NFTs have been fueling headlines, Twitter rants, and rumor mills for a while now. This article won’t try to explain everything about NFTs. Instead, we will say this - if you have as little as 10 ada in a Cardano wallet, you can go buy one for yourself.
If you still need a Cardano wallet, start here. In this article, we highlight the user experience in GeroWallet, but most of this applies to other Cardano wallets too.
Buy your first NFT
If you have a Cardano wallet but don’t have an NFT yet, it’s time to just try it. You can do it with just a few ada. It probably won’t ever be valuable, and it might not even be pretty, but it will be something interesting to look at in your wallet. Then, when an NFT that really IS interesting crosses your path, you will know what to do. Some of the steps involved in buying an NFT are similar to interacting with other blockchain apps (DApps), so it is an important skill to have.
Before you get down to business, one step you’ll need to take in your wallet is referred to as setting your collateral. This is required for any interaction with a smart contract (i.e. a DApp), but it’s easy to do and only needs to be done once. In GeroWallet, click the Account button at the bottom of the app, and then click Collateral. Simply follow the prompts, and, in just a few clicks, you are ready to start sailing the Web3 seas!
You can use a search engine to find various sources of Cardano NFTs, but one suggestion to reliably find some cheap ones and an easy user experience is jpg.store. If you are in the GeroWallet mobile app, you can visit jpg.store directly by clicking the DApps button without having to move to a browser.
In jpg.store, you can search by keyword or sort the NFTs by price - and you can buy one for just five ada. Click on the thumbnail image of an NFT you want to buy, and then in the upper right corner, click Connect Wallet. There are numerous supported wallets, including GeroWallet. With your wallet connected, buying an NFT is as easy as clicking the “Buy” button on any listing - just like any other online shopping.
When you buy an NFT you will be able to see it in your GeroWallet, under the “Collectibles” tab.
Advanced Mode
Many NFTs are not just about digital art. Often, there is an element of “utility” – the NFT is actually useful in some way. When you are comfortable buying an NFT from a platform like jpg.store, you might be interested in exploring other projects. Here are a couple to pique your interest:
Ada Handle allows you to buy a custom NFT with your unique “handle.” This becomes like a “name tag” and mailbox address for your wallet. Your Ada Handle can be used instead of the long “addr1….” receiving address when other people want to send you ada or other assets if they are using a wallet that recognizes Ada Handles. This NFT project is all about utility – Ada Handles are not artistic, but they are very useful!
A Day at the Lake is Lido Nation’s first NFT project, which pairs powerful utility with collectible, educational art. Each NFT features an artistic rendering of a pond microorganism - small creatures with beauty that is too small to see with the naked eye! In the NFT metadata, which you can view in your wallet, you can see the creature’s name along with some poetic facts about its little life. And here is the utility: Anyone who owns one of these NFTs gets access to advertising space on Lido Nation - for as long as they own the NFT. Pay once, advertise forever (or sell the NFT when you don’t need the ad spot anymore).
Built on Cardano is a useful website that features lots of Cardano projects, including NFTs. NFTs are categorized according to whether they are primarily about the art, utility, charity fundraising, or PFPs. It is not an exhaustive resource - in a decentralized economy, nothing is - but it’s one great place to look!
Conclusion
As with anything new and different, opinions about the current and future state of NFTs can be all over the map and exaggerated in every direction. You don’t have to buy into the hype - and you probably shouldn’t! Instead, we encourage you just to get one for a few ada and then pay a little bit of attention to NFT projects that may cross your path. Beyond the hype and headlines, you may find projects and people that are doing work that is really interesting, useful, or inspiring.
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