What is an NFT? A plain-English guide

An NFT, or non-fungible token, is a unique entry on a public blockchain. "Non-fungible" means it can't be swapped one-for-one with another token the way one dollar can be swapped for another. Each NFT has its own ID and its own history.

For art, an NFT works like a public certificate and ownership record that nobody can quietly edit. It says what the piece is, who created it and who holds it now, and anyone can check it.

#How an NFT works, in four ideas

• The blockchain is a shared ledger. Thousands of computers keep the same copy of the record, so no single company can change it.
• Minting is creating the NFT: writing its first entry on the ledger.
• A wallet is the account that holds an NFT. On crypto marketplaces you manage it yourself with a secret phrase.
• Gas fees are what the network charges to record a change, such as a mint or a transfer.

#NFT vs. the artwork

An NFT is not the artwork itself. On many crypto marketplaces the token points to a digital image, and buyers own the token rather than the picture. On ChainChum you buy a real piece and the NFT is its certificate of authenticity: proof of who made it and whose it is now.

#How ChainChum makes NFTs simple

• You sign in with email and pay by card.
• The seller's one-time $1 certificate fee per work comes out of its first sale; ChainChum mints the NFT on Base, a low-cost Ethereum network, and pays the gas.
• ChainChum keeps the token in a wallet it maintains for you, and keeps the ownership record in step with the blockchain.
• If you want the token in your own wallet, you can export it at any time. From there you can trade it on other NFT marketplaces; ChainChum itself never trades tokens.

Read more about NFT certificates of authenticity or see how ChainChum works.

#NFT words you will see

Word	What it means
Token	A single entry on a blockchain, such as one NFT
ERC-721	The standard format for NFTs on Ethereum networks, used by ChainChum
Mint	Create a new NFT
Wallet	An account that holds tokens
Gas	The network fee for recording a change
Provenance	The history of who made and owned a piece
Content hash	A fingerprint of the artwork's details; if anything changes, it stops matching
Royalty	A share of a resale paid to the original artist

#Questions

#Is an NFT the same as cryptocurrency?

No. Cryptocurrency is interchangeable money; an NFT is a one-of-a-kind record. They use the same kind of blockchain, but on ChainChum you never touch cryptocurrency at all.

#Do NFTs cost a lot to make?

On busy networks, gas fees can be high. ChainChum uses Base, where a mint costs cents, and pays the gas itself. The seller pays one $1 certificate fee per work, taken from its first sale; buyers pay nothing for the NFT.

#Can an NFT be copied?

The picture of an artwork can be copied, like any photo. The NFT itself can't: its ID and ownership history exist once on the blockchain, which is what makes it useful as proof.