翻譯The Comprehensive Guide to NFTs
So then how did we get from blockchain to NFT art?
我們怎樣從區塊鏈獲得NFT藝術品？
Did NFTs begin with Beeple? Certainly not. Finding the precise origins of NFTs can be somewhat difficult. Unique digital items have been around for a few years. But when did one of these unique digital items cross the line from a commodity into “art”?
NFT是從Beeple開始的嗎？當然不是。找到NFT準確的起源有些困難。獨特的數字藏品已經風行有些年。但是從什麼時候開始，這些獨特的數字藏品“越界”，由商品變成了藝術品呢？
This, of course, begs the bigger question “What is art?” to which, there is no easy answer. Can digital currency—like the Bitcoins that preceded NFTs—count as art?
這可能引出了更大的問題，“什麼是藝術？”對於這個問題，答案並不簡單。像比特幣一樣的數字貨幣，先於NFT產生嗎？
Actually, maybe they can.
事實上，它們是可以的。
Money has been used in (or as) art many times before, and several artists have simply exhibited physical piles of currency as artworks in galleries. In 2017, artist Danai Anesiadou sealed a kilogram of gold in plastic and declared that it was a piece of art. And back in 1994, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty performed an “art piece” in which they burned a million British pounds in currency notes in a fire.
金錢在（作爲）藝術中的使用由來已久，很多藝術家曾經將成捆的現金作爲藝術品在畫廊中展出。在2017年，藝術家Danai將一公斤的金子封在塑料時，宣稱這就是一件藝術品。早在1994年，Bill和Jimmy展覽的藝術品，更是將一百萬英磅燒成灰燼。
Had forms of digital currency already functioned as art, prior to NFTs? It’s possible. (And is something art historians will surely debate in years to come.) However, most in the space agree that the first proper works of digital NFT art were probably CryptoPunks, closely followed by CryptoKitties, which premiered in late November of 2017. CryptoKitties was (and still is) an Ethereum-based blockchain game that allows users to collect and breed digital cats. Through the robust CryptoKitties online community, users could create their own unique cats—which exist forever as NFTs—and trade them with and sell them to one another. Within the first week of its launch, users of CryptoKitties purchased over $1M of these digital cat images!
把數字貨幣作爲藝術品的表現形式，是否早於NFT就出現了？是有可能的。（這可能是歷史學家在未來幾年會辯論的）然而，大部分人認爲，首個數字NFT是早期的密碼朋克，2017年創作的謎戀貓。謎戀貓基於以太坊，用戶可以收集並繁殖出新的謎戀貓。在迅速發展的謎戀貓線上社區中，用戶可以生成自己的謎戀貓，並作爲NFT交易。在這個產品發佈的前一週時間裏，謎戀貓的用戶購買了超過價值100萬美金的謎戀貓圖像！
While online cats might seem a bit unserious as the progenitors of a massive artistic revolution, people were buying these cats for the same reasons that anybody buys fine art. The images were nice to look at. Buying them was fun. You could make money from them because you were purchasing an appreciating asset. It was a way to show that you were “in the know” and “cultured” (or at least “online cultured”). And it was a way of expressing your interests while supporting artists financially. CryptoKitties also showed one of the defining and revolutionary features of NFT art in that it was accessible to collectors at almost any level of wealth. The most modestly priced CryptoKitty NFTs started at just $12.
數字貓可能看起來不太嚴肅，人們買這些東西的原因和買其它藝術品一樣。這些圖片看起來好看。買它們很有趣。由於購買的是增值資產，你可以從中獲利。這是一種展示你是圈內人的行爲。這是一種展示對你感興趣藝術家支持的方式。對於任一財富層級的用戶，謎戀貓都是可以參與的。最便宜的的謎戀貓NFT只需要12美金。
Sensing (correctly) that these cat NFTs were just the opening notes in the great symphony of collectible digital art, developers quickly set to work creating online marketplaces where NFTs could be bought and sold—and where artists new to the space could have their creations turned into NFTs. In 2018, a number of NFT marketplaces such as SuperRare, OpenSea, Nifty Gateway, and MakersPlace, were up and running.
謎戀貓NFT只是可收藏數字藝術的開胃菜，意識到這一點後，開發者們迅速投入到開發線上交易平臺中，在這些平臺上，NFT可以被買賣，新興藝術家也可以將他們的作品鑄造成NFT。在2018年，大量的NFT交易平臺，如SuperRare, OpenSea, Nifty Gateway和 MakersPlace開始崛起。
In most cases, these NFT marketplaces make money by taking a percentage of each NFT sold. In return, they get the NFTs in front of the eyes of buyers, and facilitate the transactions.
在多數情況下，這些NFT交易平臺通過售賣NFT，收手續費賺錢。作爲回報，他們需要展示NFT，並促成交易。
With the rise of these online marketplaces, even more players started to get in the game. Literally. One of the most prominent entities to join the NFT space after CryptoKitties was the NBA’s official platform for selling game highlights—NBA Top Shot. In its first half-year operation, NBA Top Shot has done approximately $400 million in business!
隨着這些NFT交易平臺的崛起，更多的玩家開始進入這場遊戲。在謎戀貓之後，最突出的NFT玩家就是NBA官方，將Top Shot作爲NFT售賣。在前半年的運營中，NBA Top Shot賺了4億美元！
The success of NBA Top Shot is important because it showed that a community of fans who might not be tech-inclined would take the steps to become so if it meant they could engage with their favorite sport in an exciting new way. Another, similar example would be the rock band Kings of Leon releasing an album in early 2021 as an audio NFT. Their fans were willing to make the leap to NFT, and the album made millions of dollars for the band.
NBA Top Shot的成功很重要，因爲這說明，一個並不懂技術的社羣粉絲可以和他們熱衷的活動有了新的互動方式。另外，搖滾樂隊里昂王族 在2021年初發布音頻NFT。他們的粉絲也非常樂意參與NFT，這張唱片賣了數百萬美金。
The story of the journey from blockchain to NFTs can also be seen in the way we’re watching NFTs change the nature of art collecting as a financial venture—especially when it comes to how works can be resold. To cite just one prominent example, a group of art collectors calling themselves Metapurse purchased twenty NFT artworks by Beeple in January of 2021. They then fractionalized their ownership of the works into tokens, and then they made those tokens available for sale to the public. Thousands of people bought them. Going by the value of the tokens at the time of this writing, the twenty works of art have now increased in value approximately six-fold.
從區塊鏈到NFT之旅，也能在NFT作爲藝術品是如何被二次售賣的體現出來。在一個經典的案例中，藝術品投資基金Metapurse 在2021年1月購入了Beeple的20幅NFT作品。他們把這些作品的所有權分解爲代幣的所有權，並面向公衆售賣。數以千計的用戶買入了它們。直到我寫這本書的時候，這20幅作品的價值已經超過了原價的6倍。
Try doing that with a Rembrandt.
用倫勃朗的畫作來做這件事。
Everyone’s getting into the act. Bhad Bhabie, a.k.a. the “Cash Me Outside” girl, has auctioned 20 NFTs based on her famous meme.
每個人都參與進來，被公衆稱爲“出來單挑”的女孩 Bhad Bhabie，已經拍賣了她的20個NFT作品。
So now, we’re at this point where there seems to be endless opportunity and continual innovation as we see blockchain connecting in new ways with the technology.
現在，我們處於這樣一個點，區塊鏈和技術的結果有了層出不窮的機會和創新。
At least for the moment, there appears to be an endless appetite for NFT products. And even fan bases that may not be “into tech” are proving willing to take the leap to get to NFTs. But with this success comes legitimate questions about where NFTs will go next.
至少此時此刻，NFT產品看上去有無窮盡的胃口。那些不那麼懂技術的粉絲也對NFT很感興趣。但隨之而來的，是有關NFT下一步該向哪走的合規問題。
Artists are constantly experimenting with new forms of art that can be created virtually. Developers are thinking about what else can be sold virtually (or sold as an NFT). For example, there is a booming market in virtual NFT real estate. You might not be able to own a mansion in real life, but now users can purchase one in a virtual world. We’re also seeing collectors scramble to figure out the best ways to exhibit their NFTs. Businesses are doing this too as they wish to develop and launch their own unique NFT products. And when you have a product, you want to get it in front of the eyes of your customers. But who are your customers and how are they going to find your NFTs? That’s what we’re still figuring out.
藝術家不斷地對創作形式加以試驗。開發者也在思考什麼內容可以售賣。例如，虛擬房地產NFT市場份額在不斷增長。你可能在現實生活中不曾擁有一座房子，但是現在，用戶可以在虛擬世界購買房產了。我們也在看到，收藏者迅速弄清了展覽他們NFT的最佳方式。商業經營者同時也在做，他們希望開發併發布他們自己的NFT。當你擁有一個NFT時，你希望展示給你的顧客。但是誰是你的客戶，他們在哪裏，這是我們仍在思考的問題。
From this evolving landscape, a solid piece of wisdom has already emerged: Don’t bet against NFTs. People who said that NFTs would remain small and niche were wrong.
從正在發展的趨勢來看，不要和NFT對賭。那些認爲NFT小而美的其實錯了。
Those who claimed that only people who worked in the tech industry would ever purchase NFTs were also demonstrably incorrect. And those who claimed that NFTs “might be well and good for the unwashed tech-proletariat” but “we’ll never see those things being sold by the great auction houses for millions of dollars?” You guessed it; also wrong.
那些認爲只有技術從業者才能購買NFT的人也大錯特錯了。那些認爲NFT不入流，不會被放在拍賣行賣個大價錢的想法，也錯了。
What walls are NFTs going to break through next? While nobody can predict the future for certain, in this book we’ll identify top candidates for places that NFTs will probably take off next.
NFT下一個需要打破的壁壘是什麼？沒人能準確預測未來，在本書中，我們將尋找那些即將起飛的NFT。
And one day, far in the future, in a marketplace where NFTs are so common they hardly raise an eyebrow, we may look back in amusement knowing that it seems to have all started with collectible digital cats.
在未來的某一天，當NFT非常常見，已經無法吸引人的注意力，我們回看時，會發現一切都是有謎戀貓引起的。