There's been a lot of talk about NFTs over the past year. They're all over the media, in the press, they're getting plenty of airplay, and it's no surprise seeing as the world's biggest brands, personalities, and businesses are getting in on the NFT action.
An introduction to NFTs—and how to avoid the dreaded ‘NFT drop’ crash
- 09.02.2022
- Guides
- Jason
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How to stop your NFT website crashing with a Virtual Waiting Room
But for many, let's consider the average man and woman on the street still getting to grips with what Bitcoin might be and what blockchain does - NFTs are some next-level confusion.
Is it just some trend for the funkiest virtual providers? Something Gucci, Kanye, and Nike are playing with to boost their SM figures?
Not in the slightest. NFTs are making a lot of people a lot of money. They're here to stay, and they're going to be huge.
So, what on earth are non-fungible tokens?
Let's start with a few basic blockchain terms and phrases that might help you wade through our first lesson in NFTs.
Non-fungible token
Fungibility is the ability to be exchanged. A pound (£) is considered fungible because we can exchange it for another pound. It doesn't matter which particular pound you have; it's all just pounds. Art isn't fungible, neither is music, because each creation is a unique one-off (or part of a limited edition, at least). Your house is non-fungible, so is your signed football shirt and even your toaster. There aren't any others just like it to represent the same precise value.
Each NFT is a unique digital token that offers some kind of value to its user, even if that's just 'cool points' for collectors. Typically, NFTs are utilized as a digital proof of authenticity, registered on a super-secure blockchain - a public record - where it's easy to trace their movement, activity, value, and ownership.
NFTs can be almost anything. They started as digital images and gifs; they progressed into digital art, music, social media posts, and into anything and everything virtual. Now they're being attached to physical items to dictate ownership of artefacts and commodities as well as becoming the center of massive virtual worlds, where everything you own, buy, or wear there, is an NFT.
Blockchain
What's blockchain, then? The mythical world where NFTs are born?
Blockchain is a digital ledger made up of unchangeable, digitally-recorded 'blocks'. Each block is chained to the next using a cryptographic signature. The ledger is open for all to see and is synchronized between 'nodes'. All nodes must agree that a transaction is valid before creating the encryptions required for each new block.
Mining and minting
Mining is the process required to create blocks on the blockchain. 'Miners' use their computers to solve cryptographic problems that verify the block. When a block is successfully created, the computer earns a Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency as a reward.
Minting is similar to mining but where validators create or register the assets. Validators pay a 'stake' to authenticate the information yet receive transaction fees from the system users. Those transaction fees are known as 'gas fees'.
We'll drop a few more explanations as and when necessary throughout the article. Keep your eyes peeled.
“I've seen them sell for millions-why are NFTs so expensive?”
Our human 'need' or 'want' makes them that way. If enough people want to claim ownership of a unique work of art, item or property, an auction has each person bid against each other until the price seems quite incredible to the average working Joe.
so who's buying all of these digital acquisitions? People interested in being part of history with a lot of spare cash. And as NFTs develop into items with real monetary value, they're bought and sold as investments, reaping their owners vast profits along the journey. Early NFTs sell for millions of pounds, and new NFTs command just as high figures in specific cases.
Successful NFT projects
There are plenty of successful non-fungible tokens projects launching each day. 2022 is set to see even more breakthroughs and applications than in the last few years.
And if you think NFT isn't big business, think again. Here are some of the biggest earners in NFT of 2021, according to Business Insider. According to their data from nonfungible.com, the total NFT sales for 2021 reached a whopping $14.4billion.
- CryptoPunks - launched June 2017
Total trade volume $2.88billion, price per NFT: $288k - Bored Ape Yacht Club - launched April 2021
Total trade volume $1.05billion, price per NFT $104k - Decentraland - launched July 2020
Total trade volume $904million, price per NFT $9k - Art Blocks Curated - launched May 2020
Total trade volume $805million, price per NFT $17k - The Sandbox - launched October 2020
Total trade volume $490million, price per NFT $4.75k
Just like the release dates for concert and festival tickets, new fashion lines, trendsetting toys or the latest Nikes, the demand from these much-anticipated releases and drops creates massive traffic. In just the same way, a non-fungible tokens drop can cause havoc on poorly-prepared websites.
So, how do we navigate a sizeable NFT drop? Selling NFTs fairly is what users want, as traditional selling leaves them open to substantial price hikes for 'gas fees' during the 'minting' process.
What's the answer to all of these NFT complications? A non-fungible tokens virtual waiting room, of course.
The NFT virtual waiting room
Fairness for NFT buyers relies on each vendor being prepared for overwhelming traffic with website-crashing potential.
If, on drop day, traffic surges crash your website, you're not going to sell anything, and you'll earn nothing but a trail of unhappy users disappointed in your brand and website.
Don't think that's an exaggeration in this day and age of tech - some of the biggest operators have had NFT crashes. The smart ones are utilizing virtual waiting rooms - just like Queue-Fair - to solve a whole host of possible issues.
The solution to massive traffic surges - the NFT virtual waiting room, of course
The beauty of filtering off all of that damaging unpredicted and unpredictable traffic means that you don't lose a single visitor. Instead, you maintain operations, and you can keep all of your traffic safely lined up, ready to filter back in, to complete their transactions.
The problem of excessive gas fees
Each new NFT requires gas fees to activate - even on a fixed price NFT. It takes some form of payment to validate new transactions on the blockchain. As buyers fight for their NFTs, they bid against each other, driving up these gas fees. They're also driven up by whales and bots programmed to win the bid at any cost. The final cost of the NFT is often far greater than the original price, in some extreme cases, thousands of per cent more.
By placing your buyers in a queue - in a Queue-Fair virtual waiting room - each transaction is removed from any gas-war bidding. Limiting the outflow of the waiting room delivers the appropriate number into the transaction page, avoiding the bidding that hikes up prices.
Virtual queuing doesn't just keep your website safe; it eliminates your visitors from unfair charges and delivers a far fairer system for all.
The Power of Social Proof - NFTs
Have you ever walked past a restaurant and seen it packed with diners and thought, "That place is really popular - it must be really good"? That's Social Proof in action - when people can see that demand for a product or a service is high, it reinforces the value of the product or service in question, resulting in more sales. With Queue-Fair, you can show your NFT buyers how many people are ahead of them in the queue, reinforcing the notion that the NFT you are selling is of value.
NFTs are new and your buyers will always want to see that your NFT is in demand, as a highly sought-after NFT is more likely to grow in value over time. A Queue-Fair Virtual Waiting Room is the best way to show them - so the more tweets you see about the queue, the better.
Unique Queue-Fair features that make life better for everyone
Queue-Fair's virtual waiting rooms provide countless ways to protect you and your visitors from an unsuccessful visit, with many advantages thrown in to keep everyone informed and in control. However, we've got a few added extras that set us apart from the competition.
Receive visitors at the rate you want
Queue-Fair sends visitors through to your transaction site at the rate that you specify in the Queue-Fair Portal. We're the best in the business at giving you the exact number that you want each and every minute - and you can change the Queue Rate setting any time in the Portal to ensure your system is selling NFTs as fast as it can, but no faster.
The change is applied instantly, even when there are hundreds of thousands of people waiting to buy. This means you can keep selling your NFTs consistently throughout the drop.
The Hold Page
With Queue-Fair, you can put any queue on hold whenever you need to.
Why would you need to do that? Well, you might need to take a break in the activity while products clear from abandoned baskets, allowing them to be inserted back into your unreserved inventory.
Keeping visitors informed at every step is imperative to a stress-less operation, and messaging is simple with Queue-Fair. Preparing a selection of messages for any eventuality will make life easy, and our preview option will give you the peace of mind that everything's exactly how you'd like it to be before taking things live.
Additionally, any new visitors arriving at your site while a queue is on hold are added at the back. Everything remains the same first-come-first-served fair system your users demand.
The 'Admit One' button
What about when your drop is down to the last few NFTs for sale?
The Queue-Fair 'admit one' button delivers the greatest control of admission to your transaction pages ever. As it states, only the user at the very front of the queue will be permitted to move into the transaction area and nobody else.
This level of control is incredibly advantageous when you're down to the last few items of stock.
No other virtual waiting room provider offers this feature-for total control, it has to be Queue-Fair.
Be prepared for any eventuality, with safer systems and fairer processes
Queue-Fair's integration experts will walk you through the best ways to prepare for any NFT drop or NFT pre-sale. Our system offers unique advantages that other virtual queues don't, ensuring vendors are selling non-fungible tokens fairly, leaving nothing but happy users at the end of each sale.
We're excited about what the NFT world will bring to our lives, in both business and leisure. So keep checking back to our blog for updates and articles about NFTs, their operations, successes, and integrations.
Whatever you need, we're here to help deliver an effortless system for your buyers, one that takes the issues out of every NFT drop and sale, keeping your sales systems rolling and reaping the rewards.
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