Some time ago, Ghozali's name caused quite a stir among netizens. This young man from Semarang managed to pocket billions of rupiah from 939 selfie photos he took since 2017. He turned these photos into one of the crypto derivative investment assets, namely Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) and then sold them on the OpenSea marketplace.
The Ghozali phenomenon has caused several people to impulsively sell various kinds of photos. One of them is a photo of personal identification which is actually not permitted.
Even so, the positive side of the Ghozali phenomenon is that there are alternatives for artists and designers to market their work. This platform is believed to be able to help sell works of art more widely. How come? To answer this, it is important to first understand the concept of NFT itself.
What Are NFTs and How Are They Powering Up the Art World?
NFTs are digital assets that represent objects in the real world, for example works of art, music, in-game assets, videos, and others. These assets generally appear in formats, such as JPEG, PNG, GIF and so on. In short, an NFT is an official duplication that resembles the original asset.
NFTs can be bought and sold online in the NFT marketplace using cryptocurrency. Some quite popular NFT marketplaces include OpenSea, Rarible, and Axie Infinity. Meanwhile, the selling price depends on the investor's subjective assessment by looking at the quality and reputation of the owner.
An NFT transaction will be recorded in data on the blockchain . This data contains information about the owner, price, and ownership history of the NFT.
The presence of NFT itself brings a breath of fresh air to the development of the art world. First, concerns about piracy that have haunted arts workers can be eroded. With its blockchain system , NFTs are believed to be able to protect digital works of art from piracy, which is currently quite widespread.
Apart from that, through NFT someone can market their work more simply but can reach a fairly wide market. So, here are some examples of NFTs that were sold for high prices.
- CryptoPunk #6965: is one of a collection of 10,000 digital characters by Matt Hall and John Watkinson. CryptoPunk #6965 was sold for USD 1.54 million or the equivalent of IDR 22.4 billion (exchange rate as of June 2022).
- Ocean Front: This work of art by Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, was sold for USD 6 million or Rp. 87.3 billion. This work, called "Ocean Front", talks about the challenges of climate change that are occurring on planet Earth.
How to Market Art as NFTs
So, are you starting to think about selling your work via NFT now? Of course, this won't be as easy as buying and selling on a regular marketplace. For that, follow these steps:
The first step is to choose the most suitable NFT marketplace . Because, each marketplace generally offers different specializations regarding different types of digital assets. For example, for artwork, you can choose OpenSea or Rarible, while for games you can use Axie Infinity.
After determining the marketplace you will use, you next need to create an account and connect it to a cryptocurrency wallet that supports it. After that, don't forget to complete your profile, such as username , email and other supporting data. Then verify the account via email so that your account can start using.
Before selling your work, you need to create an NFT first. To do this, you just click the create button and enter the file that will be converted into an NFT, for example images, photos, videos, and so on. Don't forget to write the name of the NFT and other information.
Next, click the sell button and follow the next steps according to the instructions of your chosen marketplace . You also have to provide information regarding the asset, such as the price, auction time limit, and the type of cryptocurrency that can be used.
That's all about NFTs and how they relate to the development of the art world. It is important to remember, before selling digital assets, make sure you really understand the NFT mechanism to avoid losses.