ELI5: nfts

// eli5

What is an NFT?

An NFT is like a special digital certificate that proves you own something unique online, similar to how a signed baseball card proves you have the real thing [2][5]. It's a token stored on a computer network (called blockchain) that says "this digital thing belongs to you and nobody else can claim it." [2]

Why would someone want one?

People buy NFTs because they think owning the original digital version of art, photos, videos, or other digital files makes them special and valuable [2]. It's like owning the original painting instead of a copy, except it's all digital and exists on the internet [5].

How do you get an NFT?

You can buy NFTs on special websites called marketplaces where people trade them, kind of like eBay but for digital things [4]. You need digital money (called cryptocurrency) to buy them [4].

What happened to NFTs?

Many people lost money on NFTs because the value dropped dramatically, and some people used them as scams [3]. It turned out that owning the certificate didn't always mean as much as people thought it would [3].