NFTs, Blockchain and Web3: The next kinds of nerds are being raised

When you hear or talk about the word nerd, what comes to your mind? I guess it’s a picture of some antisocial kid probably with glasses who has no friends in real life but knows a lot of stuff, always reading or trying to solve puzzles. Or that gamer kid. Or maybe that anime Weeb who doesn’t like to talk about any other thing apart from anime.

Well, you are correct. However, modern-day technology has given rise to a new set of nerds, who may not have realized they’re one.

I refer to these nerds as the Web3 freaks. Some of these nerds are anonymous some not anonymous with weird art PFPs( Profile Pictures) and all they have is their phone, or laptop then some set of codes called the private and public keys. (long combination of unreadable codes that grant access to what is known as a crypto wallet).

If you’re reading this and you’re at this point and you aren’t bored. (Wait, Why should you be bored, there’s a lot to learn) Then, there’s a 10000% chance that you must have heard about cryptocurrencies and maybe Blockchain, or NFTs, in that priority. Alright, I won’t exaggerate, don’t let me be too sure but if you follow online trends then you must have heard.

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You should honestly, cause that is what is trending in the world today.

According to Oxford Dictionary, Crypto Currencies are digital currencies in which transactions are verified and records maintained by a decentralized system using cryptography, rather than by a centralized authority.

Then the Blockchain is simply a kind of ledger that allows for information to be stored on it which can not be mutated or erased thus making them recorded as it is forever. Information stored on the Blockchain is arranged into blocks which are connected to themselves by a chain. Very simple.

Except you’re a tech person, you may not need to know how exactly the stuff works. You can only rest assured that the Blockchain is safe to store and secure information. Because it cannot be tampered with. The Blockchain ecosystem is also referred to as Web 3.0 (The third version of the world wide web).

There are a lot of Blockchains the first being the Bitcoin Blockchain which houses the first cryptocurrency, with the same name. Bitcoin enjoys the privilege of being the first and most basic cryptocurrency. However other Blockchains started coming with the next most popular called Ethereum. 

The difference between the first and Ethereum is that Ethereum allows for the deployment of smart contracts which means you can build on them. You as a developer can build your own Crypto Currency over the Ethereum Blockchain. See it like a kind of open society where anyone can contribute and see Bitcoin as a compound with only one building and no other space in the land for more buildings.

Read also: Ethereum Triple Halving explained: All you need to know

Don’t see the Blockchain as a concept, see it as a world where fresh concepts are coming in on a daily basis. The Blockchain is not only used for currencies and coins, there are a lot of other functions which could come out of the Blockchain, proof of ownership of physical or virtual things, certificates, Licenses etc can be stored on the Blockchain since it will be “cast in stone”. It can only be transferred to another person who is also on the Blockchain.

Then there are NFTs, short for Non-Fungible Tokens. These are tokens or items on the Blockchain which are unique and identified by their ability to not be replicated (two NFTs’ backend codes can never be the same). Each NFT is unique.

These NFTs can be either picture, Documents, audio files etc. Basically, anything can be stored online but this time, it cannot be replicated but can only be sent from one storage to another. 

The most popular kinds of NFTs are pictures and art, they are traded on online NFT Marketplaces.

Although anyone can create NFTs and sell, however, there are very popular collections with popular creators with a certain number of NFTs in these collections. They are minted sometimes for free and sometimes paid for. (MINTING is the process of bringing an NFT to life for the first time by collecting it from the creator and revealing it in the collector’s wallet) 

These NFTs have different purposes or reasons for being created, depending on what the creators intended for them. Some of which are:

1. The knowledge that these NFTs provide certain future or present utilities which are valuable. Such as Membership in certain clubs or societies, tickets to shows, access to buildings and so much.
2. Beautiful and rare art is in demand because it’s popular or the artist is.
3. Makes the holder eligible for airdrops of some Crypto Currency.
4. Gaming utilities.
5. Backed by the holders as a community. (Community-backed NFT collections)

This does not include cash grab collections, gambles, pump and dump collections (all these are possible because the Blockchain is decentralised and there’s no one to prevent these from happening yet).

These NFT collections publicize their collections prior to launch or mint and interested people would have been working hard (grinding) for either OG spots or Whitelist (WL) spots.

Read also: Dami.eth: All you need to know about Ethereum Name Service (ENS) and how to get one 

Sometimes, the collection is minted for free and other times some amount of money would be paid for them. Those who are grinding to mint are the nerds I was referring to, they can be Diamond Handers (Who hold coins for long) or Paper handers (who sell as soon as they see profit). You can ape into a project and also fade a project. When you ape, you buy into it and when you fade you ignore may be the cause of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubts).

These NFT Mfers as they call themselves have created an online presence for themselves and they have terms that they use in their communities like the ones used above.

Some of the terms are:

Ser meaning sir, or gib for give, wen for when, Lambo means making a lot of money, hope and hopium when you expect to Lambo from a project, cope and opium when you are feeling regret that others are making Lambo but you’re not because you faded. Very simple right?

The lifestyle of the nerd

Some of these nerds call themselves Degen (Short for Degenerate) a term used to refer to someone who lost their senses of reasoning because they have used a lot of money to ape into a project without thinking of the consequences or doing enough research and running the risk of losing their monies, especially if the project rugs (when the team behind the project disappear into the thin air) and the prices go into Zero. (The nightmare of any NFT nerd) no one wants to be part of a rug, except you’re a scammer trying to create one though. 

Then lastly, we have ALPHA callers, this is pretty much someone who posts about a project before it starts to mint or pump. They take pride in them knowing about projects first and shilling (announcing) them to people. 

When an NFT is minted for the first time that’s a primary market (whether it’s a free mint or not)  it goes into the wallet and once listed in the marketplace, that’s the secondary market of the NFTS. Some Degens wait till secondary before they ape into projects or NFT collections. When floor prices (lowest price in a collection) are going up some people rush to buy out of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and if one is unlucky, they’ll be used as exit liquidity (being the last to buy before prices start to go down).

If this is you, you can try to console yourself by telling yourself WAGMI (We all Gonna Make It) so you won’t be depressed and stop grinding thinking you’re NGMI (Not gonna make it). You know how a motivational speaker tells you to get up and go, you keep on telling other LFG (Let’s fucking Go).

Read also: Be it Tolu or Chukwudi, the Definition of Your Name on Urban Dictionary Might Leave You Horrified

All to keep up the opium in you. 

They have visible communities almost everywhere on the internet, Twitter, Discord and Telegram are majorly where there are high concentrations of these communities.

Getting started with NFTs as a hobby or a job is not really hard, you must be willing, creative, ready to lose, have a strong mind, have enough liquidity (cash, a good sum of it), enough knowledge and skills, ready to learn on the job, meet like-minded people, be smart and most importantly, learn the terms and slangs used. They’ll get you a long way in your journey. 

In conclusion, the Web3 or Blockchain ecosystem provides a whole new world of opportunities and challenges, creativity and innovations, also new ways to make money and add value to people you just have to know how to find your way around the ecosystem and make it work to favour you. You don’t need to confine yourself to a box in the Blockchain world. Lots of opportunity awaits you. 

I’ll be talking about the opportunities provided by Blockchain technology and the different ways to maximize them in a different article.

This article was written by Abdulazeez Akintide Shittu