Amazon NFT: The Future Or Fiction?
Is Amazon NFT the future of blockchain technology applications?
Cryptocurrency and blockchain techs have become buzzwords in economics conversations throughout the past decade. No wonder though, since technology dominates modern business, and people found new ways to utilize blockchain technology to create, catalog, and sell artworks. The most illustrative example of this is NFT – a non-fungible token.
Tokens can be bought and sold with cryptocurrency and are exquisite assets that can’t be exchanged like-for-like. Therefore, you can attach an NFT to a unique work of art, and further use that non-fungible asset to show its originality. Up to date, NFTs have developed into a boosting industry with celebrity investors and huge growth potential.
A curious combination of blockchain technology and a new emerging asset class, non-fungible tokens give opportunities to make money even if you’re not an artist. The promising future of this asset is confirmed by the recent news from Amazon and Meta. Thus, the CEO of Amazon considers that NFTs will continue their growth and could once be included in the Amazon marketplace as a selling item. Meta, in turn, announced that it will launch NFTs on Instagram, and later on Facebook.
So, how to approach creating and selling tokens, and what benefits to hope for? Let’s discover the answers and study what huge players like Amazon expect from this magnificent venture.
What Is NFT?
NFT exchanges can be conducted with cryptocurrencies on particular marketplaces. Amazon NFT opportunities, with Amazon as a selling platform, seem feasible in the near future.
Amazon NFT – What’s In The Roadmap?
Non-fungible tokens started their advent back in 2014 and have been confidently gaining traction ever since. In 2021, the market for NFTs was estimated at $41 billion, which is almost equal to the cumulative value of the fine art market globally.
Amazon And Dibbs
No wonder Amazon, the remarkable global technology company, invested in Dibbs, a platform that allows users to fractionalize sports collectibles including physical sports cards as NFTs. Their view of fractionalization allows them to make the most expensive cards available for as little as $1.
Amazon became the investor in the NFT company with $2.8 million worth of funding. This step showcases their belief in both NFTs as an asset and Dibbs’ concept of fractionalization. The investment will stimulate a significant growth of the platform, while the recommendations that Amazon can provide will drive the project forward.
Amazon NFT News
The management of Amazon expects significant growth of cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens. In particular, the CEO of Amazon expresses the likelihood of selling the tokens on the platform in the future. While he personally does not invest in cryptocurrencies, Amazon is currently searching for experts in this field and in blockchain technology as well. The eCommerce giant is investing in the development of cryptocurrency and blockchain strategies, which witnesses in favor of the potential Amazon NFT collaboration.
Top 5 NFT Marketplaces
If you are interested in where to buy NFT or sell these digital assets, an NFT marketplace is your gateway. These marketplaces are numerous; below are some of the most prominent ones.
- OpenSea NFT
OpenSea is the leading player, as it is the first and largest NFT marketplace globally. It offers all kinds of digital assets and a free sign-up. The platform supports both those who sell and buy NFT. Thus, it provides a convenient process of creating your own assets (minting). Essentially, OpenSea is among the best NFT marketplaces for a newcomer.
- eToro
eToro is the social investment community that helps people to elevate their knowledge and financial experience. The company adopted cryptocurrency early, and now is launching eToro Art, a $20 million fund in support of NFT creators. Once the platform completes its NFT collection, it will join the list of the biggest global collectors of tokens.
- Binance
The Binance platform is based on the Binance Smart Chain network. The NFT website allows for buying and selling all kinds of NFT assets. Based on the superior cryptocurrency exchange platform, Binance can bring in a huge range of users, hence its impressive popularity.
- SuperRare
SuperRare is a marketplace for digital artists. The platform includes art, videos, and 3D images and allows collectors to buy artwork for Ethereum. Recently, the NFT marketplace established an eponymous token based on the Ethereum blockchain. It will be utilized to find and curate new creators for the marketplace.
- Rarible
This is a big marketplace that includes all available kinds of tokens. Users can buy, sell, and make videos, collectibles, music, and other kinds of art on the platform. Noteworthy, to sell or buy NFT on the platform, attenders need to utilize the marketplace’s proprietary token Rarible, which is developed on the Ethereum blockchain.
How NFT Marketplace Works
NFT marketplaces enable storing, displaying, trading, and minting (creating) tokens.
NFT Marketplace Operation
These marketplaces function with NFTs in the same way Amazon and eBay work with goods. What does a user need to access NFT websites?
- A crypto wallet. Select a wallet that is compatible with the blockchain network supporting your chosen tokens. For instance, if you intend to buy NFTs based on the Ethereum blockchain platform, utilize a compatible Ethereum wallet like MetaMask.
- Funds in the wallet. You should put some coins in your wallet before doing anything with a digital asset. Make sure you choose the cryptocurrencies that are supported by the NFT marketplace of your choice.
- A user account. Set up an account on the selected marketplace.
Notably, listing and making tokens on a marketplace usually requires a blockchain network fee. Different blockchain-based systems take different fees. Thus, Ethereum has the largest arrangement of NFT decentralized applications yet features the most expensive fees.
The Most Expensive NFTs
To better understand the essence and principle of NFTs, let’s study some stellar NFT examples.
- “The Merge”
The most expensive NFT sold is considered to be “The Merge” by the anonymous creator named Pak. The artwork was sold for a breathtaking $91.8 million. The asset represents a project rather than a single item. It’s an ever-changing artwork consisting of white “masses” (dots). The more “masses” a buyer purchases, the larger volume their “mass” acquires. While the token supply gradually shortens, the “masses” can be resold to the other owners and continue merging. Therefore, the project may finish with a single token owned by one person.
- “Everydays: The First 5000 Days”
This digital artwork was the first non-fungible token to be sold at the Christie’s auction and cost as much as $69 million. This creation by Beeples consists of 5000 individual NFTs from the Everyday’s series by the author.
- “Clock”
Another amazingly expensive token was conceived to accumulate funds in defense of Julian Assange. It displays a clock counting the number of days since the arrest of Assange. The asset was sold for an astonishing $56 million.
Basics Of NFT In 2 Minutes
NFTs exist on a blockchain, typically Ethereum or Polygon, which is a distributed public ledger that manages transactions. The creation of a token is based on virtual objects introducing tangible or intangible items. Let’s discover the main steps of dealing with NFTs.
What Is Minting NFT?
Simply put, minting denotes uniquely publishing digital content on the blockchain to make it available for buying and selling. Specifically, the process includes transforming digital information into crypto collections recorded on the blockchain. The files will be kept in a decentralized database and cannot be modified, deleted, or edited.
How To Create NFT?
Practically any NFT platform, tool, and NFT marketplace renders the process of token creation easy. So, how to make an NFT?
- Install Metamask, an Ethereum wallet;
- Create an account on the NFT platform;
- Transform your digital asset to NFT;
- Upload the file to an NFT market;
- Add a title and a description;
- Set up royalties.
How To Sell NFT?
After selecting your NFT marketplace and establishing a crypto wallet, you should do the following:
- Set the price. When determining the price, consider the average price for 30 days in your category, rarity, utility, and creator’s reputation.
- Create a listing. Choose from a single or multiple collectibles, add the title and description, and select the type of listing such as “on-sale” or “auction.”
- Do not miss an offer! Although you’ll receive notifications if someone places a bid on your listing, it is also recommended to check your asset personally from time to time, so that you don’t miss any requests.
How To Buy NFT?
The basic steps are the same as with selling. You will need an account with a cryptocurrency exchange, a crypto wallet, and some Ethereum in it. After you select an NFT marketplace and link your wallet to it, you can buy NFTs.
Which NFT Is Worth Buying?
One of the marks that NFT is worth buying is that it has liquidity providers. Here are several assets, which are worth buying based on their overall appeal and potential to increase in value.
- ‘Platinum Rollers Club’ by Lucky Block.
What makes this collection enticing is the innovative approach and unique tokenomics. A significant benefit of this token is access to the daily NFT draws.
- “Girls, Robots, Dragons (GRD).”
This is a series of fantasy NFT artworks. The series is represented by the authors of the characters of world-famous games and movies. Besides, it offers exciting benefits and a game.
- “Bored Ape Yacht Club.”
The collection introduces 10,000 unique tokens that display ‘Bored Apes’. The NFTs’ owners are granted access to the ‘Yacht Club’ that provides impressive benefits to its members.
What Does A Buyer Get After Buying NFT?
After buying a token, you don’t become a legal owner of the underlying media associated with that asset. You get ownership over the keys to a unique token. Consequently, you are free to trade, keep, or display your assets in Decentraland. However, the digital file associated with that token can still be copied, pasted, and downloaded like any other.
Is It Possible To Sell/Buy NFTs On Any Marketplace?
You can sell non-fungible tokens on any marketplace that allows this kind of activity, or through your own website.
Can Amazon Potentially Sell NFT?
Although Amazon does not demonstrate any specific plans to start offering digital assets on its platform, it appears that the company considers embracing Web 3.0 technology in the future. Thus, Amazon NFT investments, the opening positions for Web 3.0-focused personnel, and Amazon Managed Blockchain witness in favor of this assumption.
Read more about selling on Amazon:
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What Is Amazon Managed Blockchain?
Amazon Managed Blockchain is a fully managed service that empowers visitors to join public networks or establish and manage scalable private networks with ease. By using the service, you can avoid the overhead needed to develop the network or use a public network. Managed Blockchain automatically scales to handle thousands of applications operating millions of transactions. The service empowers you to run your blockchain network, manages your certificates, and allows you to invite other members to join the network.
How To Build An NFT Marketplace With Amazon Managed Blockchain
Amazon Managed Blockchain grants you an opportunity to create an NFT marketplace. The essence of the NFT crypto assets is that those tokens are unique and able to create a contract between a token and a related asset – be it a physical asset, virtual, or other. These contracts confirm the ownership of the respective digital assets.
The creation of such contracts should be available on your marketplace. This ability with Amazon Managed Blockchain can be developed in the following way:
- Create a Node linked to a Blockchain network;
- Manually set up, verify, and deploy a contract;
- Deploy an API to automate the process;
- Develop a Front End that employs the API;
- Deploy the Marketplace Front End.
Lessons Learned
An eСommerce giant like Amazon could hardly stay aside from the tech advancements including Web 3.0. While the company management does not reject future NFTs adoption, Amazon is already implementing the blockchain strategies and extending its Web 3.0-focused teams. Apart from this, other retailers such as eBay are already offering NFTs on their marketplaces. Therefore, it would be safe to assume that Amazon has a solid background to start selling NFTs on its platform.
PIM Solution For NFTs
Blockchain technology has been changing the way business is done. With its innovations, the highly digitalized world can benefit from increased data transparency and security. NFT, unlike popular beliefs, goes much further than just trendy digital pictures. It creates opportunities for small businesses, big enterprises, and any eCommerce organization that has to deal with authoring or buying large amounts of content. The World Economic Forum emphasizes the importance of NFT for treating data as an asset.
Every player on the eCommerce world stage can gain some benefits from utilizing NFT. Brands can put in embed ESG (environmental, social, and governance) credentials for their products. Manufacturers, similarly, can get accurately track the inventory data and supply chain by e.g. generating an NFT for every important event happening through the supply cycle. NFT allows companies to interact with their customers in new ways, by using this blockchain technology to increase the transparency of their supply chain management as well as managing rights of ownership and warranty on physical products. NFT records can help the buyers understand where the products are coming from and what are they made of, how they were made, and follow the important events that take place in the supply chain.
Read more about sustainability in eCommerce:
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With NFTs, it can be possible to track goods throughout the whole lifecycle, maintain high transparency and accountability and increase operational visibility.
At all the stages of business processes where NFT can be used, data is present as the most valuable asset. Managing the great amounts of information poses additional challenges for businesses: any small data error can cause disrupted operations, slower time-to-market, increased customer churn, and lost reputation.
Automating data-related processes with the PIM solution prevents the companies from many risks that go hand-in-hand with inefficient data management. Serving as a central repository for all the product information, PIM software allows you to track your product content, easily manage it, and enrich and share it with third parties, according to the user rights that you set. If you want to use PIM for keeping and managing your NFT product data, here are some of the main features to look up in the PIM solution:
- Data validation. With the validation techniques, built into the PIM system, you can ensure that your data is always accurate and error-free. Get the auto-generated reports once something goes wrong.
- Data enrichment instruments. With data enrichment instruments, you can seamlessly boost your product data and obtain compelling product content, to enhance customer experience.
- Content collection automation. With this PIM feature, you can easily integrate any product data from suppliers and automate content gathering. Engage more manufacturers and brands with a flawless process of data sharing.
- Data syndication. One of the most important PIM features that allows you to simultaneously distribute product data to multiple sales channels and at the same time adjust the data to ever-changing requirements and standards of sales platforms, eCommerce websites, and other channels.
- Digital shelf analysis. Analyzing the state of your product information is equally important to its smooth collection and management. With a digital shelf analytics instrument, you can fully track your data, supervise content providers and monitor your content efficiency at scale.
The Future Starts Now
Although non-fungible tokens have a short history so far, many experts believe they will continue to develop in the near future. Global marketplaces such as eBay have already adopted NFTs to their platforms, while Amazon is actively investing in blockchain technologies and developing Web 3.0 strategies.
Despite the crisis that crypto is going through right now, NFT is solving a very pragmatic dilemma of digital rights ledger, that potentially can develop in a large and transparent ecosystem.
NFT marketplaces allow both individuals and companies to buy, sell, and mint the tokens. Before obtaining certain tokens, it makes sense to learn how NFT works and which items or collections are most successful since demand is the major factor determining the price for these assets. When creating and selling assets, you can benefit from leveraging the capabilities of PIM solutions.
Product data is the driving force of selling on any marketplace. Accurate and consistent product data that is easy to find is key to remarkable sales. Product Information Management (PIM) solutions are a breakthrough tool that works as a unified product content database and allows users to effectively handle product data. Ultimately, PIM enables brands to smoothly syndicate product data sets to a marketplace.
Ask for a personalized demo to see how Gepard can help you implement PIM solutions to enhance business and help with NFT implementation.
