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The popular science | NFT will know

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NFT art is the creation of unique tokens to bind the art, either by linking the art to a token or by storing the art along with its NFT on the blockchain.

原文标题：《 Everything you need to know about NFTs 》

原文作者： Veronica Coutts

原文编译：闵敏 & 阿剑，以太坊爱好者

In this article, we will discuss what NFT is, what kinds of digital art are divided into, where digital art is stored, and what should be paid attention to when purchasing NFT.

Too Long to See: The principle of NFT Art

In short, NFT art is about creating unique tokens to bind the art, either by linking the art to a token or by storing the art along with its NFT on the blockchain.

NFT art falls into two main categories: reproducible art and non-reproducible art. Non-reproducible works of art created by humans. The reproductive art uses the token's unique ID as a "kernel" to determine the appearance and characteristics of the NFT.

The artwork behind NFT can be stored in three different ways:

1. Stored on the same blockchain as the NFT

2. Storage on another chain or decentralized storage

3. The storage device is stored on a private or centralized server

These three storage mechanisms present different risks to your NFT. If your NFT and the artwork behind it are not stored on the same chain, the link between the two may break, leaving your NFT worthless. Finally, although some blockchains currently consume a lot of energy, actions are being taken to conserve energy and reduce emissions in a planned way.

What is NFT? What does that mean?

An NFT is a token with a unique identifier (ID). In the case of ordinary cryptographic tokens, the same tokens cannot be distinguished from each other and are therefore "homogeneous" (each token is equal, just like cash). The NFT (Non-homogeneous token) is identifiable and unique, meaning that each NFT is fundamentally different.

- Each NFT has its own unique ID and is therefore non-homogeneous (not equivalent to each other) -

You can think of an NFT as a token of a special nature that allows you to create a unique digital asset. The NFT concept gives digital scarcity to a unique and traceable product. In this context, scarcity refers to limited (and controllable) supply. Whether 1 or 100 NFT are created, each NFT has its own ID.

Because NFT is a unique and scarce digital product, you can bundle just about anything onto it. NFT has many important applications. Let's look at a few potential use cases:

• 供应链管理（例如，追踪疫苗从生产到通过分销网络进入诊所或医院的过程）

• 独一无二的可兑换票券（例如，音乐会门票、彩票、访问令牌等）

• 奖章和不可交易资产（例如，出勤证明、军训证书、某平台的身份证明等）

NFT Art types

NFT art falls into two main categories: reproducible art and non-reproducible art.

Non-reproducible art is what we normally think of as art, that is, a painting created by a human artist and uploaded to a blockchain bound to the NFT. Most of the NFT art we see is non-reproducible. The main examples are:

• Beeple | 最近以高达 6900 万美元的价格出售一幅 NFT 画作，刷新了 NFT 拍卖记录。

• OpenSea 等交易平台上的大多数 NFT 都是不可繁殖艺术品，可以去上面看一看！

The generative art is created by an algorithm that uses the UNIQUE ID of the NFT as the "kernel" to generate the art. Each reproducible artwork is unique and bound to only one NFT. Of course, reproductive art requires the artist to create "pieces" in advance, feed them to the algorithm, and tell it how to put them together into a complete work. There have been many successes in the field of reproducible art:

• Crypto Kitties | NFT 可繁殖猫 | DNA 存储在链上，图像存储在链下的中心化私有服务器上

• Axie | NFT 可繁殖宠物精灵类游戏 | DNA 存储在链上，图像存储在链下但是支持第三方访问

• AutoGlyphs | NFT 可繁殖艺术品 | 在链上存储和生成

• ChainFaces | NFT 可繁殖艺术品 | 在链上存储和生成

• HashMasks | NFT 可繁殖艺术品 | 种子（DNA）存储在链上，图像在链上生成并以去中心化方式存储

Some NFT's also allow artists to collect royalties. That is to say, each sale of these NFT can bring revenue to their creators, not just the first sale.

Where is the artwork behind NFT stored?

After creating a unique NFT, how do we bind the artwork to the NFT?

- NFT tokens have their own ID and can be linked to digital art or even real world assets -

There are several ways to do this. It's a bit of a hassle, but it's worth knowing how to prevent scams, NFT tokens that can't be held for long periods of time, and poorly designed/sloppy projects.

While code (smart contracts) can be hacked, this is an inevitable problem for any decentralized application built on a blockchain. This risk exists no matter how we store art.

Store art on the same chain

The first way we'll discuss how to bind an artwork to an NFT is to store the artwork on the same chain as the NFT. This is the safest way to ensure the longevity of NFT. This means that even if the project goes bankrupt or the site shuts down, your art remains securely stored on the blockchain.

- The most secure NFT storage mechanism is to store the artwork on the same blockchain as the NFT -

Example:

• AutoGlyphs | NFT 可繁殖艺术品 | 在链上存储和生成

• ChainFaces | NFT 可繁殖艺术品 | 在链上存储和生成

Store art on another chain or in a decentralized way

You can also store art on a different chain than the NFT or use decentralized storage mechanisms (e.g., IPFS, Arweave, etc.).

- Store your NFT tokens and artwork on different chains or decentralize storage -

When your art is stored on another chain or in a decentralized manner, there are a few things that will affect your NFT risk:

• 如何处理链接？

There are a number of projects that provide hosting services for links between art and NFT. However, this also means that once the project stops operating, the link between your NFT and the artwork will be broken, leaving your NFT worthless.

• 艺术品存储在哪里？

Not all storage methods produce the same effect. If all your NFT art is stored on IPFS, someone must "pin" the art. If the NFT creator no longer "pins" the artwork, the artwork will disappear, even if the link is still valid.

Example:

• HashMasks | NFT 可繁殖艺术品 | 内核存储在链上，图像在链上生成并采用去中心化的存储方式

Still, the above storage methods are far more secure than the following...

The art works are stored in centralized storage

Centralized storage is the most common type of storage we use, for example, on AWS (Amazon Cloud Services) or private servers. This type of storage means that once the NFT creator stops hosting NFT art, the NFT in the hands of the buyer becomes worthless.

- Your NFT is stored on the chain, but the corresponding artwork is stored neither on the chain nor in a decentralized manner, but by the company or team that published the NFT -

In this case, your NFT is at high risk:

• 如果发行方不再存储你的 NFT 艺术品，你的 NFT 就会变得一文不值。

• 如果存储机制出现问题，你的 NFT 就会变得一文不值。

Example:

• Crypto Kitties | NFT 可繁殖猫 | 种子（DNA）存储在链上，图像在链下生成并存储在中心化的私有服务器上

• Axie | NFT 可繁殖宠物精灵类游戏 | 种子（DNA）存储在链上，图像存储在链下但是支持第三方访问

What should I pay attention to?

When buying an NFT, you need to pay attention to the following:

Is the trading platform formal?

There are many NFT trading platforms out there. Large platforms like OpenSea have a lot of NFT for sale and a lot of users. If you're not sure if a trading platform is trustworthy, search for relevant information with keywords such as "trading platform name + fraud" or "Trading platform name + Stole my money."

Is it original art?

Sometimes, cunning crooks may steal someone else's artwork and create an NFT for it, then claim that the NFT artwork is their original. This is difficult to identify, but not impossible. You need to do the following:

• 右击 NFT 的图片并复制。

• 将该图片粘贴到谷歌搜索栏。

• 与该图片相关的第一个链接（忽略广告）很有可能是原创的链接。

• 如果这个链接就是你看到的 NFT 的链接，那太好了！这说明你看到的 NFT 是原创的。如果不是，那八成是盗版的。

Another possible cause of NFT duplication is when the entire project is published on another chain. In this case, the original NFT is generally stored on Ethereum.

Is NFT art a quality investment? Or is it a big gamble?

Never invest more money in any cryptographic currency than you are willing to lose. Most NFT's do not hold their value over the long term and you need to be aware of this before you buy an NFT.

Last thought: How to think about the energy consumption of blockchain?

Too long to watch: Many blockchains are deploying solutions that save energy and reduce emissions.

Ethereum (on which the vast majority of NFT's are created) is about to receive a major update that will significantly reduce its power consumption.

Ethereum's power problems, though serious, are often overstated and used as a "Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt" tactic to scare off newcomers to the blockchain industry. For the record, not all blockchains, like Bitcoin, consume as much energy as a small country.

Personal opinion:

Despite the energy problems, blockchain is not going to die. Moreover, blockchain technology has enormous potential to put power (data ownership, transparency, sovereignty, etc.) into the hands of consumers in ways never before possible.

Many large companies are discredaling decentralized blockchains, trying to dissuaded ordinary users and buy themselves time to find an alternative to blockchain and continue to control users' data and enjoy all the rights. Facebook's foray into cryptographic currency is a good example. Very & have spent More & have spent Q & have spent Problem).

If you don't want to use blockchain because of energy consumption, wait a year or two.The blockchain industry is deploying energy saving and emission reduction solutions.