TLDR: Shining a light on the importance of NFTs, outside of the hype and speculation. Learn what makes the muti bazaar NFTs special ♡
NFTs have been around for a while and by now pretty much everyone has an opinion on them. But in between the noise of scams, investments, and monkey profile pictures, it sometimes is difficult to understand their real value and why someone new to this world would want to actually spend time to understand the whole construct.
Let’s Start With The Basics.
“NFT” stands for “ non-fungible token”. This means a unique digital asset on the blockchain, which cannot be replaced. The asset is defined by code and can represent an image, an audio file, a video, or even a certificate or ticket. The uniqueness is created through the mentioned code for each digital asset and is also what provides the value. As it runs on the blockchain, clear ownership can always be determined.
So, say you lend your original Mona Lisa painting to someone. After a while, you would want to receive the exact same painting back, not a copy of it, and neither a second new painting from Leonardo da Vinci. This would be your non-fungible token. The painting is valuable because it is unique, and because the art market obviously pushed the value up over time.
The counterparts are fungible tokens. If you lend a 10€ bill, you want to receive a return of 10€. It does not matter though if it is the same bill, a different one, or 10€ in coins. The tokens are interchangeable and what matters is the overall value.
Simply put, an NFT is basically nothing else than a receipt written in code. Just that, compared with a receipt from your weekly supermarket purchase, it includes more details, such as the characteristics of the item, the current owner, the creator, the royalties, and even additional info if desired.
So What’s The Novelty?
Especially in the music and art world, creators are often not sufficiently rewarded for their work. They might create a song or painting, which will be sold to an art dealer or label for a very low price. Simply because the artist is not known yet or because they are not established enough in the scene.
If 2 years later this work gains popularity though, the ones who will make the win are the art dealers or music labels. The artist will most likely not see a dime because they have lost ownership of their work. Even though they are the reason for the existence of the now-popular piece.
If a piece of art is minted as an NFT though, the creator adds their royalties, so that whenever the piece will be sold, they will receive the according percentage. This counts for every future sale until the blockchain dies. And the artist does not need to move a finger, the amount is directly sent to their wallet.
Imagine Van Gogh would have been able to use NFTs. He or at least his descendants would now have the chance to actually profit from his work, rather than art dealers. Because whenever a piece of Van Gogh would be sold, the royalties were sent to his wallet.
And then there is the issue of copycats & plagiarism. Songs are stolen, paintings are copied, and it becomes more and more difficult to protect the original art.
A common argument from NFT opponents is that, as NFTs are digital assets, everyone can take a screenshot and simply mint it with their own wallet.
And yes, of course, they can. There is no need to sugarcoat this fact. But this is no different to the physical world, where plagiarism is possible and actively being put into practice.
The difference with NFTs is that thanks to the code on the blockchain, the original creator has all the data which proves that their artwork is the original one. The code contains the details and date of the creation as well as the original owner and creator.
Noone, that is seriously believing in the concept of NFTs will buy a copied artwork. Because it takes away the value and credibility.
Obviously, as this is all very new, the jurisdiction needs to catch up and create a legal framework that covers these topics in depth.
But given that NFTs are already used by Nike and Instagram as well as being tested for university certificates, it seems that this is a technology to stay.
It’s Getting Physical With The muti Bazaar!
NFTs are digital assets, but they can be connected to physical items.
Why would you do that, you might ask?
Because it can support artists and collaborators in selling their work with less bureaucracy, it also helps them receive higher prices, and it proves clear ownership. Plus, it prepares them for a possible future and removes the middlemen such as banks for example.
With our muti bazaar, we started to experiment with physical redeemables in May 2021. The concept is simple: the artists create a piece, we sell it in our digital store, bring it to events and deal with the delivery. And when the item is sold, the artist receives the payment and muti a commission, both directly to the respective wallet. All is done automatically through the blockchain, with no extra steps or manual distribution needed.
Once the buyer wants to receive the item, they burn the NFT and receive the physical piece. And our store is full of them. You can get socks, original paintings, t-shirts, and even wooden guitar speakers.
On a side note, this is obviously not the first time that NFTs are used in this way. You can look up the Unisocks for example. Just that most of those have never been redeemed and the project gained more of a speculative character.
What makes our bazaar special is the fact that the NFTs are originals, handmade, and more than just prints. And additionally, we use the commission for muti to support the next generation of emerging artists. A lot of the items are created by stipend artists of ours who enter the web3 space for the first time. Selling their physical art as NFTs helps them to understand what the technology can do and how they can profit from it.
Goodbye excels sheets and end-of-the-month accountancy. Thanks to blockchain technology none of this is necessary. And if multiple artists get together and create a piece, all of them receive their split automatically.
It has made our life a lot easier when it comes to the backend of running the bazaar. And we believe that, if enough education and tangible examples are given, more people will understand the true impact that NFTs can have.
If you got curious and would like to support our artists, then have a look at our bazaar here:
