Crypto Collectibles

Follow me on Twitter @ordcryptoguy“An image can be worth a thousand pounds”Since the beginning of time, humans have accumulated items in behavior that contradict rationality. What use does a copper coin that dates back to 2500BC have in today’s society when wealth can be expressed with binary bits? What use does a 500-year-old painting have when a modern-day rendition is both better quality and impervious to the elements? What use does a specific cotton hoodie with a red logo have that another doesn’t? (you know which hoodie I’m referring to) As technology progresses, humans adapt yet parts of us remain the same. What is the compromise? We simply just collect different things.Enter the space of crypto-collectibles…Overview of Crypto CollectiblesCrypto Collectibles in the form of Non-fungible-tokens (NFTs) at a high-level definition are units of data stored on a blockchain that certifies the uniqueness of a digital asset. NFTs can be used to represent digital files such as photos, videos, and audio. NFTs initially gained traction on the Ethereum network due to the system of token creation available via its smart contract capabilities. Mainstream awareness of NFTs would come after the release of CryptoKitties, and gradually by 2021, NFT interest would spike off of the 2021 Crypto Bull Run with many high-profile sales (Beeple, Jack Dorsey’s Tweet, etc.).Beeple’s collage, Everydays: The First 5000 Days, sold at Christie’s for $69 million.The ERC-721 standardIn 2017, the EIP-721 proposal put forth a standard for NFTs on the Ethereum network. ERC-721 refers to the contract standard, which functions to ensure that a contract is distinctive where the pair contract address, uint256 tokenId must be globally unique. Besides this, it includes the standard functionalities such as token transfer, token balance, ownership, and total network supply. “Visuals” of the NFT are essentially just dApps converting the tokenId as…