over time

NFTs, or digital collectibles, can be designed to meet the goals of their creators. For example, do you prefer working alone? Use lazy minting to drop your own NFTs for free. Do you prefer to collaborate with other creatives, designers, musicians, videographers, photographers, or marketers? Use split payments to automatically distribute funds for all parties involved. Do you want to allow your fans to access private content? Use token-gating to share private content with token owners.

When you tokenize your work, you are essentially sharing your work with the world and potentially getting paid (if you have a large enough following or a true fanbase). If your community purchases your tokens, they recognize the market value of your tokens. They also believe that the token value may change in the future.

NFTs can be anything. This has opened up a whole world of opportunities for creators. If you find yourself thinking about creating your own NFTs but holding off, reach out to us.

Originally published at phoenixteam.io on September 9, 2021.