A foundation of objkts in the open sea
Off to the market halls! Entry 3 of a crypto poet's guide to the metaverse.
Once upon a time, not very long ago, I wanted to create an NFT. At the time, I did not really know that the term used was minting an NFT. Neither did I understand that creating was actually often more accurate. But that's something for another time.
What I did first, was to look at some of the cool kids I had heard of (some I even sort of knew) and see what they were doing. Sure, like you probably, I had heard of cryptocurrencies and blockchains and tokens and wallets. And sure, I did have some sort of understanding of blockchains. I even had (still have) an opinion about blockchains. I think their potential is underutilised if you must know. But that, too, is something for another time. The cool kids. Let's get back to them.
The Open Sea is calling
What I saw was first of all that they were hanging out on Twitter. I had been on there for quite some time, so that bit was easy. I simply gave my timeline there more attention. Followed some nice accounts and learned about this thing called Open Sea. Some cool kids I knew, actually one, were creating, or minting, or creating, NFTs on Open Sea. That's where I went first. Got a wallet, connected, put some Ether in and minted my first NFT. Easy. Well, no, to be honest, not so easy. But that had to do with gas.
First I figured out that Open Sea was actually a marketplace for NFTs. It's built on the Ethereum blockchain. Maybe next to Bitcoin the only one you've heard of if you only know crypto things from the news. Anyway, one thing that's good to know about Ethereum, especially at the time I minted my first NFT, is that it was a proof-of-work-based blockchain. Every transaction was verified by somebody who did a proof of work activity. That is a costly thing. Also: a thing with a huge environmental impact. To get compensated for doing this costly thing, these people charge a fee. This fee is called gas. Gas at the time I wanted to mint my first NFT, was super expensive. Over 200 euros for one transaction. Depending on when you wanted to have that transaction executed. Prices were dropping at times when there was not too much activity on the blockchain. Namely in that tiny window when both the Americans and the Asians are sleeping. But still. So I waited. And waited. Until I could do it for less than 30 euros. And there it was, my first NFT.
Gas and the environment
But the gas price was quite prohibitive. At that time. Now, it's much better, since Ethereum switched to a proof of stake process, that is less costly and much, much less negatively impacting the environment. So, Open Sea is definitely a much better place now. Still, I was looking for alternatives. That's where it became interesting and complicated. There are many NFT marketplaces. And they live on many different blockchains. Or not. So, when you are trying to figure out where you want to sell your digital art, try to have a look at different marketplaces and see where you think your work will fit best. If it's a fit for a marketplace, the chances are you will find people who will collect your art. Keep in mind that if a marketplace uses a different blockchain, you also need a different wallet. But that as well is something for another time.
While looking for alternative marketplaces I found Voice, which I liked for their promise of carbon neutral operations. They run a private blockchain, which is intriguing, and they have a very strong artist focus. I also saw many artists minting on Foundation. Foundation is also on the Ethereum blockchain, so that's the easy part. The hard part is that minting fees are relatively high. It is the marketplace where the super cool artists seem to hang out, though.
One happy community
Maybe my favourite at the moment is objkt. It's a marketplace on the Tezos blockchain and that blockchain has a very active and supportive artists community. Maybe that's why I like it so much.
Anyway, this is just what I have dipped my toe into. There are many more marketplaces. And blockchains with their cryptocurrencies. It's staggering. But interesting, nonetheless. The point is before you start creating, or minting it would be good to wander around the marketplaces of the metaverse first. Do some window shopping and find the market halls that feel the best fitting for you. That's where you start.
Now, go mint or collect some art!
PS: I know last time I promised to talk about blockchains this time. However, it turned out to be more about marketplaces. We will keep the blockchain for another time.
A travelogue posing as a guide
As I dive into the NFT world, I will learn a lot about what is what. I will share these learnings here. Together, eventually, these learnings will form a guide. A guide for people who also want to dip their toes into the NFT world. Artists looking for a new place to create and sell, collectors looking for beautiful art to collect and wonderful artists to support, people who have heard about crypto, blockchain and fungible things, but don't get it all. These learnings will take the form of a journal of sorts. A travelogue. Added to that, I will share pieces of art as well. As the metaverse and web3 are now very rapidly evolving and growing, I will focus my journey on a specific type of NFT: the poetry NFT.
The first entry in this travelogue was Hello, world! A genesis piece. The second entry was To funge, or not to funge?
A cryptopoet to read more of…
I am a big fan of Ashwini Dodani. He’s not only a very kind and generous human, he also is a very gifted poet who is not afraid to experiment. When I saw him dive into the metaverse, I knew I wanted to follow. He is the original cool kid I referred to above. He’s quite a prolific poet, with many works in many different styles. His latest collection Nodes of Niceness consists of short poems he calls ‘messages and affirmations. His collection The Universe Is Calling on Open Sea is filled with amazing poems in different formats. But the one I want to share mostly here is Ashes, which has an execution that sets the bar high for all of us cryptopoets. Check out Ashes on objkt.com. Ashwini is also combining photography with his poetry. One beautiful example is Summer, Already?
