There’s nothing like an explosion of blockchain news to leave you thinking, “Um… what’s going on here?” That’s the feeling I’ve experienced while reading about Grimes getting millions of dollars for NFTs or about Nyan Cat being sold as one .

In the year since NFTs exploded in popularity, the situation has only gotten more complicated. Pictures of apes have sold for tens of millions of dollars , there’s been an endless supply of headlines about million-dollar hacks of NFT projects, and corporate cash grabs have only gotten worse.

All this news may have left you wondering: what is an NFT, anyhow?

After countless hours of research and discussions (most of which were against my will), I think I know. I also think I’m going to cry.

Okay, let’s start with the basics.

What is an NFT? What does NFT stand for?

Non-fungible token.

That doesn’t make it any clearer.

Right, sorry. “Non-fungible” more or less means that it’s unique and can’t be replaced with something else. For example, a bitcoin is fungible — trade one for another bitcoin, and you’ll have exactly the same thing.

A one-of-a-kind trading card, however, is non-fungible . If you traded it for a different card, you’d have something completely different. You gave up a Squirtle, and got a 1909 T206 Honus Wagner, which StadiumTalk calls “the Mona Lisa of baseball cards. ” (I’ll take their word for it.)

How do NFTs work?

At a very high level, most NFTs are part of the Ethereum blockchain, though other blockchains have implemented their own version of NFTs. Ethereum is a cryptocurrency, like bitcoin or dogecoin, but its blockchain also keeps track of who’s holding and trading NFTs.

How do you pronounce NFT?

Almost everyone spells it out, saying “en eff tee.” The brave call them “nefts.” The enlightened have never had the word cross their lips.

What’s worth picking up at the NFT supermarket?

NFTs can really be anything digital (such as drawings, music, your brain downloaded and turned into an AI), but a lot of the current excitement is around using the tech to sell digital art.