What is an NFT drop and where to look for them?

Whatever they say, NFTs are here to stay. More and more people are buying into this new medium of verifying ownership and are making fortunes off strings of code that validate the uniqueness of a digital asset. Snoop Dogg, Boy George, Footballer Gareth Bale, and others are among some top celebrities who’ve already realised the incredible potential of selling your artworks as NFTs. And it’s just the beginning.

When it comes to NFTs, you’ll often hear the word “Drop” here and there. But what is a drop? How does it work? And, most importantly, why should you care? Let’s find out.

What is an NFT drop?

Simply put, an NFT drop is the release of an NFT collection. It’s the date and time when a line of NFTs becomes available for investors to buy. You’ve probably heard the word used with different collections of whatever kind: “The new trainers dropped,” or “I’ll wait until the new phone drops and then see if it’s worth buying,” or some such. Usually, a drop is associated with a limited edition of collectables.

An NFT drop follows the same logic as any other drop in the “real” market, so you should expect people to act the same. Those with a keen eye for a good asset will queue up on the drop’s eve with their mouse pointers hovering frantically over the refresh button. So if you expect to ride this bandwagon and make some profits – keep in mind that the more hyped-up and promising an NFT collection is, the more competition you’ll face at the time it drops.

Also, the above doesn’t mean that any NFT drop ever is valuable. Right now, the market is replete with already minted NFTs and upcoming drop announcements, so you’ll always need to do your own research before buying in an artist or a collection.

How to prepare for an NFT drop?

Normally, artists and platforms announce their drops well in advance.

Some of the more trusted ones even make their announcements in secret, so it’s always a good idea to sign up for a newsletter and follow the social media of an NFT project you think could be valuable.

Here’s a couple of principles to stick to when choosing what drops to look forward to.

Only buy the NFTs you yourself enjoy.

The NFT market, just like the art market in general, is about the joy of creating (and then having), not just making money.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with buying a few NFTs whose content you don’t really care for, so long as you know for sure that they’ll bring you profits. But most of the fun is in the artworks themselves, and the general rule of thumb is: the more passionate you yourself are about your collection, the more interesting it’ll be to others.

After all, the best-selling NFT drops are usually those with the most artistic value to them. The fun and the passion of an artist are contagious and easily monetised. So there’s no reason why the same logic shouldn’t apply to you as an investor as well.

If you’re really not sure as to what NFT drops might prove a good investment, try to do your own research. Look into the artist’s background, their community following and presence in the market, and see for yourself if it’s a worthy investment.

Another good rule to follow is actually the main rule of any financial investment:

Never invest more than you can afford to lose.

This one pretty much speaks for itself, and NFTs, like any other crypto asset, are exceptionally good at making people FOMO in and out, especially now that the NFT hype is getting more and more traction across different industries.

If you know what’s good for you, don’t fall prey to the fear of missing out while searching for potentially lucrative drops.

Remember: you’ve already missed 90% of all the drops ever, and make no mistake, you’ll miss even more. Stick with what you know and what you can research.

Conversely, don’t rush into buying NFT drops just because you can.

There are hordes of cancerous copy-pasted mutant furries over single-colour backgrounds dropping every day, and their numbers are only growing.

Things in abundance are usually the least valuable, so if you’re seeing samey-looking NFTs wherever you go, just know that that ship may have already sailed.

Some precautions when it comes to NFT drops

Of course, watch out for numerous scams that plague the NFT sector.

Those too lazy or not savvy enough to do their own research are often oh-so gullible when it comes to upcoming drops.

You’ll get flashy screaming announcements that you have been secretly/randomly whitelisted for an upcoming drop, and you only need to hand over your private key to collect your winnings.

As with any other scam, these are pretty easy to spot. They appeal to your sense of exclusivity and entitlement, they scream at you with words and colours instead of calmly telling you what’s happening, and they always try to rush you into doing something.

More often than not, they pose as actual crypto or NFT projects that may actually have a drop coming.

If you see a message like that telling you that you’ve won yourself a drop and you need to follow the link to collect your reward, carefully check the address: if may only have a single-character difference from the real thing.

Sometimes, the entire NFT drop might be a scam.

Do a background check of the team behind the NFT project, and make sure they’ve been around long enough, or at least are referenced by people who’ve been around long enough.

Make sure the website is of good quality and doesn’t have any glaring issues pointing at the low effort or haste during its creation. Sometimes, even entire communities might be fake – you can easily spot these by the homogenous/samey/copypasted comments under the project’s posts. As a rule of thumb, these are also meant to get you hyped for no good reason.

Most often schemes like that end with a rug pull, when the entire team abandons the project right after turning some initial profits. As a result, you’ll have countless unsuspecting investors left empty-handed. If you don’t want to end up among their ranks, make sure to spend some time inside the community and see for yourself if the activity and the excitement seem genuine.

What platforms are worth attention?

Another crucial thing to look out for is the choice of an NFT platform per se.

As you would expect, there are countless NFT marketplaces at this point, and their number is only getting bigger.

Sometimes the entire platform might be a sham. You can easily tell a good, trustworthy platform at least by the amount of time it’s been around.

Some NFT marketplaces try to ride the wave and appear during the latest bull run. Although those may be credible per se, they also may not have enough strength and experience to last out a bearish run. Normally, the best NFT marketplace will be the one that’s survived at least one full market cycle.

The Crypto.com NFT marketplace

One such platform is the Crypto.com NFT marketplace.

It fits into all the criteria of a good NFT platform listed above: Crypto.com itself has been around since 2016, it offers broad functionality, and it’s trusted by an increasing number of renowned creators.

Crypto.com is the world’s fastest-growing crypto hub offering a sprawling ecosystem for performing just about any operation with digital assets imaginable.

Crypto.com NFT marketplace is a rapidly evolving NFT hotspot with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Boy George, Footballer Gareth Bale, and more, trusting the platform with their digital creations.

If you want to monitor the current drop situation, there’s a “Drops” button in the top-right that will take you to a page with all the current, recent, and upcoming drops listed, so you don’t have to go and check elsewhere. Crypto.com knows how time-consuming it can be to keep tabs on everything and values your convenience above all.

At the bottom of the page, you can sign up and become a member of the Crypto.com community in just a few clicks and stay informed about any upcoming drops (and make no mistake, you’ll want to buy these). Never miss a drop and be the first to get all important updates!

You can also become an NFT artist yourself: all it takes is to create a Crypto.com account, head over to the NFT section, click “Create”, and then sign up with your Crypto.com account. Then you need to fill out your info, upload your file, click “Mint”, and voila! You can now announce your own drop and keep your community engaged and excited – all without having to leave the Crypto.com website.

Also, make sure to follow the referral link to get exclusive perks upon signing up.

So go ahead and become part of the thriving worldwide community of NFT artists and investors with Crypto.com NFT marketplace!