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What is an NFT and how do they work?

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Posted at 10:59 AM, Apr 16, 2021
and last updated 2021-04-16 11:59:02-04

Remember that video from 2007, where Chris Crocker begged people to “leave Britney alone?”

It's now up for sale as an NFT. The first-ever tweet was also recently sold as an NFT. And a viral tweet about the Fyre Festival is up for auction. Trevor Dehaas is hoping to get at least $80,000.

So, you may be wondering what an NFT is, how it works and how one goes about buying a tweet.

First thing, NFT stands for non-fungible token. It lives on the blockchain and it can be anything from art to insurance policies, even a deed to your house.

“And when it's an item on the blockchain, you can trade it, pretty much instantly across the world. You can build unique mechanics and incentives, so it gives you this new ability for content that we didn't have before,” said Zach Burks, CEO at Mintable.app.

Mintable.app is a site where you can buy NFTs. Anyone can buy, sell or resell one.

And just because it lives on the blockchain doesn't mean it can't be a physical item. The difference is you will have a digital record of ownership.

“You own it in your wallet, so you can see it in your wallet and you can verify to anyone in the world that that is your item, that you own it, that you have access to it and you control,” said Burks.

NFTs are not currency, so you can't really buy things with them as you would with cryptocurrency. And the value of an NFT could change the same way it does with a stock or unit of a bitcoin.