Some of my collections in a collage
"NFTs is what Bitcoin was some years ago".
To put in a better perspective, year 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. In between these years, some people already become Millionaires without them knowing it.
What this simply means is that you and I are still very much early if you are on the trend of NFTs. Regardless of the current trend about NFTs, this is still a good time to pay attention and jump in.
Total market capitalization and space for NFTs is still tiny compared to Bitcoin's. Also, user base(that is; creators, collectors/NFT traders) is still very much small.
Trustnodes put the entire Ethereum based NFTs market cap at approximately $5B; with Larva Labs Crypto Punks taking about $850 Million and Art blocks NFTs taking $763 million with their total market value.
"Ethereum based Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are still a small part of the crypto ecosystem afterall according to a new data aggregator, with them reaching a market cap of circa $4.7 billion"- Trustnodes
If you are an NFT collector or Creator, you are among the 280k unique buyers/sellers and collectors as per data from taken from Statista as at August 2021.
So what does these data means from African point of view?
Simple, early adopters are the gold. Just like Bitcoin early adopters. As at when Bitcoin first came to life I was just a Facebook enthusiast. If only I could travel back in time to make amendments.
Luckily, that kind of eluded opportunity with Bitcoin and a few other crypto has suffice again in NFTs. How ready are you to grab it?
Positioning yourself in the NFT ERA
Arguably there are too many noises in the crypto realm, like I discussed in my last article on Leofinance;My NFT story: The Scams, Hype and Sheer Luck!
Filter the Nosies
Knowing how to filter those noises is paramount to your A-Game investment plan in crypto and also in NFTs. To be distracted and fomo into the wrong projects is to err, which happens frequently to a lot of crypto users.
As an African, a Nigerian; I think I'm one of the early ones considering my collections.
Not everyone has the ability to create art works, hence the collection game has to be superb. You can get most NFTs for free while some would cost you a fortune. The fact still remains that, in the cryptospace, free things comes to those who search.
Just like airdrops, some you get for having an investment in certain projects. You get some when you carry out some tasks(cost per actions), the keyword is ACTION!
Find out about NFT project Team or Artists
Before investing in an NFT project, you need to know the core team, how authentic the artworks is and the road map for such NFT projects.
Without these, you might end up buying and holding a JPEG with zero value and zero chances of increasing in value. In fact, they become worthless in most cases.
Part of positioning yourself well is doing due diligent research before getting into certain NFTs. Then knowing how to filter the real and fake projects from each other.
Sweep the Floors
Not literal sweeping of floors, price floors on NFT market place means the cheapest items in an NFT collections. The lowest price the extremely cheap ones are listed.
Buy these cheap ones, that's if you ain't a Whale with massive chunk of Ethereum to throw around. With time, the floors you buy might give you a X1000 yield or even more.
Ace your Minting game.
Minting new project NFTs is like buying Presale of a coin. You mint at extremely low price and then once market opens you can experience the magic and see your mint price multiply endlessly. Provided you chose the best NFT to mint!
The downside is this, you might mint common upon common of these new NFTs. Except you have a code to sweep the metadata and know the rarity which is harder compared to buying at floor prices. Sweeping floors means you can check the rarity of what you are buying before paying.
No Shame in getting Free NFTs
From my point of view, there's no shame in getting some NFTs for free. Provided that you don't do the unthinkable for it.
Enter giveaways and quizzes that involves NFTs, offer your services for NFTs, trade the surplus ones you have for new ones. You might end up catching a rare NFT in doing so.
The fact is, some of these new NFTs given out freely would eventually amount to something tangible with time and adequate actions taken by the project team.
Take a look at Crypto Punks by Larva labs, some people got it freely without a cost some years ago.
Be Strategic
In addition to having a good position, devise a strategy.
One of my strategy is looking for popular artists, sportsmen, actors and musicians who are into NFTs. Know their collections, what they are buying into.
After doing this, you can get what they are collecting if you can afford it. I'll advise to buy the cheapest of what they have in their collections and hodl. This strategy has worked for me with a few of my collections, hence it could work for you as well.
Partner with Local Artists if you can.
Collaborating with Local artists is also a fantastic positioning. African themed NFTs are golden and it's high time they have huge values.
You can go into partnership with a sculptor, an abstract painter or a graffiti artist. Take charge of the minting process after series of unique artworks has been done.
Thankfully you can ignore the exuberant gas fees on Ethereum now and use Polygon chain(Wrapped ETH on Polygon). This makes minting, listing all easy peasy.
Be a Diamond Hand, HODL!
Ultimately, you must not be a paper hand while placing yourself in a strategic position in the NFT space.
A lot of poeple had sold high end and rare NFTs they got freely or bought cheaply just for quick cash outs which I'll refer to instant gratification.
Selling your assets too quick is like minting new NFTs and selling below or slightly above floor prices just because of a tiny gain on your minting price. It's a bad philosophy if you ask me.
Above all, there's a popular saying in the cryptosphere: NFA- Not a Financial Advice. If you find NFTs too complicated to handle, best is to ignore and stay safe. Money in the pocket is better than the one in the bush says an old African proverb!