Minting any NFT project has its risks; the price may drop lower than the mint price and the project may turn out to be unsuccessful.
It is important to buy into an NFT project that has a strong and active team that communicates with its shareholders. Usually once a community has been built, it is very much in the project teams own interest to ‘grow’ the worth of the NFT collection, as they will usually be holding a good portion of the collection.
An NFT’s worth isn’t just derived from the ‘art’ itself. It has become more and more apparent, that an NFT’s worth comes from the ecosystem and community grown around it.
A couple things to consider before minting or purchasing an NFT:
- The ‘Art’, this is a personal thing. However, there are some projects which the majority could agree on is B or C grade art.
- The Roadmap; usually found on the projects official website. Is it a clear and defined path for the project? It should also be realistic and not promising unattainable milestones. https://www.theslowpatrol.com/#roadmap
- Will project proceeds go towards a charity? Everybody is happy to make money on NFTs and if some deserving NGO’s are helped in the process, even better!
- Is the project collaborating with good existing communities/ projects?
- Twitter followers and activity; usually a project with a decent amount of interest will have 10k+ followers. If you manage to mint one there should be good demand already for this NFT set. It is also very important for the twitter account to be active and engaging with its followers. Thugbirdz does a great job: https://twitter.com/thugbirdz
- Twitter influencers; are there members of crypto twitter, with big following talking about the project?
- The same goes for Discord members; check out the projects Discord server. It’s a promising sign if they have an active and engaging discord community. Again, Thugbirdz server is a good example: https://discord.gg/NS8Fd7Fa
- Once you’ve purchased an NFT, all good projects will have created a DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation), usually on Discord, for the holders of the collection. This is basically an exclusive ‘chat room’ for the token holders. Your wallet will get verified using the ‘grape’ bot to determine if you are holding the token. Once verified you can join discussions and help with decisions relating to the project.
- Will holding the NFT qualify for Airdrops ? This is when you will be sent NFTs free of charge, by holding. Hint always make sure you are verified on the DAO and your NFT isn’t listed for sale.
- Utility; what does owning this particular NFT allow me to do? This is often a contributor to a collections long term interest and a strong contributor to its ecosystem. Some NFTs have plans to create metaverse games where owners of the NFTs can participate and actually make more money by playing this game. A great example is https://axieinfinity.com/
You can take all these factors into consideration, but the single most important thing to consider is the ‘strength of the community’. A good NFT project creates a community network and a network needs participation and numbers for longevity.