Rarible Basics: What NFTs do—and how you can get one

If you’re reading this, you probably want to find out more about NFTs. And even if they seem confusing to you right now (of course they do — monkey jpegs worth $100k+? metaverse?), we want to show you why we love NFTs—and why you might love them too.

That’s right, this article will help you discover what NFTs are all about and dive deep into the rabbithole.

Let’s start with the basics. So what’s an NFT (aka a Non-Fungible Token)?

An NFT is a digital item that lives on a blockchain (the most popular one is Ethereum) and can represent any digital file. Images, songs, works of art, tickets or physical objects, you name it.

That’s right, you could turn any photo, video or song on your phone into an NFT!

How do I get an NFT?

NFTs are stored in crypto wallets, also known as Web3 wallets. There, you can view and manage your NFTs anytime.

Like your physical wallet, your crypto wallet ensures that your collectibles are truly yours and nobody else can access them. We’ll get into how you should choose and create your wallet later—right now, let’s proceed with the very basics.

Once you have a wallet, there are 3 main ways of getting your first NFT into it:

Your friend can send you one

If you have a friend who's into NFTs (and is generous enough to send you something), that might be one of the easiest ways to get your first NFT.

Once you get yourself a Web3 wallet, simply copy the address (which is technically a string of letters associated with it) and send it to your friend. Then, once they send you an NFT and that transaction gets confirmed on the blockchain, you can see that NFT pop up on your Rarible profile. If you don't have a Rarible profile yet, simply click 'connect your wallet' button in the top right.

Hope your friend sent you something good!

You can create (mint) one yourself

Why buy an NFT when you can create one yourself? Well, there are actually many reasons (which we'll explore in future Rarible Basics articles) why you would do that, but if you're feeling creative you can definitely mint yourself an NFT. It's cheap (depending on the blockchain) and will only take you a couple of minutes.

Click Create in the top right corner of the Rarible homepage to get started, and follow this instruction to mint your NFT within 5 minutes.

Buy an NFT on Rarible

You can also buy an NFT on a marketplace like Rarible.

To buy it there, you’ll need to get enough cryptocurrency into your wallet first. Make sure it’s the right one for the blockchain your NFT is minted on, and remember that your first NFT doesn't have to be expensive—even NFTs that only cost a few dollars can feature amazing art, unlock cool utility or give you access to supportive communities!

You can either top up your wallet via an exchange by withdrawing it to your wallet (here’s a tutorial from Coinbase, one of the biggest centralized cryptocurrency exchanges)—or buy crypto with your credit card through a wallet provider like MetaMask.

If that seems to complicated for you right now, don't worry — Rarible also lets you buy NFTs with your credit card at checkout to make your NFT experience easier!

What you can do with NFTs

After you get your first NFT, you can experience a whole new world of possibilities. That’s because NFTs help you do a ton of things:

• Make new friends by joining an NFT community
• Start collecting art
• Build a brand using your NFT’s IP—or take advantage of a CC0 collection
• Play blockchain games
• Turn your own art into NFTs
• Get access to exclusive fashion drops
• Support your favorite musicians
• Join an exclusive membership club
• Access NFT-gated events
• And much more!

Still wondering where to get started with your first NFT? Remember that an NFT can take many forms, and we’re likely to see more and more use cases as the technology continues to develop. Each of those forms has its own unique features.

Art

People buy these NFTs for their visual characteristics and aesthetic value. Damien Hirst’s The Currency and Snowfro’s Squiggles are great examples of that. Both blockchain-first artists (like Snowfro) and “traditional” ones (like Hirst) create art NFTs.

PFPs

PFPs (profile pictures) are the easiest way to secure your digital identity! And you've most likely seen those on Twitter, music videos, and IRL. CloneX, Bored Apes and everything in between those cute (or goblin-like) avatars with randomly generated traits falls under this category. You can use pfps on any social media platform to show off your collectibles and find like-minded enthusiasts.

Music

Music NFTs are very diverse. You could support your favorite artists directly by buying one of their songs as an NFT or find yourself some blockchain-native music like Euler Beats.

Membership

Membership NFTs serve as a membership certificate that gives you access to their respective communities. Those could focus on learning together, catching the latest trends before anyone else does or just partying. CPG is a good example of that: An NFT from this collection gives you access to a Discord community where you can learn more about crypto and meet new people with similar goals.

Get into NFTs today and start your Web3 journey

So, in a nutshell, NFTs can help you explore art, find new friends and build your digital identity. These on-chain collectibles are truly yours, and there’s no limit to what you can do with NFTs. And we’re here to help you learn all about them.

Ready to dive in? Head over to our marketplace and get your first NFT, or make sure to follow Rarible Basics as we'll be posting more articles on how to register a wallet, choose your first NFT and set goals on your Web3 journey.

Written by Gleb Shumakov