What are NFTsNon-fungible means something unique which can not be replaced with similar items. Like bitcoin, ethereum and litecoins are fungible because you can trade bitcoin for bitcoin, ethereum for ethereum, litecoin for litecoin, and have exactly the same thing. But NFT are completely different as they are non fungible, a digital art is an example of a NFT, if you trade a digital art with a another one, you can not have the same thing but completely different things unlike bitcoin and fungible coins and tokens.
The same goes for art pieces like Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci or Starry Nights by Vincent van Gogh. There can be copied versions of every art piece, but the original is only one. Although, they are also non fungible, but such original art piece are not assigned a token, which makes such non fungible tokens.
Accordig to Wikipedia, non-fungible token (NFT) is a unit of data stored on a digital ledger, called a blockchain, that certifies a digital asset to be unique and therefore not interchangeable. NFTs can be used to represent items such as photos, videos, audio and other types of digital files. Access to any copy of the original file, however, is not restricted to the buyer of the NFT. While copies of these digital items are available for anyone to obtain, NFTs are tracked on blockchains to provide the owner with a proof of ownership that is separate from copyright.
NFTs used to represent virtually intangible itemsNFTs are used to represent intangible items like:
Artworks
Virtual items within video games such as skins, virtual currency, weapons and avatars
Music
Collectibles (e.g. digital trading cards)
Tokenized real-world assets, from real estate and cars to racehorses and designer sneakers
Virtual land
Video footage of iconic sporting moments
NFTs as tokensAs mentioned above that NFTs are tokens, tokens do not have their own independent blockchain, tokens rely on the blockchain of another coin, such as ethereum blockchain, which is the most popular blockchain used for NFTs. But there are other bkockchains now supporting NTFs.
List of blockchain supporting NFT as of recentEthereum
Binance Smart Chain
Flow by Dapper Labs
Tron
EOS
WAX
Polkadot
Cosmos
Tezos
How to create your own NFTBefore knowing how to create NFT, you should know that creating NFT on one blockchain will be difficult or impossible to sell on another blockchain. Each blockchain has its own separate NFT token standard, compatible wallet services and marketplaces. There are platforms you can create your own NFT, but you will need to know certain requirements for creating NFT on certain blockchain. Ethereum is the largest for now, and will be used as an example.
Common marketplace for NFTsOpenSeaRaribleMintableSuperRareNifty GatewayFoundationAxie MarketplaceBakerySwapNFT ShowRoomVIV3RequirementsTo create NFT on ethereum blockchain, user will have an Ethereum wallet that supports ERC-721 (the Ethereum-based NFT token standard), such as MetaMask, Trust wallet and Coinbase wallet (not Coinbase.com). The user needs to have around $50-$100 worth of ether. Also, user need to sign a message with an address that will be used as login, and that will be required before the completion of NFT creation.
NFT scamsNormally, NFT scam are not yet common, but there are ways scammers can deplay different tactics to scam people using NFT, as people are getting to know more about NFT, this will attract scammers to make use if it. Below are lists of few ways scammers can make use of to scam people, knowing this is very important as a means of protecting oneself against such scam.
Replica Stores/Doppelgänger storesStores with fake domain which is not original but very similar or identical to the real domain, some people will think it is original domain which can be mistakenly accessed through search engine ads, clicking on the fake site. The best is to avoid such sites, never click on search engine ads, and only accessing the original site.
Fake storesReplica domain is fake, but there are some domain that is not identical to any other domain but yet belong to scammers and fake as it is. Some people do not just care but like search engine to look for site URL, clicking on a fake NFT site will also result to scam.
Counterfeit NFTs or Artist ImpersonationIf you were following NFTs in the recent weeks, you would be aware of the Banksy-styled artworks sold on the NFT markets for $1 million in crypto. Although I do not want to get into whether that was a copyright/ trademark issue, this sets a precursor for what is to come. Counterfeit and real-world ‘inspired’ artwork/content will become a problem shortly. Users need to be careful about what they are buying or bidding. It is difficult to verify the seller on such online marketplaces.
Giveaways/ AirdropsIt is not new that there are numerous fake giveaways, this happen in a way people are tricked to pay certain amount to receive double, this is very possible to make use of NFT for this. For example, if a NFT is worth $1000, scammers can tell someone to pay $500 to realease the token, but not knowing it is a scam. If the money is paid, the scammers has nothing to release.
Fake appsThere are many fake apps people have downloaded before causing them to lose money, the apps also make use of sites that are not legit but fake. As NFTs are becoming more common in the real world, these type of app can be available on playstore for download. People that download such app can be tricked in a way NFT token will be stolen. That is why it is good to make use of legit sites that we already know.
How to securely store NFTFor bitcoin, not your key not your coin. This is because bitcoin is stored on blockchain and can only be accessed through digital signature produced by a private key, that is why private key is very important. Anyone that have access to the private key can unlock bitcoin from the blockchain using digital fingerprint (address), public key and the digital signature generated by the private key. That is why bitcoin users needed to protect their private key. This does not only applies to bitcoin, but to all cryptocurrencies making use of blockchain technology. Also, NFTs are using blockchain to store tokens, the tokens are stored on blockchain, although not having blockchain of their own, the reason they are called tokens. They are stored on the blockchain of a coin like Ethereum, Tron and Binance smart chain.
That is why we need to store NFTs using noncustodial wallets, so we will be able to have full control over our tokens, most noncustodial wallets are online/hot wallets, but we can go for offline wallets which are more secure. But, even if it is offline wallet we use like hardware wallet, we should still be very conscious about safety and security of our NFTs.
Some platforms can render centralized means of storing NFT, this will deprive privacy, also making owners not to have full control over their coins, noncustodial wallets should be used. To know how to protect NFTs, you should know how to protect yourself from online and offline scammers, check the articles below for further reading about how to protect oneself against hackers and scammers.
Good topics on security and privacy
Helpful links:
https://www.ledger.com/blog/create-your-own-nfthttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-fungible_tokenhttps://www.coindesk.com/how-to-create-buy-sell-nfts?amp=1https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/03/23/how-to-create-buy-sell-nfts.htmlhttps://m.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=RISknGgDTW0https://securityboulevard.com/2021/03/5-nft-scams-you-need-to-know-nft-scams-part-1/amp/https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/blogs/non-fungible-tokens-course-theyre-attracting-scammers-p-3011