The Apps You Need To Understand NFTs
***Special Note: This article is written in the United States and as such, some of our international readers may experience a slightly different experience based on their nation’s governing laws. We welcome our international readers to visit us on Discord where we can help you navigate your NFT issues.***
Part I: The Apps You Need To Understand NFTs
This week, as promised, I will be taking you through two apps that you are absolutely going to need to browse, buy, hold, and sell Ethereum NFTs.
In fact by the end of this week you will be able to navigate your way through these apps and hopefully have an NFT in your digital wallet.
So what apps are we talking about? We are talking about MetaMask and OpenSea.
OpenSea is relatively easy to grasp. Think of OpenSea as the eBay of NFTs where items are offered for sale and unsolicited bids can be offered.
But what does installing the MetaMask app actually do? It creates what is known as a digital wallet. This wallet allows you to browse, buy, hold, and sell both NFTs and cryptocurrency (we will cover crypto another day). MetaMask essentially unlocks a huge door to the NFT world.
Think of your MetaMask wallet as your bank account for NFTs but with some very important distinctions.
Distinction №1
You can lose all your money and assets by not remembering your password and passphrase.
When registering your MetaMask wallet, in addition to providing a password, they will provide you with a 12–16 word recovery passphrase. Yes, you heard that right. For nearly everyone, this will be the first time you will be given not a password, but a long rambling passphrase and told to store it safely.
And you should.
There is no ‘reset password’ option at MetaMask. The reset password option is you remembering your passphrase and inputting that passphrase in order to recover your account.
Forget the passphrase and and you can forget seeing any NFTs and or cryptocurrency you have stored in your MetaMask wallet.
One of our team members at RadishNFT stores one hard copy in their fireproof box and one copy with a friend for safekeeping. Whatever your choice, ensure your passphrase is protected from others and safe from being damaged or destroyed.
Distinction №2
Your MetaMask wallet cannot be used for every NFT and or cryptocurrency.
Did you notice in that first paragraph I referred to ‘Ethereum’ NFTs and not just ‘NFTs’?
It’s complicated and I’ll cover it in more detail at a later date but for now, it’s important to note that you cannot take all NFTs bought in one place and sell them in all other places where NFTs are sold. That’s the bad news.
The good news? Ethereum NFTs constitute 80% of the NFT market so once you have followed my simple steps in this series, you will have more access to browsing, buying, and selling NFTs than any other platform in the world.
Let’s start!
In Part I of this series, we are only going to download these apps on our phones and register in each respective app (or visit the MetaMask website here and the OpenSea website here for desktop or laptop registration).
I’m going to ask you to download the MetaMask app here BEFORE downloading the OpenSea app as this will allow for a smoother setup on OpenSea. This is a trusted link we share at RadishNFT and in fact many here at RadishNFT have used this link when first installing MetaMask.
You may also download the MetaMask app through your favored app store.
In addition to downloading the OpenSea app, you may also simply visit the OpenSea website to ‘register’ an account with them. I put quotation marks around register because OpenSea is not a traditional website where you see the username and password fields. There is no ‘New User? Register here’ field. There is no log in or log out to OpenSea.
No, what you do is click on the ‘Profile’ tab whether in the OpenSea app or on your desktop and OpenSea will immediately ask you to link your ‘wallet’. There will be several options, all varying on where you are in the world, and because we had you set up your MetaMask wallet, you will select MetaMask.
Your MetaMask wallet will immediately pop up (if you are signed in) and will ask for you to sign and confirm several screens. Don’t worry. You have no money or NFTs to lose so though it’s understandable to have apprehension, just click on all the sign and confirm bubbles that appear.
Once this is complete, OpenSea will now be presenting your profile in OpenSea. Not the traditional registration, but a registration nonetheless.
That’s it for today but be on the look out for Part II of this series where we will take the next step of learning how to browse, buy, hold, and sell NFTs.
For now, please don’t feel silly if you get stuck. Getting into NFTs can be tricky and myself and the entire team at RadishNFT are here to help and we can be contacted at our Discord server here.
Please just reach out — let’s do this together!
Make sure to like, follow, share, subscribe, and comment on our content!
- Lady J at RadishNFT
Disclaimer: We are not financial advisors and the information here is not financial advice.
