I Bought My First NFT — Here’s How
If the planet earth isn’t on fire, then the world of NFTs certainly is. With a massive influx of crypto enthusiasts, investors, and artists, the prices of in-demand NFTs have reached new heights, and show no signs of slowing down. It was time to see what the future of digital art (and more!) was all about.
What the NFT?!
If you’re completely new to NFTs, check out my article to learn more about them, and their impending impact on the Gaming Industry. Essentially, NFTs are pieces of property that belong to an individual on the blockchain. As such, they are unique, can be tracked, and can be transacted with other users on the blockchain. In this article, I will be discussing the mode of NFTs that most people have come to associate with the crypto space — digital art. Together, we will walk step-by-step through the process of buying your first piece of the overwhelmingly digital future.
How to Fund Your Purchases
One thing that often takes time to understand when it comes to the blockchain is the different options. Coins, like Ethereum (ETH), operate on their own respective blockchains. Other examples are Polygon (MATIC) and Binance SmartChain (BNB), each of which approaches the concept of creating an effective, global blockchain differently. For our purposes, we will be starting out by buying Ethereum from Coinbase, and converting to either “wrapped ETH” (WETH), or MATIC.
For the purpose of this article, I am assuming that you have a decent understanding of how to purchase and transfer cryptocurrencies to and from exchanges, such as Coinbase. If you aren’t entirely confident, check out my article on how to start investing in crypto.
With that being said, let’s buy some ETH! In my first attempt, I started with $300 of Ethereum, and ended up spending about a third of that.
Caution — gas fees are extremely high, and can be more expensive than the actual NFT!
Once you have successfully purchased your ETH, we can move on to step 2.
Sending ETH to MetaMask
When using third-party services on the blockchain, and moving your crypto from place to place, you need a good digital wallet. Although I do have a hardware wallet, I also utilize services like MetaMask, which includes a handy Google Chrome extension.
Once you have your MetaMask set up, as well as the Chrome extension, you can send the ETH that you purchased on Coinbase to the wallet. Now, we have the funds that we need to buy NFTs!
On the Open Sea
Want to buy a Pirate NFT? Well, it’s time to take to the sea; OpenSea, that is. OpenSea is the leading marketplace for artists, investors, and enthusiasts to both mint and trade NFTs. Think of it as eBay, but for crypto.
Once you visit OpenSea, you will be able to log in by accessing your MetaMask wallet and linking it to your account. Now, it’s time to shop.
The first thing that came to mind upon entering OpenSea for the first time was the sheer number of items listed there. NFTs are often released in “collections” or “sets,” where each individual NFT is a subset of the whole. Ever heard of CryptoPunks? Therefore, you may see very similar images that follow a common theme; nevertheless, each NFT in the collection is unique, and holds its own value.
After clicking around for a little while, it’s hard to figure out what to buy. Do I want a sophisticated raccoon head, or a pixel-ridden avatar that bears resemblance to images made in Microsoft Paint? To the novice (like me), it was hard to distinguish the important from the negligible. Nevertheless, I wanted a piece of the NFT world, no matter how small or insignificant.
One tool for the novice investor is RarityTools, a forum for staying up-to-date with the latest in digital art. Here, you can see the most-popular NFT collections and up-and-coming projects — variety is abundant.
Once you’ve found an NFT on OpenSea that tickles your crypto fancy, you can view the details of the aforementioned item. Here are a few things to look for:
- Trading History — when and by whom the NFT was minted
- Listings — how much has it fetched previously, and when
Naturally, you want to find NFTs that are minted by verified artists with solid listings and price histories. If you’re looking at this as an investment, you want to be able to recoup and profit off of your investment, and you need an asset that others value, too.
Sealing the Deal
Once you’ve found the DopeShiba that captures your heart, you can either Place a Bid or Buy Now. This is where the painful part of digital-art collecting comes in — transaction fees.
On the page, you will see the icon of the currency that is being used to trade the given NFT. If it is trading in something other than ETH, then you will be prompted to exchange your ETH for the necessary currency. Then, you can make your bid.
Getting into the NFT game is expensive, so buyers beware. Once you click that buy button, you’re not going to be happy to see those transaction costs, or “gas fees,” as they’re commonly referred to by the crypto community. In purchasing my NFT for a price of $7, I incurred over $80 worth in said fees.
It may take a few minutes (up to 45, according to OpenSea), but after the wait, that NFT is yours! It has now officially been moved to your slice of the blockchain, ready to draw the attention of the crypto passer-by. You can now view the NFT on your OpenSea profile under “Collections.”
The question is — will you keep it, or sell it once more to wander the OpenSea in search of crypto riches?
