NFTs have surged in popularity during 2021. Image: Shutterstock
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been around for a few years now, but 2021 was the year they exploded into the public consciousness.
The cryptographically unique tokens represent a title of ownership over digital content such as art, music or videos—but it's the digital art scene that lit a fire under the NFT market, with record-breaking sales such as Beeple's $69 million auction at Christie's grabbing headlines the world over.
Since then, enthusiasts have seized on one NFT craze after another, dropping thousands (and in some cases millions) of dollars on CryptoPunks, Bored Apes and Loot.
But where are people buying these NFTs, you might ask? A thriving virtual high street of NFT marketplaces has sprung up, selling digital art and collectibles at every conceivable price point. Here's a run-through of some of the leading platforms.
OpenSea is the original peer-to-peer NFT marketplace, and far and away the largest. At the time of writing, it has a total trading volume of over $6.5 billion (according to analytics platform DappRadar), offering NFTs of everything from in-game items and collectibles, to artwork, music, GIFs, and more.
Signing up is as easy as connecting your MetaMask wallet, although other wallets including Coinbase Wallet, Bitski, Formatic and more are also supported.
Once you’re connected, buying an NFT is a simple process; you need to browse through the various collections or searching for something that takes your fancy, before putting in an offer and seeing if it’s accepted.
Uploading your own NFT creation is child's play, too. Simply head to the “Create” tab, connect your wallet as a creator and you can upload your NFT, fill out the description, and wait for the millions to roll in.
NFT-powered video game Axie Infinity plays host to the second-largest NFT marketplace, with a total trading volume of more than $2.1 billion on Dappradar. It trades exclusively in Axies: cute, Pokémon-like digital pets which players can buy and trade on the Axie Marketplace.
You can also create new Axies via the game’s built-in breeding mechanics and sell them on the Marketplace. Unlike art NFTs, which are collected for collecting’s sake, Axie Infinity’s NFTs have a purpose: you can use them in-game to battle against monsters and other players, earning tokens that can be put towards breeding new creatures. So lucrative have Axie Infinity's NFTs proven, that some players in the Philippines and Indonesia are making a living through breeding and trading them.
Axie Infinity is one of the most complex NFT services for new users to use, though, and you’ll have to jump through a number of hoops before you can even begin to play the game.
Alongside an Ethereum wallet such as MetaMask, you’ll also need to set up a Ronin wallet, deposit ETH to Ronin, and buy a minimum of three Axies from the Axie market (which will set you back several hundred dollars). That's not ideal for casual passersby, but it's not beyond the capabilities of a seasoned crypto user.