Demand for NFTs is increasing at an incredible pace. Since the $69 million record sale of Beeple’s “The First 5000 days” in 2021, the popularity of non-fungible tokens has only continued to grow. Rapidly, businesses and consumers alike are making their way into blockchain-based marketplaces like OpenSea and Rarible to embrace their part of the NFT landscape.
For companies and creators, the NFT space could represent a powerful new way to connect with customers, build brand loyalty, and unlock opportunities for sales. However, before you can leverage the advantages this space has to offer, you first need to decide what kind of NFT technology vendors you’re going to be working with.
Here are some important points you’ll need to consider when selecting your must-have NFT partners for 2022 and the years ahead.
Step 1: Understand NFTs and their Design Requirements
First, if you’re going to get involved in the NFT space, you need to understand what Non-Fungible Tokens are, and what they can do. NFTs aren’t just graphics people spend millions of dollars to own, they’re blockchain-based records signifying the ownership of various assets. With NFTs, creators can sell access to content, and people can authenticate their ownership of various products or services.
If you’re going to be using NFTs as part of your business strategy, you’ll need to ask yourself how you’re going to be leveraging these tokens, and what you’ll be using them for. Everything from video game assets to digital tickets to events can be transformed into NFTs if you have the right artist, developer, and access to the blockchain.
To determine what kind of vendors you’ll need to work with from a design perspective, you’ll need to ask yourself what the components of your NFTs are going to be. Are you going to be trading in immersive virtual reality assets for customers or using smart contracts to give your customers access to specific services and tools?
Do you need to consider things like the bonus practicalities of your NFTs, and what they stand for when connected to certain customers? For instance, clients with certain NFTs in your community might be able to use their tokens to acquire faster service from your customer response team or get front-row tickets to your next event.
Make sure you have the right partners on-hand to help you create and design your NFTs not just from a visual perspective, but from an administrative viewpoint too.
Step 2: Discover the Blockchains
Designers and XR experts aren’t the only people you’ll need to work with when looking into the NFT marketplace. You’ll also have to think about the blockchains you’re going to be building your NFTs on. The blockchain is the fundamental technology behind all NFT creation, with a market value set to reach around $1,431.54 billion by 2030.
However, there isn’t just one form of blockchain for companies investing in NFTs to consider. Ethereum is currently the most popular and well-known blockchain for trading in NFTs, but new solutions are appearing all the time, particularly as the fees associated with ETH continue to increase.
There’s no one-size-fits-all for choosing the ideal blockchain for your NFT technology. As new options continue to emerge, including Solana and Tezos, the best thing you can do is research each of your options. Some of the points you’ll need to consider include:
- Strong smart contracts: Secure and bug-free code in smart contracts is crucial in contributing to the security and transparency the blockchain supplies. Smart contracts in a blockchain should be subject to consistent testing and demonstrate high resilience.
- Forking: NFTs are valuable because of their uniqueness and rarity. Hard forks in the blockchain which change its structure can threaten the value of NFTs. With this in mind, look for potential of forking when choosing your NFT vendor.
- Security: Though blockchains are inherently designed with security in mind, they can also be vulnerable to a range of attack vectors. It’s important to research the potential threats facing any potential blockchain environments you might be considering getting involved with.
Step 3: Explore Marketplaces and Platforms
Finally, once you’ve considered your individual designers and looked at the potential blockchains you can build your NFTs on, the next step is exploring NFT platforms and marketplaces. A platform is an environment which allows you to mint your NFTs, creating custom contracts and native smart contract building tools.
Alternatively, a marketplace is an environment where people can buy and sell NFTs. While not every business creating NFTs will want to list their assets on a marketplace, you may want to open new avenues for potential earning by exploring this option. Marketplaces can also include tools which allow people to mint NFTs directly within the marketplace and put it up for sale in the same space.
While the largest and best-known marketplace in the NFT environment today is OpenSea, offering peer-to-peer trading for digital collectibles, this won’t necessarily be the only vendor worth getting involved with. You can also look into a wide range of alternatives like Rarible, Cargo, Minable, and Mintable.
Knowing which platforms and marketplaces you’re likely to be working with in the creation of your NFTs will give you a good insight into what kind of vendors and developers you should be working with too. Any freelancers or experts responsible for building your NFTs will need to be familiar with your chosen marketplaces and platforms.
Working with NFT Creation Companies
In some cases, you may be able to work with companies who can create mint and implement NFTs on the behalf of your brand. If you decide to take advantage of this strategy, you’ll still need to consider things like what kind of NFTs you want to create, which platforms you might want to use, and what sort of blockchains you feel most comfortable with. However, it’s also worth talking directly with the company you’re thinking of interacting with, to learn more about the service they can provide.
