Hello Steemians, I welcome you all to week 10 of the Steemit Crypto Academy. I'm honored to have been part of this great community because I have gained a lot of knowledge about blockchain and cryptocurrency technology. Today's lesson was delivered by Professor @levicore on Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). This is my first time hearing about NFT and the lesson has given a good knowledge and information about NFTs. In this post, I will be discussing Decentraland as an NFT project.

Introduction to Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)

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A few months ago, I heard the news the Jack Dorsey sold the first tweet for $2.9 million and it sounds crazy to me because I was wondering why someone will buy a tweet that is visible and can be viewed by anyone. I didn't know NFTs back and didn't understand the technology behind that. After the lesson by professor @levycore and making my research, I got to understand the meaning of NFTs. NFTs are cryptographic digital assets that are unique and contain information that distinguishes them from any other asset or any other NFTs. NFTs contain unique information recorded in smart contracts which makes them irreplaceable by another token. Even if a copy of NFT is created, it can easily be verified and traced back to the original issuer because the ownership of the NFT is created and recorded on the blockchain. Unlike banknotes or other cryptocurrencies that can be exchanged for another asset if they hold the same value, NFTs cannot be exchanged or replaced directly for another asset, this is because no new NFT looks alike. Let's think of NFTs as baseball game tickets that contain unique information of the purchaser's name, date of the game, and the venue. Even if this game ticket is exchanged for another ticket, it can easily be traced back to the purchaser because it contains the unique information of the purchaser. NFTs are digital tokens that represent a unique value that cannot be interchanged or exchanged for another token. Most of the current market for NFTs revolve around collectibles such as memes, digital artworks, sports cards, in-game tokens, music, etc.
There is so many NFTs projects but I will be discussing Decentraland for the assignment.

Decentraland

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Decentraland is a decentralized 3D online virtual world built on Ethereum blockchain. Decentraland enables users to purchase, own, and develop virtual properties for online use. These virtual properties can be monetized and sold in the Decentraland marketplace for profit. Decentraland is split into 90,000 LAND. Two ERC-721 tokens exist in Decentraland, LAND, and Estate. These tokens are NFTs that give ownership of virtual properties in the Decentraland. Estate is a collection of LAND in Decentraland.
Each LAND token represents a portion of land in Decentralized. Users in possession of LAND can develop and create them for games, gambling services, renting services, 3D applications, etc. The LANDs can also be purchased and sold using a fungible token in the platform called MANA. MANA is an ERC-20 token used as a governance token by the Decentralized community. MANA can also be used to purchase other virtual assets in the Decentraland marketplace.

Decentraland is governed by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and the Decentraland foundation. MANA token is the native cryptocurrency and power drive in the Decentraland platform. Holding MANA gives you the right to participate in the governing activities on the platform. Holding a high amount of MANA gives you a high voting power over the governance in the platform.

Key Features in Decentraland

From the overview of Decentraland, it aims to create a decentralized online virtual world. There are still other features of the platform a user should be aware of and these includes:

• Avatars: As a player, you enter into Decentraland as an avatar or virtual representation of yourself. Every avatar has a passport issued by Decentraland which is connected to an Ethereum compatible wallet for storing MANA tokens and other items. Users can also purchase start outfits available in Decentraland using the MANA token.

Decentraland Avatar Source

• Builder: Owning a parcel of LAND in Decentraland automatically makes you a builder. This means you can develop your LAND by adding scenes and customizing the environment of the LAND. These scenes are already prebuilt by other developers and this is an added advantage of the open-source technology employed in Decentraland.

Decentraland Market Place

The marketplace is available for anyone who doesn't want to develop his Land or Estate. Similarly, wearable items for your avatar like caps, shoes, sunglasses can be purchased at the marketplace with MANA in case you don't like the free items offered to you. Similarly, LAND and Estates can be traded or purchased at the marketplace using the MANA token.

_{Decentraland Marketplace Source}

Decentraland Governance

Decentraland is known to be the first decentralized virtual world. The vision of Decentraland is to allow the virtual space creators to control and design the world the way they want it. Decentraland is a community-driven platform. The DAO oversees and creates the policies implemented in the virtual world. This includes land policies, wearable items allowed in the world, etc. Proposals from the community on policy update is passed on and voted on the DOAs governance interface. Holding MANA token gives you a voting right to make decisions in the world.

MANA Token

MANA is an ERC-20 token used as a native currency used for voting rights and also for exchanging assets in Decentraland. MANA token is burned to acquire a LAND token. Similarly, as explained previously, the MANA token is a fungible token that can be traded for other coins. It can also be used to purchase wearables for avatars on Decentraland.

Contract Address: 0x0f5d2fb29fb7d3cfee444a200298f468908cc942

Market Stats of MANA token

Market stats	Overviewl
Rank by MarketCap	#61
MarketCap	$2.02 billion
Total supply	2.19 billion
Circulating supply	1.578 billion
24hour trading volume	$394 million
All-time high	$1.63
All-time low	$0.007883
ROI since launch	4853.35%

MANA Token Chart

_{MANA Chart Source}

Where to Buy MANA

MANA can be exchange for other digital assets and can be exchanged in major crypto exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, Houbi, Uniswap, Kraken, Gemini, etc. Binance and Coinbase have the highest trading volume of MANA. Similarly, MANA is traded against BTC in exchanges and can be bought with fiat currencies like USD, EUR, and GBP.

_{MANA Exchange Source}

Where to Store MANA

MANA has gained dominance in the cryptocurrency industry. Since it's an ERC-20 token, it can be stored in any wallet that supports Ethereum tokens. MANA can be stored in Ledger wallet, Trust wallet, Metamask wallet, Coinbase wallet, etc.

_{MANA Wallets Source}

In conclusion, NFTs are beneficial for content creators and digital enthusiasts. Certification and licensing of collectibles like digital artworks, music, memes, and game cards can be secured to avoid piracy or copyright theft. Decentraland is a great project in blockchain technology that provides ownership of virtual properties to users. Users can design, develop and monetize their LAND.

Useful links:
Decentraland Website
Decentraland Whitepaper
Decentraland explorer

Thank you Professor @levycore for this amazing lesson.

Best regards to professor @alphafx