In March 2021, Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey sold the first tweet ever posted for $2.9 million. The message “Setting up my Twttr account” (Just setting up my twttrin English), which Dorsey himself wrote in 2006, was acquired by businessman Sina Estavi.
This sale was possible thanks to the appearance of a new digital format: the NFT, an acronym for the expression non-fungible tokenwhich allows any virtual object (an image, a photo, an animation or video) to be associated with a certificate of authenticity that makes it a unique piece. This certificate is based on technology blockchain and it is inviolable, it cannot be duplicated.
This eco-NFT platform seeks to support Ecuadorian artists to enter the digital market
In that same year, Christie’s auction house sold a digital piece based on NFT for more than 69 million dollars. the play is Everydays: The First 5000 Days (‘Every day: the first 5,000 days’, in Spanish), a collage of 5,000 images compiled in thirteen years by an artist. Another case is that of the collection of a thousand selfies of a young Indonesian that was sold for more than a million dollars. All these transactions were not paid in dollars, but in ethersthe second most popular cryptocurrency in the world behind bitcoin.
Experts claim that NFTs open a new door for business. Artists or entrepreneurs have earned significant amounts of money through these “collectibles.” But what are they really? In the legal system there are expendable goods and non-expendable goods. Fungible goods are those that can be exchanged, having a value based on their number, size or weight. And non-expendable goods are those that are not substitutable.
An example of fungible goods is money. If you have a $10 bill, this is a consumable item, as it can be easily exchanged for another $10 bill, does not lose value, and is exactly the same. Also, this ticket is consumed when you use it.
Meanwhile, a non-expendable good would be a work of art. A tile is not consumed when used and cannot be replaced by another tile. One work of art is not equivalent to another and therefore cannot be interchanged.
“Its most intimate relationship with cryptocurrencies is based on the fact that they are developed on the same technology as crypto. For example, the standards used to create NFTs work and are operated on the same network as the Ethereum cryptocurrency. In addition, the most common is that these NFTs, since they are digital and are stored in the same address (addresses) than cryptocurrencies, are paid with cryptocurrencies. Both NFTs and cryptocurrencies are giving rise to new economic models”, says Salvador Casquero, professor of the title University Expert in Development of Blockchain Applications at the International University of La Rioja (UNIR).
These new economic models are programmable, collaborative and optimized, which makes the prices of NFTs reach millions of dollars. Although the exponential increase in demand and speculation is also essential for the price.
For Casquero, this type of token opens up possibilities that have not yet been explored: “I will give an example: imagine an NFT that gives access, membership, to an exclusive club. Holders of these NFTs have priority access to the club, without waiting in line; They always have a table available to reserve and enjoy a 10% discount on all your consumption. The club can add value to the NFT, benefits to its holders, who will be willing to buy the NFT. Some of this is already done with NFTs from Bored Ape Yacht”.
Something that NFTs also share with cryptocurrencies is volatilityindicates Gabriel García, a computer expert. There are many NFTs, according to the expert, that do not make any sense and whose value is determined exclusively by the desire of the people to possess it and by the hype (expectation, emotion or exaggeration) that has been created.
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And this is confirmed by a study published last March by Bloomberg, which states that NFT sales have fallen by 67% on OpenSea, the main site for buying and selling these assets.
8,400 collections containing a total of 19.3 million NFTs were analyzed. The study concludes that one in three NFTs is currently worthless. On the other hand, another third is worth less than the original cost, generating losses for the issuers of these assets.
Another problem that the NFTs did not see in their creation is the enormous speculation. According to the data company blockchain Chainalysis, many people buy their own tokens to raise their price in a practice known as washing trashing. Such NFTs often turn out to be scams as they have no real value and are only looking for potential investors to quickly sell the asset at a high price, similar to a pyramid scheme.
“The first thing to do is to know which NFT I want to buy, what is the point of it, understand the buying process and look at the marketplaces where they are sold comparing prices and, above all, seeing the guarantees offered by the marketplace. Another important detail is to know the real interest in the NFT that you want to acquire, to see what exchange medium is used, where the acquired NFT is kept and the security that the NFT has. wallet where you stay and what sales market exists in case, at any given time, you want to resell the NFT”, recommends Casquero.
Buying and selling NFTs in Ecuador
Although this market is still very new in the country, there are already spaces and platforms that allow buying and selling NFT created by local artists. In November 2021, the International University of Ecuador (UIDE) developed the first NFTs Exhibition digital art gallery valued at approximately 160 million dollars.
This space featured digital works by Ecuadorian and foreign artists. The exhibition period was one month and later the digital works were presented on the UIDEPlay platform, to allow virtual tours.
Meanwhile, the eco-NFT platform, developed by Capitalika, allows you to sell and buy this type of non-fungible assets, but they are 99% more efficient than normal NFTs, since they generate only 1% of contamination (in the last months of 2021 eight times more energy was used to carry out transactions per blockchain).
In this space, Ecuadorian artists can exhibit their works at no cost and in this way carry out purchase, sale and auction business with the proper certificates of legitimacy.
Until last March, the platform had registered in its marketplace works by 18 Ecuadorian artists in various types of categories; These include digital art, traditional art, photography, sports and pets. Among the most recognized artists in the medium is Ramiro Albán. The artworks are valued at between $50 and $4,500, and include the physical artwork and augmented reality. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
