What You Can Do with an NFT After Buying It
NFTs, not to be confused with wallets, are all the rage in digital these days, and they’re revolutionizing our ideas around ownership and value. But once you’ve bought your NFT, you might wonder: What now? Whether you own a digital collectible, or an art piece, or an NFT with real world utility, we think there are exciting things in your future. This guide will give you strategies for getting the most out of your NFT and how to effectively use it.
An Overview of NFTs
Before we go down this rabbit hole, let’s remind ourselves what an NFT is. An NFT is a one-of-a-kind item of digital art, held on a blockchain, which verifies its authenticity and ownership. While you can trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum one for one, NFTs can’t be traded on a one-to-one basis because each is unique. NFTs can depict digital artwork, music, video clips, virtual real estate, collectibles and more.
But the real difference is how versatile NFTs are. Once you buy one, you can do quite a bit beyond simply holding it in your digital wallet.
Display Your NFT Collection
NFTs have been popularized in part as a type of digital collectible — people purchase the NFTs of an artwork or a design. Once you have purchased your NFT, you can flaunt it on NFT markets such as OpenSea, Rarible or Foundation. Many of these platforms offer the capacity for collectors to create their own personal galleries, allowing them to easily display their acquisitions to the broader NFT community.
Use in the Metaverse
If you are active in virtual worlds like Decentraland or Cryptovoxels, you can hang your NFTs in your own private gallery or piece of digital real estate. The metaverse introduces an entirely new dimension of interaction that enables you to showcase and share your collection in 3D space for others to experience.
Showcase on Social Media
Have a rare or valuable NFT? Flaunt it! On platforms like Twitter and Instagram, users can now integrate their NFTs into verified digital profiles, and flaunt them before their followers, as a way to boost their social media status up a notch. (Dandelion, another example of a service that came to life recently, was acquired by the Twitter Blue subscription in part because they have been working on adding an NFT-based Profile Picture Verification service!).
Flip for a Profit
NFTs can be an investment. Just as with valuable trading cards, some collectors buy NFTs with hopes of selling them at a higher price, particularly if demand for that project or creator increases.
Participate in Auctions
Some platforms let you resell your NFT via auction. The higher the potential collectors who will pay — if you walk out of bedrock with the same NFT you had before, that’s where you’ll find your lack of shoes, baby!
Make Money While You Sleep with Royalties
If you happen to own a creative NFT, you could be sitting on a recurring revenue source. The makers of some NFTs have put “smart contract” features on the blockchain that give them a percentage of the money when their NFTs are resold. Collectors who own and trade the NFT might get a cut of the royalties, depending on the deal. This feature introduces a layer of financial opportunity that sets NFTs apart from traditional art or collectibles.
Membership Perks
And some NFTs are more than just collectibles; they’re also key to exclusive memberships, events and experiences. For instance, if you own an NFT from a specific collection, you might receive access to private Discord groups, premium content or real-world meetups.
Physical Events
Many creators and brands are tying their NFTs to exclusive experiences, like concerts, sports games or art shows. For example, possessing a certain NFT might be bundled with VIP tickets to a virtual or I.R.L. event. The Bored Ape Yacht Club is one such high-profile group to which NFT holders get access to its pop-up events and private parties.
Games and Digital Worlds
Play-to-Earn Games
Gaming NFTs (now, play tokens) elevate digital ownership to an entirely new level. Once you own an NFT that corresponds to a game, you might be able to make use of it in the game as a character, weapon or item. NFTs are already being implemented in many blockchain games, providing users with the opportunity to win in-game currencies or rewards that can be cashed out. Axie Infinity and The Sandbox are among the popular titles at the forefront of the play-to-earn trend.
Item Commerce
Players can often trade or sell their NFT items in many games, making your gaming habit also a bit of an income earner. In other words, you might sell for profit, within the game’s ecosystem, a rare sword or plot of virtual land that you’d bought as an NFT.
Stake Your NFT for Rewards
On some NFT platforms, owners can stake their tokens and receive rewards. When you stake your NFT, you usually lock up the NFT on another platform, and you’ll receive cryptocurrency or other rewards, such as more NFTs. This practice is popular with blockchain enthusiasts for putting unused assets to work.
Create New Works of Art
Your NFT can also be a one-of-a-kind building block for new creative projects. For example, some NFTs include commercial usage rights, so you can use the asset in creative and entrepreneurial projects, or to decorate your profile picture or social media posts. Musicians, digital artists and designers are working with NFT owners to create derivative art, music videos or commercials.
Support a Cause
Creating a social impact with your NFT can really make a difference. Giving an NFT as a donation to a charity fundraiser or a charity that accepts digital currency and blockchain-based assets doesn’t just help them raise funds, it increases your social responsibility.
Send a Memorable Gift
What about giving an NFT as a gift? From limited-edition digital fan art, to making a collectible out of a loved project, or an access pass to an exclusive event, an NFT gift can give your giftee something they can truly cherish.
Hold for Long-Term Value
One of the best things you can do with an NFT is sometimes … nothing! As with regular investments, the hold strategy also might work well for your NFT as a longer-term hold strategy. NFTs created by established artists, famous collections or groundbreaking projects usually increase in value over time, as demand increases.
Unlocking New Opportunities through NFTs
NFT ownership unlocks a world of opportunities ranging from personal enjoyment and community involvement to monetary rewards and creative sharing. NFTs are used for more than just art and collectibles. Whether you’re displaying your collection, unlocking its value or exercising it on new experiences, NFTs provide a rich way to engage between the digital and physical worlds.
Ready to open yourself up to the limitless possibilities of NFTs? Begin your NFT journey and find out whether non-fungible tokens are the most exciting innovation of our times.
