Thinking about what to gift this holiday season? Here’s how you can gift NFTs

People are bidding thousands to own these collectibles, and some are even selling for millions. A recent report by Cointelegraph revealed that people have spent over $9 billion in NFT sales so far—and total sales are expected to reach $17.7 billion by the end of 2021.

The holidays are upon us, and with NFTs emerging as the frenzy, there’s a good chance you’ll be hearing from friends and family enticed by the possibility of buying NFTs as a form of investment. Here, we explore why – and how – to give NFT as a gift.

(Want to know more about NFTs, take a quick detour to this in-depth explainer and circle back.)

An NFT for everyone

Gifts can vary from clothes, jewelry, real estate, arts, etc— but, what if you can gift all of this digitally. An NFT is essentially a digital file that comes with ownership rights. Anything in digital format can qualify, including pieces of art, sports cards, memes, videos, and audios, which are once “tokenised,” can be bought, sold, and even gifted.

This holiday season, you could send a fashionable NFT. Like those viral sneaker designs created by RTFKT or Indian fashion designer Manish Malhotra’s hand-drawn sketch of his most popular creations.

There are multiple virtual platforms where you can buy a digital replica of clothes and bags offered by Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton, and several other clothing giants.

If you know someone who is specifically interested in real estate then there’s some good news your way. It is possible for you to buy a piece of digital real estate and gift it as well. The sale of Canadian artist Krista Kim’s virtual “Mars House,” which traded for $500,000 on a non-fungible token marketplace, shows that the concept has long since ceased to be gamesmanship and become a serious investment.

In the sports circle, NFTs are quite the buzz— today’s card collectors have shifted their attention to sports NFTs, that offer proof of unique ownership of a video, photo, or other digital capture of an important moment in sports history. So instead of gifting physical trading cards, you now have an option to gift digital cards of your favorite players including Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Leonel Messi, etc.

How to gift an NFT (step-by-step guide)

If buying an NFT sounds like the perfect gift solution, but you’re a first-timer – don’t worry because we have you covered. Here, we explain how to buy, store and gift an NFT.

Step 1: Create a wallet

The first step is to create a cryptocurrency wallet and add crypto coins to it, It should be noted that most NFT marketplaces only accept Ethereum (ETH).

A crypto wallet stores the private keys that give the user access to their cryptocurrencies—allowing one to send and receive cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. It should be noted that your coins are stored on the blockchain, and the private key is required to authorise transfers of those coins to another person’s wallet.

This wallet enables you to pay Blockchain gas fees, more about it later on. For now, browse your way over to download a wallet preferably— Coinbase, Exodus, and Ledger NanoX.

Step 2: Choose an NFT marketplace

There are several marketplaces available, and each functions slightly differently, including in terms of what assets they provide.

Platforms like OpenSea and SuperRare display every type of NFT – from art-based tokens to collectibles, gaming NFTs and more, but other platforms like Larva Labs or CryptoPunks have a niche focus.

So depending on what to gift, you will have to choose an NFT marketplace.

Step 3: Connect your wallet

To start buying on any NFT marketplace, you’ll need to connect your crypto wallet with the platform, via middleware such as Metamask Wallet.

This wallet enables you to pay Blockchain gas fees, more about it later on. For now, browse your way over to metamask.io where you can download the app or add the chrome extension. Once Metamask is installed, you can simply proceed by linking it to the marketplace.

Step 4: Find a gift

Once you’ve found a suitable marketplace, it’s time to set up an account and start buying. Most NFT marketplaces function similar to eBay, meaning that you need to bid to make a new purchase.

Some NFT marketplaces also have a “Buy it Now” option,  giving you certainty about being able to purchase the item.

Navigate through the NFT platform and find the collections you’re looking for, type your search terms into the bar at the top of the page – you can also specify the type of sale you’re interested in by using the “buy now”.

Once you’ve found your NFT and clicked to make your purchase, you’ll need to think about gas fees. Purchasing an NFT requires a Blockchain transaction, for that you will be asked to pay a gas fee. Send some Ether to your Metamask, and you’re good to go. ‘Gas fees’, are the transactional fees that users pay for minting their smart contracts into the blockchain.

The value of the fee changes according to the demand rate of that specific cryptocurrency in the market

Transactions on any blockchain need to be processed by the network, this might take a while to land in your wallet. But once it’s there, you are the exclusive owner of that NFT.

Step 5: Send your gift

Now it’s time for sending your gift. It should be noted that in order to send an NFT, the recipient should have a cryptocurrency wallet.

If the above qualification is met, simply navigate to the visualisation page of the NFT you’d like to send, where you’ll see the option to “Transfer” your NFT. Click on the Transfer option, it will ask you to enter the public address.

After entering the public address of the recipient, your NFT will be sent. When gifting an NFT, make sure that you input the recipient’s wallet address correctly.