Last week, the pop world was astonished as rapper legend, Ja Rule said he will be gifting his kids an unconventional Christmas gift this year. Speaking in an interview with Page Six, Ja said he will be giving out non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to his three children this holiday season. He explained that NFTs “are more meaningful in the financial and investment world today” and hopes the gifts will get his kids into the art world.
The meteoric growth of NFTs in the past year has contributed massively to people starting to dish them out as presents and gifts. The younger generations are finally deciding to gift out virtual assets that won’t end up under a tree - and could grow in value in the future. Speaking in an interview, Ilja Terebin, co-founder of Starly, a launchpad and marketplace for NFT collections, said gifting NFTs is widely accepted today given “the assets add a little bit of emotion because you know something about your loved one”.
Terebin, who doubles up as the CEO of Starly, said NFT world provides perfect digital art for anyone whether you are a nature enthusiast, ape fiend, art and music lover, or robot-obsessed.
With the NFT market burgeoning towards the $20 billion mark, more people are getting acquainted with the new virtual assets, which represent digital art minted on a blockchain . Celebrities like Ja Rule, Jay Z, Snoop Dogg, Steph Curry, Tom Brady, and others have also dipped their hand in the space, further raising awareness and boosting the adoption of NFTs.
However, gifting your loved one an NFT piece does not necessarily mean they will understand its value. Its virtual nature further confuses many on how to actually enjoy the art hence killing the point of actually gifting them. Before we dive to some of the top places where you can obtain an NFT for your loved one, it’s worth explaining why you should consider an NFT as a gift this festive period.
First, NFTs are unique and rare digital art. Just like a hand-painted piece of artwork, there cannot be another NFT identical to the one you gift out. While people could screenshot the art, copy it, or reproduce it, the original copy remains with the owner. Additionally, the rarity of NFTs means that they can also increase in value, just like traditional pieces of artwork. Your loved ones could use the NFT as an investment, or stake it to start earning passive income.
Finding the best NFTs for family and friends
The NFT world is crowded with thousands (probably millions) of NFTs including collectibles, arts, game heroes, music, videos, and other files. Despite the crowded arena, valuable NFTs are very costly with each NFT costing anywhere between $150-$500 to mint them. However, the more recognizable NFTs such as CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) could sell for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars per NFT. Unless you are very rich, it could be very expensive for you to gift your loved one NFTs from these marketplaces.
Not to worry. There are a lot of options to choose your preferred NFTs from, without spending obscene amounts of money to gift your loved ones. Leading NFT platform, Starly offers a unique NFT collection game that allows creators to build a gamified NFT collection. Simply, Starly is an NFT game that requires people to collect randomly sealed packs of NFTs with different rarity classes. Each collection comes in a set of 21 cards — 11 commons, 6 rare, and 4 legendary, the perfect formula for an ultimate collecting game. For astute collectors, this could be the perfect gift, and for new collectors, it opens up a gateway to start collecting NFTs to complete their set.
Envoy Art, a platform offering participants an affordable and user-friendly entry to the NFT world, could also make for the perfect virtual gift. Founded in 2020 amidst the NFT craze, the platform aims at reinventing the collectibles market, making it cheaper and easier to purchase and NFT, providing secure storage of assets, and offering earning models via the NFTs owned.
For those with a taste in decentralized virtual worlds, Decentraland and The Sandbox offer a wide range of virtual lands built on a metaverse. However, some of these lands are very expensive due to their rarity and unique features.
A new wave of NFT enthusiasts
Christmas gifts are a sure way to get to your loved ones’ hearts. As such, the cryptocurrency community is swarming with new ways to gift during this festive period. Coinbase exchange launched a program to give users an opportunity to send crypto tokens as Christmas gifts and Binance has also launched their Christmas gift cards that can be used to purchase crypto in the future. By doing so, the exchanges aim to bring in new users to their platforms and broaden the audience to crypto, as you’ll need to be registered to receive the gift.
In a similar manner, NFTs also require the recipient to download and install a cryptocurrency wallet in order to receive the asset. This compels the recipient to become familiar with the crypto and NFT space, learning key concepts such as storing private keys, transacting on the blockchain, and even minting their own NFTs.
Finally, before gifting your loved one an NFT, make sure you explain the value of the NFT art, how to store it and how to sell it. This will prevent the gift recipient from unknowingly exchanging the NFT for worthless tokens or losing their private keys.
