If you regularly play traditional or live poker online, you may have heard people talking about poker NFTs. While some of you may know all about the NFTs – the latest craze from the cryptocurrency world – many people are still asking, “What are NFTs?” or, “What are NFTs used for?”.
Join us as we take a look at what NFTs are, what they have to do with online poker and whether you should consider investing in them.
What Are NFTs?
To begin with, NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token, which in turn refers to a token that represents a unique digital item. Currently, NFTs are typically associated with images, but they can also be used for a variety of other digital file types, including videos and audio.
For example, a painting is considered a unique piece of art – even though it’s possible to buy a copy of it relatively cheaply or even get one for free. Most NFTs are kept on the Ethereum blockchain (a blockchain is a type of decentralized digital ledger) but should not be confused with Ether, the cryptocurrency of the same blockchain network. This is one of the best NFT benefits.
Another NFT benefit is the value they attract. NFTs have been making headlines around the world due to the incredibly large amounts of money some people have been paying to acquire an NFT or part of one. For example, a digital artist by the name of Pak recently sold an NFT called “The Merge” to a group of almost 30,000 collectors for an incredible $91.8 million.
Many artists have reacted positively to NFTs as a way to sell their work, but in many cases, there’s nothing stopping an individual from making a copy of the work, whether it’s an image, video or audio file.
What Do NFTs Have to Do With Online Poker?
NFTs currently have little to do with online poker and online poker tournaments, but there are two main reasons why interest in NFTs has recently spiked in the poker community and industry.
The first is simply bragging rights. Wealthy poker players have splashed out on expensive NFTs like CryptoPunks to show the world they have so much money that they can afford to buy exclusive NFTs. Many of the world’s top poker players are happy to spend nearly $500,000 on 8-bit profile CryptoPunk images and large sums of money on other NFTs, such as Bored Apes.
The second is more industry-focused, with companies and individuals in the poker industry exploring ways to use NFTs. One reason why poker players love crypto and NFTs is that they get to speculate using blockchain technology.
Renowned poker player Tony G started selling his famous catchphrases as poker NFTs while poker companies are looking at ideas such as in-game virtual avatars as well as poker trading cards and trophies that are all unique and could enhance the overall experience of playing poker online.
PokerGo and ICE Poker Bring NFTs to Poker in the Metaverse
ICE Poker
Decentral Games introduced Ice Poker as a Metaverse poker game within Decentraland using their own cryptocurrency, ICE Rewards and wearable NFTs. Each game accommodates up to six players, with stakes set at 10/20. Buying an NFT wearable, you can play Ice Poker without any additional charges and your winnings are disbursed in ICE rewards, which you can spend in Decentraland or use anywhere ICE is accepted.
Your chip count is influenced by the number of wearables you own. A single wearable affords you a minimum of 3,000 chips while utilizing five wearables can yield a maximum of 5,000 chips.
So, essentially, the NFT in ICE Poker acts as an entry requirement and a multiplier for earnings from your poker games and completing challenges. Challenges provide you with your base pay. For instance, when you complete your daily challenges (for example, making it to the turn 15 times,) you can earn a maximum of 188 ICE rewards.
PokerGo
PokerGO, a leader in global poker television and entertainment, is collaborating with NFT Stadium, a comprehensive NFT marketplace, to show off its Genesis NFT collection.
The collection is aimed at poker fans of all levels, from casual players to seasoned pros and is an exclusive club that offers NFT benefits across PokerGO’s spectrum of shows and live events. It goes beyond game access into the lifestyle accompanying it. Holders will gain special access and unparalleled experiences, plus a voice in the project’s evolution.
The Genesis NFT collection from PokerGO features 1,326 distinct NFTs, each symbolizing potential unique opening hands in Texas Hold’em. All holders are entitled to fundamental utility benefits. Moreover, when a holder’s hand features in winning moments across PokerGO’s live-streamed events, there are chances to earn additional rewards.
Time will tell whether these ideas become a mainstay of the poker industry or if they’re simply a trend that will eventually disappear.
Should I Invest in Poker NFTs?
Whether you want to invest in poker or other NFTs really boils down to how much disposable income you have and whether you’re willing to gamble on NFTs sticking around and increasing in worth. Some investors and financial advisors believe it’s a bubble or fad that will fade away, while others disagree.
In the Time.com article “3 Experts Explain Why NFTs Are So Popular, and What They Mean for Crypto Investors,” financial advisor Doug Boneparth discusses how buying NFTs can be complicated, how NFTs are prone to scams and can vary in value way more than traditional stocks or bonds. (Interestingly, these are some of the same criticisms leveled at cryptocurrencies.) Another expert quoted in the article, Humphrey Yang, also believes that there’s currently too much inherent risk in NFTs.
Others believe that NFTs will mature and become a key part of the way people interact with digital goods on the internet in much the same way cryptocurrency has. For instance, in the same Time.com article, another financial expert, Laura Shin, states that she’s convinced NFTs are here to stay.
No matter what you think about NFTs, there can be no doubt that they’re risky. This makes them a digital commodity you should not be spending your money on if you cannot afford the NFT to degrade in value. For example, “Earth,” an NFT that was minted by famous musician Grimes, declined from $7,500 to $1,200, showing just how volatile this type of purchase can be.
There are also growing concerns about the environmental impact of crypto and NFTs. Numerous media outlets and financial investment sites such as The Verge, Investopedia and Wired have exposed how minting and selling an NFT consumes large amounts of energy, which often derives from fossil fuel sources. In the Wired article “NFTs Are Hot. So Is Their Effect on the Earth’s Climate,” artist Joanie Lemercier tells of his discovery that the sale of an NFT he had created consumed 8.7 megawatt-hours of energy, which was the equivalent of two years’ worth of energy supply for his entire studio.
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