NFTs: WazirX VP Sheds Light On Emerging New World

India has witnessed a sharp rise in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) for the past two years. There are over 86 start-ups in this space in India, out of which 71 have been launched in 2021, according to Tracxn.

Many existing tech start-ups operating across the country have also started introducing their NFT-based offerings on respective platforms.

Several celebrities have also come up with their own NFTs to earn good return on their digital assets. Recently, former cricketer Yuvraj Singh has launched his own NFT at USD 40 on Colexion— a NFT marketplace.

The platform has also launched one-of-its-kind virtual museum about the journey of the legendry cricketer. His NFT collection is getting traction from audiences across the world.

Automobile major Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) has also entered the NFT space with the release of its first tranche of tokens.

The first offering from Mahindra was based on the Thar SUV.

All proceeds from the auction will be towards Project Nanhi Kali, to support the education of underprivileged girls in India.

NFTs also known as Nifties are not just for tokenising assets. They also can be used as smart contracts that are programmed to perform certain actions in certain conditions. This also helps artists to earn income through royalty.

WazirX NFT Vice-President Sandesh B Suvarna talks to Opportunity India about the NFTs and sheds some light on the functioning of these non-fungible token.

What Are NFTs?

In simple words, Sandesh explains that NFT is an item that’s residing in Blockchain which makes it unique and unreplaceable. The NFTs provide creators a value by giving them digital ownership of their arts or creations.

So once you place your art in the chain, it’s a proof that you are the real owner of the item rather than running behind filing for copyright, which is time taking and tiring process.

He further elaborated that NFTs are programmable and you programme to receive lifetime royalties to your creation when there is a secondary sale.

What Can Be Represented As An NFT?

Non-fungible tokens can digitally represent any real or intangible item including digital artwork and real estate. Other examples of the assets that NFTs can represent include, virtual items within video games, music, and collectibles like digital trading cards, virtual land and video footage of iconic sporting moments among others.

NFT Market

Talking about the growth of the NFT Marketplace, WazirX VP said that this marketplace has massive potential as the metaverse is inevitable.

Speaking with the Opportunity India, Sandesh said, “It has massive potential. Now the metaverse is coming in, that’s what people are looking forward. We can’t predict. If we look back two years down the line everything has now moved online. Around 50 per cent things have moved online. We have been spending close to 70 per cent of our time online. So, metaverse is inevitable because that’s where we are heading.”

He said that people want to possess luxurious items and that’s why they come into this world—the new world that is emerging.

“Last year, the overall value of the NFT was USD 37 billion and right now in the last four months, the entire NFT ecosystem has clocked USD 40 billion,” he told Opportunity India.

Speaking about the challenges in this marketplace, he said that entry barrier is difficult.

“Majorly, as NFTs are decentralised, the entry barrier is way difficult. For example If you have to buy an NFT, you need to know what is MetaMask, cryptocurrency, how to buy a cryptocurrency and how to transfer it to MetaMask. You will have to know what blockchain is. These are major drawback we are currently facing but like Instagram, Facebook they are bringing in these NFTs on to their ecosystem after that it will be easier for people to get into,” Sandesh said.

Investment

Advising people on the investment in the NFTs, he said one needs to research before buying anything.

“On the investment front, there is always same the logic. If you invest in shares so the first thing is to understand the shares. The first thing is that people have to do their own research before buying anything. Secondly, whenever you are making an investment, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. People have to diversify their investment. This applies to everything,” he said.

When asked about regularisation of the NFT, he said, “Regulating a decentralised app is difficult. First they have to bring regulations onto crypto and when that is done then they will move to dapps (Decentralised Apps).”

Quantum, the octagon-shaped digital artwork was the first NFT which was minted by New York based artist Kevin McCoy and Anil Dash in the year 2014. In June 2021, It was sold for USD 1.47 million.

The most expensive NFT that has been sold for USD 91.8 million (nearly INR 700 Cr) on Nifty Gateway is digital artist PAK’s creation named ‘The Merge’.

The price for the token was a record for an artwork sold publicly by a living artist, according to Nifty Gateway, a leading NFT marketplace. 

Meanwhile, Jupiter Meta, an integrated Web 3.0 entity, has launched art NFTs on its marketplace.

According to the statement of company, Jupiter Meta has curated a list of NFTs in collaboration with four artists.

There are 22 digital art pieces to choose from on the Jupiter Meta marketplace, priced between INR 6,000 and INR 12,000, and 50 per cent of proceeds from each NFT sale will go to a not-for-profit cause: currently—the Akshaya Patra Foundation. Jupiter Meta will eventually partner with more NGOs for this cause, it said.

Global Market

According to Research and Markets, the global Non-Fungible token market size is expected to reach USD 211.72 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 33.9 per cent from 2022 to 2030.

The growing demand for digital art worldwide is one of the major factors driving the NFT market growth.

The funding raised by NFT companies is also one of the major factors favouring the market growth.