NFT?
So you have been hearing about this strange new thing called NFT, but don’t really know what to make of it? Then you are in the right place. We will give you some first introduction and explain why it is so hot right now.
First off, what are NFTs ?
NFT plainly stands for ‘Non-Fungible Token’. Non-fungible means that something cannot be replaced, hence being unique or “one of a kind”. However, the uniqueness of the token isn’t the only thing that makes it exciting. Regardless of what it stands for, an NFT is still a token, and thus it is part of the blockchain. This holds meaning because it tells us that each and every NFT has its own address and publicly traceable transaction history. It’s a nuanced chain of custody verifying ownership and authenticity of the “item”. NFTs paint with broad strokes, finding applications in the realms of gaming, sports, the arts, and metaverses. Their diversity means you might see NFTs in the form of anything from baseball cards, to intricate paintings, to Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Here we truly are only limited by the scope of our imaginations.
But why is it hot?
To start with, the new involvement from celebrities and artists like Mark Cuban, the Wu Tang Clan, Elon Musk, and many others is partially responsible for this explosion of interest. Each of these celebrities sells pieces for millions of dollars as their devoted followers watch the possibilities of this new market unfold with rabid intensity. But even this is only a single facet of these hidden gems.
NFTs suffer from very few limitations which opens them up to an unparalleled world of free artistic expression. Nearly any type of presentable art can be translated into this format, from videos, to paintings, to audio clips, to simply a photograph of your beloved cat. This could very well be the new frontier for the arts and collectors space.
Digital art has gone far since its initial debut in the 1980’s, but it is a flawed platform which does little to protect creators from scammers seeking to copy or redistribute their work. The ease of unauthorized distribution lessened the inherent value of the work shared through this medium. How can worth or cost be accurately assigned to something which could be distributed publicly at the click of a mouse? NFTs solve this problem by mimicking tried and true methods in real life; art galleries and auctions. This isn’t just theory, it’s being put to practice as we speak. Even auction houses such as Christies have added NFTs to their inventory, a decision which further displays how quickly this format is becoming widely accepted. Using the blockchain to curate digital work allows this incredible art to accumulate value as priceless paintings do, giving these artists the credit and attention they rightfully deserve in the process.
$SHIB and NFTs
It’s no secret that $SHIB has attracted some artists, either organically or by official campaigns. So it is no unexpected to see these early examples. In this article, we are going to explore a few initiatives related to this new trend, and theorize about what comes next for NFTs and SHIB.
First approaches.
The first NFT related initiatives were started by Shytoshi Kusama, It is worth to mention that Shytoshi no less than the product manager for $SHIB. So it made sense that his NFT initiatives have lots to do with $SHIB.
It all started with a publication of art that was “imbued” with $SHIB. This was a way to increase the appeal to own an NFT. The piece of art was not just a “jpeg” (like the New York Times called NFTs recently – can you imagine someone calling classic paintings “colored chemicals over a cheap canvas”?) but also included valuable tokens within it.
This was done by “charging” the NFT with $SHIB tokens. 5 Billion $SHIB each one.
Now, it is important to note that this was not an “official” initiative, but a personal one. But , what good is a party if you are alone? It is always better to share the love. Just few days later, the first official initiative was launched. At the same time, the initial exhibit was being part of online events.
At that moment, $SHIB was just past it’s all-time-high and the market had huge volatility. All eyes were put in the price evolution, so to some part of the community this might have passed under their radar. Even so, it was recently announced that this incubator already has 75 applications, so the call was definitively heard.
But something important was happening, all this was showing a new aspect of $SHIB, that it could be imbued in NFT art itself. And the community was aware of the possibilities.
The community steps up
It was no surprise then to see an effort starting from a group or artists in the $SHIB community, and @SHIBsNFTs was born, just 4 days after the incubator was announced . But with a twist. They added burning of $SHIB tokens to the sale of each of the NFT pieces.
A number of artists put together an initial collection, and a plan to publish a total of 500 unique pieces.
The mechanism of how the collected money will be spent can be found on this this article.
Is this effort real? Sales have been made , so this proves that they are real. But are the claims about the fees distribution and burning legit? Are they actually burning tokens as they promise? To address these legitimate questions, the team have announced that this will be public information, and they plan to make this easily accessible through a website.
The artists also are very aware that the community is what powers $SHIB, so the team will be inviting other creators to be part of this, with 35 slots (of the total of 500) available to community submissions.
What’s next for SHIBs and NFTs?
The cat is out the bag. The time is perfect for this kind of experimentation, started by innovators and expanded at a speed that can only be seen on dynamic communities as the one we have at $SHIB.
Yes, there are many artists around the new NFTs craze, but the ones that can give more actual value to the millions and billions on the $SHIB holders, are here in the community, present and acting.
And not only that, it is kind of clear that the explosion of NFT will continue. Seeing this aspect emerging in $SHIB is something that makes us wish for some NFT love related on ShibaSwap’s release. Do we know if the team will release NFT features as part of the swap? We doubt that we will get any confirmation if we asked: see our previous article on how the team wants to be protected from past bad experiences, and keep official information very concise.
We won’t have to wait too much until ShibaSwap is shown to the community, and then we will know if this trend is here to stay as part of the ecosystem itself, or in turn, is going to keep evolving on its own path.
Any independent efforts would no doubt have a better chance to integrate once ShibaSwap becomes a reality. And by then, we hope to see the community to act again and create who knows what else, to make use of the $SHIB planned ecosystem in ways that surprise the market.
Hungry for more?
If you would like to know more, check out the art, or just know how to participate, use these links here:
$SHIB INFORMER 
Amazing! I really hope this turns into a beautiful journey.
-Early Shib Investor 🙂
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