Why it’s awesome if you haven’t bought NFT by now

In the week that just ended, it came to light that you could now buy erotic pictures of Nigerian women as NFTs.

Wait, please don’t leave me. I understand that you may still not fully get what exactly NFTs are but, trust me, this article is NOT trying to teach you about NFTs. Instead, this article is about the global — and local — scamper for NFTs. And why, despite what the evangelists may say, it may not be your fault that you still don’t understand NFTs. It also may not be your fault that you have zero NFTs in your wallet.

First of all, did you know that, if you want to learn about cryptocurrencies and NFTs, there are now schools for that?

For instance, Binance, the colossal crypto exchange, has started one of such schools. Also, Crypto dot com has a school; Andressen Horowitz, that legendary American venture capital firm, has a school, too. Coinbase has one and Coursera, the world’s leading alternative university, has started its own.

But try to remember the first time you used the internet, the first time you used email and the social networks. Perhaps that was in, let’s say, 1995. At that time, which schools did you have to go to learn the workings of the World Wide Web? None? Exactly. Why’s that? It’s because, the way the Web worked, anybody could figure it out. It’s like you were born with the skills to do it.

But now, let’s come back to crypto.
Its experts have said it’s part of the decentralised Web. The decentralised Web would change the world because a decentralised Web is the next version of the internet — Web 3.0, they say. but if it’s indeed the upgrade to the current version of the internet, why is it so difficult to understand it, so much so that we now need universities to teach us what it’s about? Why is crypto so… cryptic?

According to the foremost price-tracking site for cryptocurrency, CoinMarketBase, (which, by the way, is also owned by Binance), “There are always new curveballs to navigate, which means the possibilities for blockchain technology can feel endless — sort of like the early days of the internet, when the web was like a wild west full of brazen potential.”

Excuse me, what? “Sort of like the early days of the internet… wild west full of brazen potential?” No, it shouldn’t be like that. Why? Because this is version 3 of the internet, isn’t it? The decentralised internet, which allows common folk, ordinary people, to have more control of their online experiences.

Instead of having to live according to the caprices of GAFA — Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon— the richest (and therefore the most powerful tech companies) centralised platforms, you could exist outside their control on a version of the internet where you have some control over platforms. No more personal data gathering at your detriment. No more hijacking of small business ideas by these centralised platforms.

In one of the expository articles posted on A16Z, Andressen Horowitz’s learning portal, Chris Dixon, one of the company’s partners, explains that the new decentralised network will eventually trounce the current internet when developers and entrepreneurs build more “compelling products and services” than GAFA and others like them in today’s reality.

He says, “Cryptonetworks have a significantly more attractive value proposition to developers and entrepreneurs. If [the cryptonetworks] can win their hearts and minds, they can mobilise far more resources than GAFA, and rapidly outpace their product development.”

Question: Doesn’t this suggest that, given the specialised knowledge and financial resources needed to build these ‘winning’ products, our much-touted decentralised internet will be cornered by a few powerful entrepreneurs and developers? Just like Web 2.0? Okay, this is the part where you insert the thinking emoji.

So, again, what are NFTs and Cryptocurrencies?
Cryptocurrencies are tokens which, theoretically, can be traced from the moment they are created. Their movement is recorded in a secure, open ledger called the blockchain.

Now, permit me to define NFTs like a fellow human who’s on the other side of the tech machinery. NFTs are a way to give a face to cryptocurrency. If you were confused whether crypto was real money or just some computer code that people were trading among themselves, you can picture NFT as a way to make that code tangible. With NFT, you can say you own a piece of art instead of some Bitcoin or Ethereum what people keep asking you: Okay, what is it?

The good thing about an NFT is also that, like all the cryptocurrencies, it too can be traced. And it cannot be duplicated. That’s why it’s called a Non Fungible Token. A token that cannot be replicated. It’s always going to be one of a kind.

That’s why people like the American investor, author, and perpetual early adopter, Gary Vaynerchuk, are now minting their own NFTs as tickets to live events.

In Mr Vaynerchuk’s case, if you have one of the tickets, it’s for every year the event holds, and the more valuable the event becomes, the more your ticket becomes. So, a time may come when you’ll be able to sell your ticket at a higher price or sell a share of it to other ‘investors’.

That’s it about NFTs: please, don’t overthink it.

That said, what’s a person to do right now?
If these are the early days of a decentralised internet, why is everyone trying to make it sound like if you don’t buy a commoditised crypto coin today, you’ll be utterly poor in the next two years? Why the frantic scurry? Some critics have said crypto trade is a giant pyramid scheme, propped up by billionaires and influencers.

But, to be honest, we can’t say for sure. Just like the old gold prospectors made out like bandits in the American Wild West, may early players have built billion-dollar empires on the back of crypto. And many small players have gone home empty handed, more broke than when they ventured in.

If (or when) the decentralised internet finally replaces Web 2.o, it will be a whole new world and opportunities will still abound, just like they still abound 51 years after the first email was sent. As they actually say in crypto world, it’s never too late to be early.

In the meantime, if they must deliver on their huge capital investments, the crypto exchanges operating in Nigeria — Quidax, Binance, Coinbase, Luno — may need to consider demonstrating the real, immediate, life-improving benefits of their services to more Nigerians.

As you know, the majority of Nigerians either live on less than $1.50 a day or are just a tiny economic shock away from crushing poverty, which means things are a tight for a huge portion of the people.

Besides, right now, the argot of crypto is rather too elevated for many to be able to figure out where the risks are. So, if crypto must go mainstream, let’s build a wider door for people, at least.