[NFT (Non-Fungible tokens) is the latest way for celebrities to get rich off their work. Don't worry if you can't get this hyphenated acronym out of your head; we'll explain what NFT is and how artists, athletes, and others are making millions of dollars selling their digital files on the Internet. [For example, singer-songwriter Grimes has made about $6 million from animated NFTs set to her music. The iconic Nyan Cat NFT sold for $560,000 at auction, and Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda has sold his own NFT for thousands of dollars. Needless to say, the entire NBA top-shot industry is also based on NFTs.

Also, a 12-year-old kid has become a millionaire using NFT. [NFTs are sold on sites like Zora and are often purchased using various cryptocurrencies based on Etherium. NFTs can also be part of games, like Magic the Gathering cards. One of the most popular NFT products is CryptoKitties, a series of collectible adorable cats based on the blockchain with their own fun quest world

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In short, NFTs are a way to increase the value of digital collectibles for some consumers. How can digital items be scarce when they can be copied; that's the difference between NFT and the MP3s that kids in the 90s downloaded from Napster. These digital collectibles can be copied, but not proof of ownership. Yes, art can be copied, but only a select few who paid for it can prove they "own" it

Whatever the NFT is - some are images with audio, the NBA Top Shot NFT is a video of a replay - each is sold in limited quantities There are not. Indeed, one could sell eight NFTs of the same footage of LeBron "posterizing" or making a dunk shot so spectacular that a poster would have to be created, but each would be uniquely identifiable.

Think of NFTs as the ultimate certificate of authenticity. Thanks to the blockchain technology behind Bitcoin, each NFT can have an unalterable ledger of its ownership history. This is not the case, however, with artworks that have NFTs attached to them. The artist who owns the original still has some control over it.

As Coindesk points out, "all NFT data is stored on the blockchain via smart contracts," so the NFT history is "impossible to destroy, delete, or replicate."

This is similar to the digital rights management (DRM) found in movies and music purchased through services like Amazon and iTunes. However, this flips the control to the customer. It is the buyer who has proof of ownership, not the seller.

We are in a moment where people are really getting into rare and collectible items again. For example, people are live streaming the opening of long-lost Pokémon card packs on YouTube and Twitch. So it makes sense for artists and icons to create their own collectibles, and the NFT is (hopefully) a protection against this being nothing more than a bubble that will eventually burst.

Some NFTs are one-of-a-kind limited editions. However, many of the more affordable NFTs will be in sets of 10. This was the case with Shinoda's Happy Ending, a 1:15 minute file that debuted a new song by the Linkin Park band members. It included visuals by Shinoda and artist Cain Casper.

People buy NFTs not just because they are fans of the creators, but because the technology inside gives them the confidence that they can sell them again later if they so choose.

The encoded rarity of these files means that they have a higher value. Think of this as a new generation's version of art for sale. Shinoda told Input Mag: "It's a new generation of art for the new generation. The concept of ownership. It's the concept of what is valuable to the collector."