This video, "Why NFT's are the biggest opportunity of the decade," explains it. Giancarlo was a stock analyst, making his living studying the changes in the gaming world for major stock market investors. But once he dug into the NFT/Web 3.0/DeFi/crypto world several months ago, he sold all his stocks and began to focus on NFT's, crypto, and DeFi (Decentralized Finance). Why? Because he's sees how big this movement is likely to get, and how early in the evolution we still are. So if you want to start learning about NFT's, start here. This 19 minute video is the best I've seen on the long term prospects, it looks at where this crazy new technology is likely to go in the next few years. If you don't know what NFT's are, check out this post, then come back, and watch the video above.
About six weeks ago, I started digging into, and learning about the NFT world, looking for a better way to sell my weird Sharpie art, or perhaps some writing projects. I didn't own any crypto, never had, and didn't know hardly anything about that world. But I read an article about the musician 3lau, months ago, using something called NFT's, as a new way to sell his music. The article said artists were also using NFT's. So I finally sat down to learn what these NFT things are, and figure out if they could be an outlet for my creative work, that could help me earn me a better living.
It's 2021, the second crazy year of the Tumultuous 2020's, and the whole world seems to have taken LSD and gone nuts, while we all try to keep up. As a long time blogger now, 12+ years worth, it seems crazy to have to say this, but lots of people still don't seem to realize that you don't learn cutting edge, emerging technologies, by taking a course, going to college, or reading a book. Things are moving too fast for that. I'm working in one of the L.A. libraries right now, and I just checked their database. There's not one book on NFT's. Not one, not even an ebook. That's how new and fast moving this world is.
So to learn about NFT's, I went to where most of us learn a ton of everyday tech info, the "University of YouTube." I have also read and skimmed 40 or 50 or more news articles, led to them by "Google State" search results. These are the "colleges" for new, info age trends and technologies. The good news in today's world is that there are dozens of videos talking about NFT's out there, many by the people actually making NFT's, and by the big bucks trading crowd, who have been making tens of thousands of dollars, and even millions, flipping NFT's in late 2020 and 2021. When you go to YouTube to learn new technology, especially if there's money being made, there's a ton of hype videos to wade through. There are a lot of scammers, as well. The Hype machine is pumping like the dance music at a rave. It's easy to get caught up in all the B.S. that's flying around.
So this list of videos is my suggested playlist to begin your own deep dive into learning about the NFT world. There are people making tons of money in NFT's. There are also people (many of the same ones) losing tons of money on NFT's. This blog post is not financial advice (see my disclaimer, linked above), and is here for education and entertainment purposes only. NFT's are one of the riskiest investment opportunities there is, and you should never play with money you can't afford to lose. That said, there is something legitimate to this technology, and there are so many potential uses for it, that even the seasoned experts (that have been around 1-3 years), don't know where the NFT world is going. It's constantly evolving. That's enough preamble, let's get to the rest of the playlist.
NFT's are fueling boom in digital art- Here's how they work (6 minutes- Wall Street Journal- March 11, 2021)
This Wall Street Journal video is a good, solid, quick look at what NFT's are, and how they work. It came out right at the top of the first NFT art hype cycle, March, 2021.
The Beeple Christie's Auction reaction video (under 2 minutes)
The first big wave of NFT hype from outside the crypto art world started in mid to late 2020, and crested with Beeple's $69 million sale of "The First 5,000 Days" NFT, at Christie's. His real name is Mike Winkleman, and for 13 1/2 years he drew a piece of digital art, every single day, and posted it, for people to check it out. The NFT sold at the auction was a compilation of all those pieces. So Beeple had more than a decade of work into that big sale.
That happened on March 11th, 2021. This was the "auction hammer heard round the world" in the mainstream art world, for NFT's. While artists continually say they don't care about the money, they really do. OK, a huge number of artists would do some work with no money involved, but money pays the bills, we all need it, and this crazy sale got everyone's attention. Beeple's reaction is great, as that sale, of a work that doesn't exist in the physical world, became the 3rd highest price paid for art, by a living artist, in history. Artists have flooded the NFT marketplaces with work since. And yes, I'm working on my own art project to turn into NFT's, as I write this. NFT's give all working artists new options, and it's not just about one unicorn moment sale.
"Take Advantage of the NFT wave the right way- Coinbase interview with Gary Vaynerchuk" (12/17/2021)
Gary Vaynerchuk cut his entrepreneurial teeth selling sports cards and collectibles as a kid. Then he took his parents' liquor store from $3 million in sales to $60 million, in 5 years, using Google Adwords and a YouTube channel. Then he started VaynerMedia, a digital (marketing) agency, and started other offshoots into sports. That business ballooned to over $100 million in revenue in less than a decade. Once he got into NFT's in early 2021, he soon did a 10,000 token drop of VeeFriends, using NFT's to build his following into tighter community. In this recent, 20 minute video, he explains why he went all in on NFT's in 2021.
CryptoPunks history explained... How these NFT's went from practically free to worth millions (8 minutes, April 16, 2021)
In 2017, Larva Labs created a drop of 10,000 digitally generated, unique characters, called CryptoPunks, on the Bitcoin blockchain. People who knew about them could claim one, for about 11 cents in service fees. The Punks themselves were free. As I write this (12/30/2021), the lowest priced CryptoPunk will run you about $210,000, and the highest price paid for one is $11.75 million. And that is for what is basically a jpeg of a 24 pixel, little, weird face. This video explains the story of CryptoPunks, now considered the O.G. NFT's, and the biggest status symbols in NFT the world.
The Good, The Bad, and the NFT (aka "The Greatest NFT Film ever made") (1 hour 23 minutes, March 11, 2021)
Make some popcorn for this one, this is a full length documentary, and well worth watching. And yes, it was uploaded on "Beeple Day." This movie, and the Giancarlo video at the top of this post, go into the greatest depth at looking into this whole NFT phenomena. It's a movie, and it was made in the midst of the Great NFT Art Wave of early 2021, just before the Great Gas Wars began. The Defiant crew have made several great videos, and tons of weekly videos, about all aspects of crypto, DeFi, blockchain, NFT's, and the whole related space. They are one of the best sources to check out regularly. Watching this documentary will leap frog you ahead of those new posers who just got into NFT's 20 minutes ago. I'm being a bit facetious, but that's pretty much how fast this NFT world moves. Blink and you'll miss something. So make some popcorn, and watch this film.
Crypto Art Revolution - The NFT Documentary (55 minutes, Sept. 10, 2021)
This is another great documentary about NFT's, this one focusing on the art side of the NFT landscape. It's clean, really well produced, and another good video to round out your basic understanding of this fast changing world, and how it's evolved with art.
The Rise and the Rise of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (44 minutes, June 25, 2021, by The Defiant)
After the Beeple Christie's sale, and the CryptoPunks beginning to sell for hundreds of thousands, and millions of dollars, many teams went to work to do "drops" of NFT's, often at or near the 10,000 token precedent that the Punks set. There have been dozens of different token drops in 2021, but one odd group, the Bored Ape Yacht Club, rose above them all as the standout NFT drop of 2021. This documentary tells their story, trying to find the answer of what set the Apes apart from all the rest.
ARE NFT's DEAD!? Future of Ethereum (11 minutes, June 21, 2021, Dapp University)
Dapp University is another great YouTube channel for info on all things blockchain. He goes back, much further in the crypto history than the other video producers on this list, which is what I was looking for for this final video on this post. The other aspect I wanted to touch on was the future of Ethereum.
The whole blockchain technology began with Bitcoin, and most people have some sense of that. But Ethereum, the next major blockchain, brought "smart contracts" into the picture, which give the blockchain all kinds of new applications. Contracts of all types, tied and time stamped, into the blockchain, are possible with Ethereum, and the blockchains built since. Most NFT's, so far, are tied into the Ethereum blockchain. But there are transaction fees, called "gas fees," that go to the Eth miners, whose computers actually verify each transaction into the blockchain. These fees have become larger and larger, from a few dollars, to possibly hundreds, when the system is super busy, on top of the price paid for NFT's. This is a major issue with minting NFT's on Ethereum, and a selling point for more recent blockchains, using different protocols, with much lower gas fees.
It's important to note that this video was recorded on June 21, 2021, after the initial "NFT art" bubble popped, and when both interest in NFT's, and in Ethereum itself, dropped significantly. Even then, when 1 Eth equaled about $1885, and the hype had fallen, he was still very bullish on Ethereum itself. That's important to note.
Since then, NFT mania went into a 2nd major (read: drawing people from OUTSIDE into the crypto/NFT world) hype cycle, Ethereum went up to about $4,800 per Eth, and has settled back to about $3,800 as I write this. So after this video, when NFT's looked dismal, they took off again. The Google Trends search for "NFT" just peaked again, much higher, around December 12-18, 2021.
Having seen the hype cycles (about ten year trends) in action sports, like BMX, skateboarding, and snowboarding, over 30 years in my personal experience, I think a similar, bouncing long term uptrend, is where NFT's may be headed. But the boom/bust cycles happen in weeks or months, not years. That's my personal opinion, and time will tell if I'm on the right track there.
But the consensus I've seen is that Ethereum gas fees are too high, and it uses a lot of energy (not nearly as much as all those future electric cars will), but Ethereum seems like it's here to stay. Which other blockchains grow to rival it in the NFT and smart contract space? That's anybody's guess at this point.
So for any of you whose interest has been piqued about NFT's, this list is a great beginning to your own deep dive of learning about all things NFT. It's only a beginning, but it's a solid beginning. We will all see what the future brings, both in the NFT/crypto/blockchain world, and in our crazy, everyday "real" world, that's moving nearly as fast. Good luck in this emerging world, and I hope you find cool projects in your future.
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