Hurray! Today, July 6, 2022 the first crypto coin is launched. The crypto coin is called:
Van Motman Art. At the moment one coin is for sale, but in the future there will be more.


What is an NFT? An NFT is a non-fungible token. 'Non-fungible' more or less means that it is a unique item that can not be replaced by another. A 2 euro coin with the portrait of the king, for example, is replaceable. Swap one for another, and you will have exactly the same (though one could argue of course that the other euro coin is made up of other molecules). A non-fungible token is indivisible, it remains a whole. Unlike, for instance, a 2 euro coin, that can be divided and replaced by two coins of 1 euro.

The Mona Lisa, for example, is 'non-fungible' or irreplaceable. Should you swap it for another painting - let's say the Girl with the Pearl - you have quite something else in your hands. It is exactly the same with NFT's: they are unique assets. The big difference with, let's say, the Mona Lisa is all in the fact that NFT's are digital and their ownership is verified by blockchain-technology.

NFT's can actually be anything that is possible in a digital form (such as drawings, music or even an electrocardiogram or an x-ray), but much of the present excitement is about the use of NFT's to trade digital art, collectables or gaming objects and to speculate therewith.

It is digital, so can an NFT be copied?


If NFT's seem bizar to you: they are. A digital file like a picture or a painting can be copied endlessly (note: they could be protected by copyright though). And the same goes for the digital artwork that is delivered with an NFT (the NFT itself can not be copied). The idea to pay for the symbolic ownership of a digital image or object, that exists somewhere on the internet and can be captured in a screenshot within seconds, is strange at first glance.


However, proponents estimate that NFT's solve a big problem: as a mechanism NFT's make it possible to assign value to digital art. For you can go to the Louvre and paint a perfect copy of the Mona Lisa, you still don't have the ownership of the original work. NFT's are designed to give you something that can not be copied, namely the right of ownership of the work (although the artist can yet preserve the copyright and the reproduction rights, just like with physical artwork). So everyone can buy a print of the Mona Lisa, but only one person can own the original. And the same goes for digital files.


How do you buy/sell or make an NFT?


Technically, an NFT is a piece of code in a blockchain. NFT's are saved in digital wallets and you can buy or sell. You can trade NFT's online at marketplaces like OpenSea and Rarible. Look at it as an online gallery, where you can view, buy and sell digital art, trading cards and other collectors items. These marketplaces function as an auction house, where you bid on items and hope that you are the winner (or find a buyer). Some offers can be instantly bought for a fixed price as well. You can use several currencies to buy NFT's: often these are crypto coins, but some platforms welcome credit cards.