Project Week

Block 5
Team 9

Adepeju Abajo s1144693

Beatriz de Rosa Soares s1144286
Kamilla Mirodilova s1150170
Soheil Azaripour s1141112
Sumário
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
NFTs History and background................................................................................................................3
NFTs' Future......................................................................................................................................4
Design process.......................................................................................................................................4
The design process of artwork for the NFT consisted of three phases:.............................................4
Final Design.......................................................................................................................................6
Sales process and Results......................................................................................................................8
1. Choose a Platform.....................................................................................................................8
2. Make a crypto wallet.................................................................................................................9
3. Pricing the NFT...........................................................................................................................9
4. Create a listing.........................................................................................................................10
5. Accepting an offer....................................................................................................................10
6. Marketing................................................................................................................................10
References...........................................................................................................................................10
Introduction
NFT, or "Non-Fungible Token," is an acronym. It is a kind of digital asset that is kept on a
blockchain and denotes ownership of a special good or piece of material, like a piece of digital art, a
video, a song, or a collectible (Ante, 2022).

Each NFT is unique and cannot be duplicated, unlike conventional cryptocurrencies like
Bitcoin or Ethereum, which are interchangeable and have the same value. Original digital content or
limited-edition versions of already existing content are frequently represented by NFTs (Sharma,
2021).

The team of five students created the NFT, published it on an open market and promoted
our piece of art on personal social media accounts in order to reach our final aim – selling the NFT.

The group benefited from the creation of NFTs in a number of ways:

1. Hands-on experience with blockchain technology, which is a growing interest in the

IT sector, by learning how to build NFTs. This experience can be beneficial for the
future and help with differentiating in the job market and being ready for future IT
employment.
2. It encouraged creativity as the group tried to express and explore the artistic side,
making the NFT was a creative and enjoyable experience.
3. Deepened the group’s knowledge about entrepreneurship and business by
uploading and selling the NFT on the open markets.
4. During the process of making the project it was developed a deeper appreciation for
the value of digital assets and the significance of safeguarding personal digital
creations as a result of this.

Overall, the process of developing NFTs was a beneficial learning opportunity for the team,
assisting in acquiring new knowledge and engagingly exploring cutting-edge technology.
NFTs History and background
As per Sharma (2023) “Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are simply assets that have been
tokenized using a blockchain”, these tokens are assigned unique identification codes and metadata
to help differentiate them from other tokens. Non-Fungible Tokens can be traded and exchanged for
money based on their market value and the value assigned to them by their owners. According to
Nadini, et al. (2021), there are different main categories of NFTs which include art, games, and
collectibles.

Quantum was the first NFT to be created, and it was minted on Namecoin in 2014 by Kevin
McCoy, following this, other NFTs were launched, however, it was in 2017 that NFT began to gain
traction, as explained by Hamilton (2022), with the first collection of NFTs was launched on the
Ethereum blockchain, this then enabled the creation, programming, and storage of the token, as
well as trading built directly into the blockchain. Aharon & Demir (2021) add that NFTs can be used
to represent ownership in almost any asset, from digital art to virtual real estate. This has made
demonstrating ownership safer and simpler.

Between 2020 and 2021, NFTs become more mainstream and reaching out beyond digital
art, as Creighton (2022) gives examples such as Axie Infinity, one of the first blockchain games, is an
online video game based on NFTs and Ethereum.

Hamilton (2022) says 2021 was also the designated as “the year of the NFT” seeing a massive
explosion and surge in the supply and demand for NFTs, which was primarily due to the significant
changes that occurred in the art market when the prestigious auction houses: Christies and Sotheby,
began selling their art online such as Beeple's Everydays: The First 5000 Days NFT was sold at
Christie's for $65,000,000 million.

The following are some of the benefits of NFTs as described by Sharma (2023):

1. NFTs are useful for identifying security.

2. NFTs can also be used to consolidate investments. Like stocks, it can be used to
represent ownership in a business.
3. Another advantage is that NFTs can be used as proof of ownership. It aids in
associating ownership with a single account, ensuring that buyers are protected
from the risks of fraudulent NFTs.
4. NFTs have distinct characteristics that demonstrate their potential to add value.
5. NFTs are transferable in the sense that they can be freely traded on the market with
a wide range of trading options.

Non-Fungible tokens are shaping the digital world. It is now taking blockchain to new heights
in the new era.

NFTs' Future

There is little doubt that NFTs are here to stay and will undoubtedly play a significant role in
the future art world. Now that NFTs are in the mainstream, there are endless opportunities and
unlimited potential for their future with visible advancement in NFTs as technology advances. There
is widespread speculation that NFTs will play a significant role in the future metaverse, primarily by
serving as a digital representation of any physical objects possessed.
Design process
The design process of artwork for the NFT consisted of three phases:
1. Brainstorming for the idea of the artwork.
2. Creating the artwork.
3. Post-production of the artwork.

For the first phase, an idea was need that would be visually appealing and marketable at the
same time. It can be easy to create a piece of artwork that catches the eyes and viewers, but not
many would be willing to pay for it. Therefore, the group tried to use a subject that already has
enough fans, “music”. Music is not only art itself, but also gave use enough room for creativity while
the group could think about marketing aspects of the project as well. In order to exaggerate the
importance of music in the work, the group thought about something in contradiction with music,
which is silence. Showing the concept of music, in a place where there is absolute silence, could
convey the importance of the concept and the product that could be used in the artwork as well,
thus, a combination of music and silence illustrated an astronaut listening to music was created.

Having that in mind, the group now needed to turn the thoughts into visuals. In order to
achieve this, it was decided to ask one of the AI photo generators to give us an example of what we
could create, by describing what came to mind, using DALL-E by OpenAI to reach to that point. After
a few tries and some trial and errors, these were the results that we had with the phrase “3d render
of an astronaut holding a boombox in his hand, having a headphone on his helmet, walking on the
moon”:
Figure 1 - First attempt on creating an art for NFT

Source: Created by group in DALL-E

 Figure 2 - First attempt on creating an art for NFT

Source: Created by group in DALL-E

Figure 3 - First attempt on creating an art for NFT

Source: Created by group in DALL-E

Then the group worked on some of these photos with adding more elements to them, so
that it would get closer to what we had in mind:
 Figure 4 – Second attempt on creating an art for NFT

Source: Created by group in DALL-E

Now that the thoughts were visualized, the final design could be better worked on.

Final Design
At this stage, the group worked on some different ideas, and these are some of the results:
Figure 5 - Attempt as final result for NFT

Source: Created by group

 After having the artworks ready, the group decided it would be best to get some feedback
from the professor during the session that was held on 15-02-2023 at Brinklaan building, the work
was finalized with the Figure 6 as the final result:
Figure 6 – Final artwork for NFT

Source: Created by group

Sales process and Results
In regards to the sales process of NFTs, there can be simplified and separated in a few steps
to describe what, how and why said step was done.

According to Qayum (2022), the sales process for NFTs can be divided in 5 steps.

1. Choose a Platform
This is the first step once the NFT is created. Since NFTs can have different types, an
appropriate platform should be chosen. There are a few different popular platforms such as Rarible,
Binance, Shopfy and Opensea, the ladder being the one chosen by the group to display and put the
art for sale.

Opensea was chosen as the appropriate marketplace due to being the largest digital
marketplace for buying and selling NFTs, together with supporting different NFT standards and
sellers being able to choose between selling in different cryptocurrencies, such as Polygon and
Ethereum. However, a downside from using this platform could be that there are a lot of offers being
presented, which can oversaturate a market together with the fact that the platform has a trading
fee of 2,5% charged to the seller (Qayum, 2022).

2. Make a crypto wallet

Qayum (2022) continues to describe the next step for selling a NFT, or at least, putting it up
for sale, which is creating a crypto wallet. To list the NFT in any platform, it is needed to have a
cryptocurrency wallet. There are also a few different wallets to choose from, each having some pros
and cons, the most popular are MetaMask, Trust Wallet and Coinbase Wallet, the last being the one
chosen by the group.

Coinbase Wallet is presented similarly to digital wallets, which according to Qayum (2022),
most users already have some understanding and recognition. The company also makes sure that it
is the “easiest way to transform money in NFT” (Coinbase, 2022). Which was easy for the group to
set up and configure in a matter of minutes with Open Sea to actually be able to put the NFT for sale.

3. Pricing the NFT

When it comes to pricing the NFT, it was quite difficult for the group to set a price that nicely
correlates with the art being provided. As the account was not already a known one, with some loyal
customers and people looking for designs by this specific creator, a sale might be more difficult to
occur. However, Qayum (2022) presents some key points to be taken into consideration for pricing a
NFT:

 30-day average price: When an NFT is put for sale, it can be re-sold many times,
creating an average price set for said NFT, which also impacts the category it is set
on;
 Rarity: When NFTs are created, there might have some aspects that make it more
valuable, as an example, there are some artists and creators who sell variations of a
similar design, this way, they can create limited variants with a specific characteristic
which brings the value of those to be higher;
 Utility: Some NFTs can be traded in metaverses or games, or even making the buyers
part of a specific club or group that receives perks on future purchases – the higher
the perk, the higher the price can be set;
  Creator Rapport: Some creators are already set and well known in the market, when
a creator doesn’t have a track record, rapport or isn’t even know, it is better to set
the price as lower, this way, people can be interested in their NFTs and eventually
they can grow and have more power over the prices set for their NFTs.

For this project, the group decided to check some NFTs similar to the one presented in terms
of: topic and creator rapport and set the price as 0.03 ETH (Ethereum), which correlated to
approximately 50 Euros. As for the topics presented above: The creator doesn’t have any rapport to
rely on, which impacts on the categories the NFT falls under, due to this, the art could not use an
average price or be ranked with any Rarity. This NFT also does not have a utility, which would
undeniably valorise greatly the price to be set.

4. Create a listing
This topic in linked directly to the pricing of an NFT, this is because to create a listing, it is
important to set which categories or attributes it will fall under or be linked to, as well as providing
the price to which it will be listed.

A listing is created similarly as a listing to sell any other object in a marketplace online,
setting up an interesting title, setting a price and a description. However, some key differences are
described by Qayum (2022), such as: choosing to sell as either a single or multiple collectible (based
on how many assets the creator would want to supply), the author also gives some tips on how to
better perform, such as explaining in the description why that title was chosen and how it correlates
to the NFT itself. In the case of the group, the title chosen was “Starman Astronaut Listening to
Music”, “Starman” being a link to the music “Starman” by David Bowie and “Astronaut Listening to
Music” being more of a descriptive term to draw attention to the NFT.

5. Accepting an offer
If all goes well, there might be an offer from people to buy the NFT, if this happens, the
platform will send a notification, but the creator can also check regularly to see if there were any
offers made.

As from the moment this paper is being prepared, the NFT was not sold or had any offers to
it.

6. Marketing
As a final step, added by the group, a step of “marketing” was creating, this way, the group
members can share on their social media about the NFT and ask friends and relatives to have a look
and, if interested, buy the project. This is a clever tactic to provide some traffic to your NFT and
maybe find an interested buyer.

7. Results
The result of these project was the development of an art and upload to an NFT
marketplace, as per the 13th of March 2023, the NFT had 27 views on the site, however, no offers
were made so far. This can be due to a few different reasons, as previously explained, however, the
group has the opinion that it is mainly due to the seller having a low rapport and not sold any other
art or even having more art for sale on the website. As a solution for this problem, the seller could
create more art and put for sale, specially if it had similarities of content between them, as well as
re-price the sales for a lower cost, specially at first while rapport is being built.
References
Aharon, D. Y. & Demir, E., 2021. NFTs and asset class spillovers: Lessons from the period around the
COVID-19 pandemic. Finance Research Letters, 29 10.

Ante, L., 2022. The Non-Fungible Token (NFT) Market and Its Relationship with Bitcoin and
Ethereum. FinTech, 29 06, pp. 216-224.

Coinbase, 2023. Coinbase Wallet. [Online]

Available at: https://www.coinbase.com/wallet
[Accessed 02 March 2023].

Creighton, J., 2022. NFT Timeline: The Beginnings and History of NFTs. [Online]
Available at: https://nftnow.com/guides/nft-timeline-the-beginnings-and-history-of-nfts/
[Accessed 05 March 2023].

Hamilton, A., 2022. The Beginning Of NFTs - A Brief History Of NFT Art. [Online]
Available at: https://www.zenofineart.com/blogs/news/the-beginning-of-nfts-a-brief-history-of-nft-
art
[Accessed 05 March 2023].

Nadini, M. et al., 2021. Mapping the NFT revolution: market trends, trade networks, and visual
features, s.l.: Sci Re.

Qayum, A., 2022. How to Sell an NFT: Guide for 2023. [Online]
Available at: https://www.oberlo.com/blog/how-to-sell-nft
[Accessed 02 March 2023].

Sharma, R., 2023. Non-Fungible Token (NFT): What It Means and How It Works. [Online]
Available at: https://www.investopedia.com/non-fungible-tokens-nft-5115211
[Accessed 02 March 2023].
STATEMENT OF CONTRIBUTION
FOR GROUP ASSIGNMENTS
This Statement of Contribution is for the group assignment which is part of the assessment
requirements of the Module: - Project Week #1 with the Module code PW41_BL1n5_MBM_APL.

In order to ensure the equal contribution, hence a fair assessment on the group project, this
Statement of Contribution was confirmed and signed by the group members who actively
participated in the final submission.

Our group includes:

(Information of active group participants only)

Full name S-number Signature

Adepeju Abajo s1144693
Beatriz de Rosa Soares s1144286
Kamilla Mirodilova s1150170
Soheil Azaripour s1141112

We hereby declare and confirm that the group report was conducted based on the equal contribution
of all above mentioned individuals. We acknowledge that each member will receive the same
assessment result awarded for the report and for any forthcoming issue we are in agreement that
every member will be held liable.

Type your text

*Note: This document is to be included in the group report as a part of the

acknowledgement.