Africa is catching up fast with the digital art . Recently more and more African artists have enjoyed income generation through NFT auctions. But what exactly is NFT?
NFT is an acronym that stands for non-fungible token, which means guaranteed to be unique.
The NFT is a digital certificate of authenticity associated with an object, which can be
a digital file (such as an image, video, animation, photo, sound or text, for example).
It proves that its owner is the sole legitimate holder.
This certificate is theoretically tamper-proof and cannot be duplicated.
It is designed using blockchain technology, a decentralised and secure network for storing and transmitting information that keeps track of transactions and has enabled the rise of cryptocurrencies.
An NFT owner has a digital wallet in which they store the digital certificates they have purchased.
NFTs introduce the notion of scarcity into sectors as diverse as art, music, design, video games or fashion.
The system allows creators to earn income from their work when the NFT is resold.
NFTs arrived to the general public in 2017, with the platform Cryptokitties – a game in which players can buy and breed digital kittens, whose value has skyrocketed.
Source: AFP, Letemps.ch, Nonfungible.com, L’atelier BNP Paribas
This report was produced by Mwanzo TV with the support of Code for Africa and Deutsche Welle Akademie Kenya