- Some people have minted and sold their own NFTs or invested in crypto early to make money.
- Others have gotten jobs at crypto startups or invested in digital real estate on the metaverse.
- While NFTs have sold for millions, they’re still speculative assets that aren’t appropriate for everyone.
Whether it’s NFT (non-fungible token) being sold for large amounts at Christies, or the price of a single Bitcoin surpassing over $60,000, Web3, cryptocurrency, and the blockchain have exploded in popularity.
But many people who want a piece of the emerging technology don’t really know where (or how) to start.
Insider published first-person experiences written by a crypto millionaire, an NFT newbie, and a crypto CEO who invested the equivalent of $2.6 million in virtual real estate, among others. Here are their stories and what they’ve learned from minting their own NFTs to buying up real estate on the metaverse.
A beginner stumbled into buying a Beeple NFT
Investments in NFTs can turn out to be long-term investments that can grow with time. Popular NFT artist Mike Winkleman, also known as Beeple, sold an NFT for millions of dollars at auction. His name is synonymous with the NFT boom and his work is considered chase items among collectors.
One example of this is a purchase was made by Edward Fairchild who stumbled into the discovery of NFTs rather than seeking out them on his own. After being unable to purchase a limited edition NFT once it went live due to assumedly high demand, he ended up securing one of Beeple’s open editions at $969. Over time, as demand increased, the NFT he purchased went up in value to over $200,000.
An expert shares how he makes the best trades
If you’re interested in investing in crypto, there are plentiful resources, like public forums on Discord and weekly podcasts talking about the latest crypto trends.
You can also learn directly from an expert: Cooper Turley is a crypto millionaire listed on Fortune’s NFTy 50 list and has transformed early crypto investments into million-dollar profits. To catch up on particular assets you are interested in and follow, he recommends finding several media outlets that focus on trends and see what they cover.
Learn about the (complicated) process of minting your own NFT
Not all NFTs are high-end collectible items from famous creators like CryptoPunks or Bored Apes Yacht Club. In fact, an average walk in the park can turn into a crypto masterpiece.
Tobey Hazelwood turned a photo from his walk into an NFT and sold it for 0.015 eth. He says that people who are interested in minting NFTs should identify who their potential buyers could be as well as get into the marketplace as soon as possible.
Read more: I sold a photo of my morning walk as an NFT. Here are my 5 tips minting NFTs on Etherum.
Get a job at a crypto startup
Getting a job at a crypto startup is different than getting a job in other fields. According to Dan McCarthy, a top recruiter at VC firm Paradigm, there are five questions to expect when interviewing:
- How’d you get into crypto and what interests you about the space?
- What frustrates you about the existing financial system?
- What’s your ideal role?
- Tell me how you see society 20 years from now. What excites you, and what concerns you?
- If you were going to design a nonfungible-token project of your own, what would you build?
Some have made million-dollar investments in digital real estate
The blockchain has uses that go well beyond NFTs and currency. In fact, some people have looked to the metaverse and made significant investments in digital real estate.
Andrew Kiguel, CEO of Tokens.com, made a million-dollar investment in property in Decentraland, a virtual open world. He said he made this investment because he believes the metaverse can be a trillion-dollar industry and has the potential to attract customers both new and old. Through this purchase, he can expand property, advertise products, and offer goods and services to customers.