2021 was undoubtedly the year of the non-fungible token and digital asset.
Backed by blockchain, both NFTs and other digital assets hit the news when Mike Winkelmann, known as Beeple, sold his digital artwork for $69m. That put NFTs in the news, and since then the industry has snowballed. By December, PAK’s collection known as The Merge earned $91.8m, the single-largest figure ever paid for an artwork by a living artist.
They are examples of NFTs, whereas the market for digital assets is also strong. It is important to remember not all digital assets are NFTs. An NFT is a digital item backed by the blockchain and owned by an individual. Other digital assets, such as fan tokens, offer the owner a tangible benefit. Both can be bought and sold, but fan tokens are blockchain-backed assets which allow people to own a portion of digital influence. They rise and fall in value in the same way as blockchain, whereas the NFT only has intrinsic value to the buyer rather than in the same way as a currency. Also, digital assets tend to exist in large numbers, in the same way as a one-dollar bill does, whereas an NFT will usually be a one-off and therefore have an individual value, as a painting would in real life.
If you wish to invest in either digital assets or NFTs, there are several avenues you can take, and as a dedicated review site, we’ve decided to take you through some of the platforms that allow you to get involved with this digital phenomenon.
OpenSea
OpenSea is to digital assets what eBay is to online auction sites, the forebearer and perhaps even dated by today’s standards. It launched in 2017, long before digital assets penetrated pop culture, and it’s still one of the largest trading platforms in the genre.
It hosts many popular NFTs, from celebrity releases to music, art and photography. Its core currencies are Ethereum, Solana, and USDC.
Rarible
Rarible is an interesting hybrid marketplace that allows users to trade in art, video game assets, and NFTs. Its core cryptocurrencies are Ethereum, Flow and Tezos, and it recently announced a partnership with Adobe, which makes it easier to verify and protect the metadata for digital content.
Interestingly, the company also adopts a fan token inspired ownership model. It created its own token, RARI, and holders of that token get to direct company policy.
Socios
Socios deal in their fan tokens, and whilst they mainly cover European soccer teams they are expanding into the North American market. Using the Chiliz cryptocurrency, a fan token buys the owner a degree of digital influence in their team; they get to vote on club matters such as what message is on the captain’s armband.
The tokens are branded on-screen in club colors, and the value rises and falls in line with both Chiliz and events at the club. This was demonstrated when Paris St Germain saw an uplift in their fan token value following the capture of Lionel Messi.
Binance
Binance is a cryptocurrency exchange which added an NFT marketplace in 2021, making it an important trading platform. Crypto alone is a digital asset which can rise and fall for investors in the same way as Forex. Binance is a serious player in the marketplace and runs its own blockchain.
You can dabble in NFTs, artwork, gaming items and other such collectibles, and as one of the biggest outlets, fees tend to be lower than with other platforms.