Lead image: A crypto skill tree prototype via The Graph Dear HackerNoon Nation, In some of my past posts, I’ve riffed on the idea of the “NFT skill tree.” It’s all the skill sets you can learn from advancing through all the main categories of NFT activity right now. I thought it’d be neat to map the branches of what a contemporary NFT skill tree could look like, so for today’s post I’ve come up with 21 main areas of interest as developed from Alex Gedevani’s excellent . NFT Verticals spreadsheet Can you max out your skill tree? You hardly have to — even just gaining competency in these branches will position you well as NFTs become more important in the years ahead. half All that said, let’s walk through what these 21 main skill branches are and some of the main projects you can explore in each of them! -WMP 1. Analytics provide easy-to-use interfaces for discovering actionable NFT insights, like mispriced listings, and for understanding NFT activity flows, like trade volume metrics. NFT analytics resources Examples of skills to learn: Comparing 24 Hour, 7 Day, and 30 Day floor price stats for major collections on Flips Setting up custom mint alerts for your browser on icy.tools Reading the Lucky Listings UI to find mispriced NFTs on Lucky Trader Reviewing a specific wallet’s history using the NFT Wallet Profiler on Nansen Studying what specific NFT communities are collecting at any given time on Watchtower 2. Art https://twitter.com/reneil1337/status/1591030719148888069?s=20&t=Z1OAWrD0nmgDfv2va5rBDw?embedable=true now make up a major part of the NFT ecosystem. These projects provide infrastructure that make it easier for artists to mint and share their works with a growing global community of digital collectors. Artist-focused platforms Examples of skills to learn: Collecting digital art you enjoy on art platforms like , , and Art Blocks Foundation SuperRare Generating art for large collections via (Blueprints) or Async Art Bueno Minting your own 1/1 or editioned artworks with or Manifold Zora 3. Borrowing / Lending let borrowers get fixed-period loans against their NFTs while letting lenders earn yield or liquidated NFTs. At the crossroads of DeFi and NFTs, these sorts of projects have seen an explosion of interest in recent times. NFT borrowing and lending protocols Examples of skills to learn: Collateralizing an NFT to field loan offers on NFTfi Depositing ETH into the reserve pool to earn yield on BendDAO Making a lending offer on or Arcade Sodium 4. Community Resources are projects that help streamline activities like community discovery and community management. Community resources Examples of skills to learn: Automating membership management for your NFT community with Guild Customizing a community treasury on Juicebox Discovering the actions, like votes or mints, your wallet can do via Daylight Setting up a token-gated forum for your NFT community with Collective Preparing an allowlist on Premint 5. Content Collectives are decentralized groups that coordinate creatively to propagate a brand, story, or narrative universe. For instance, Nouns DAO members vote on how the project’s treasury should be used to support “Nounish” brand efforts. Content collectives Examples of skills to learn: Submitting a proposal to create Nounish content for Nouns DAO via Prop House 6. Curation help artists, collectors, curators, and casual users alike organize NFTs into galleries for events, scholarship efforts, and beyond. In elevating NFTs beyond merely financial concerns, curation generates cultural value for NFTs. Curation platforms and protocols Examples of skills to learn: Curating an exhibition of your favorite NFTs via , , or (Disclosure: I contribute to JPG!) Deca Gallery JPG 7. Gaming in the NFT ecosystem use NFTs to facilitate asset ownership and in-game economies. While the main goal of any game is to be fun, many NFT games offer novel play-to-earn possibilities, too. Gaming projects Examples of skills to learn: Battling Axies in Axie Infinity Managing and competing with sports lineups in Sorare 8. Discovery make it easy for users to quickly discover notable NFT happenings or information. Getting a feel for these tools will help you better navigate the on-chain landscape. Discovery projects Examples of skills to learn: Creating a domain name for your wallet with ENS Finding trending mints with mint.fun Making web3-friendly search queries with Drifty Tracking trending sales on Context 9. Display https://twitter.com/guywalkin/status/1588629297157509120?s=20&t=EYLT1PCmscsOJpp9pdEjVQ?embedable=true help NFT owners and exhibitors showcase NFTs in physical settings. Display projects Examples of skills to learn: Printing your NFT into physical form with or Infinite Objects Tokenframe 10. Liquidity help NFT traders access decentralized liquid markets around otherwise illiquid NFTs. Liquidity protocols Examples of skills to learn: Creating a new liquidity pool on sudoswap Swapping like-kind NFTs on NFTX 11. Marketplaces are online stores where people can buy and sell NFTs. Marketplaces can be standalone operations, like Nifty Gateway, or aggregator platforms that make it possible to trade across multiple NFT marketplaces at once, like Gem. Marketplaces Examples of skills to learn: Bidding on NFTs with WETH on large marketplaces like or OpenSea Nifty Gateway Sweeping multiple NFTs at once across multiple platforms using aggregators like , , , , or Blur Gem Genie LooksRare Rarible 12. Metadata storage provide streamlined UIs for creators and to maintain their NFT metadata on decentralized storage solutions like Arweave, IPFS, or Filecoin. Since the metadata of many NFT projects are maintained off-chain, the importance of long-term metadata security cannot be understated. Metadata storage platforms Examples of skills to learn: Uploading the metadata of your NFT collection through services like or NFT Storage Pinata 13. Metaverse in the NFT ecosystem use NFTs to facilitate the ownership of virtual land and in-world assets, thus bringing digital experiences to life. Metaverse projects Examples of skills to learn: Browsing digital art in and oncyber galleries MOCA ROOMs Creating your own virtual environments with Webaverse Exploring Origin City in Voxels Playing poker in Decentraland 14. Multiplayer Crypto https://twitter.com/prtyDAO/status/1587860052236537856?s=20&t=x7h2QXBUugnWQYnyOkNzGg?embedable=true make it easy for groups of friends and/or strangers to collectively own and use NFTs together. Multiplayer crypto projects Examples of skills to learn: Starting an NFT collector party on PartyBid 15. Music help musicians connect with their fans in new ways via 1/1 or editioned collectible music releases. This scene is beginning to seriously bloom, which bodes well for the future of independent music! Music NFT platforms Examples of skills to learn: Creating your own song using the digital audio workstation (DAW) system on Arpeggi Developing custom playlists with Spinamp Collecting collectible songs on or Catalog Sound 16. NFTfi , a sector situated at the crossroads of NFTs and DeFi, facilitates complex NFT-based financial services in decentralized fashion, like on-chain NFT derivatives. NFTfi Examples of skills to learn: Creating an NFT call option on Hook Depositing WETH to the capital vault on MetaStreet Generating an on-chain credit score via Spectral 17. Portfolio Management help NFT collectors create one-stop hubs for tracking their holdings, increasingly across multiple chains like Ethereum, Arbitrum, and Optimism. Portfolio management projects Examples of skills to learn: Setting up your address books on platforms like , , or DeBank Zapper Zerion 18. Pricing https://twitter.com/deepnftvaluebot/status/1592644114172055552?s=20&t=8mLKjw4htKo9jAiQifsaoP-KlBAd62dqGKE3ZS55gSo?embedable=true are centered around helping NFT collectors and traders appraise their holdings. The pricing scene is very early but some promising efforts have started coming to fruition. Pricing projects Examples of skills to learn: Reviewing NFT valuations through or DeepNFTValue Upshot 19. Protection help NFT creators or owners ensure the safety of their NFTs for the long term. Protection projects Examples of skills to learn: Backing up the metadata of your off-chain NFTs with ClubNFT Testing the quality of your NFT drop beforehand using StealthTest on nameless 20. Rentals help people rent out, or pay to rent, NFTs. Rental platforms Examples of skills to learn: Renting a digital collectible on reNFT 21. Wallets https://twitter.com/gnosisSafe/status/1552230422494343170?s=20&t=O3v6KnhYwfebvhCUaItkyA?embedable=true allow people to streamline the process of self-custodying their NFTs. Wallets can come in various forms, like mobile apps or multi-signature vaults. Wallet projects Examples of skills to learn: Creating an NFT vault for long-term security with Safe Setting up a burner wallet for free mints via Rainbow Action steps ⛹ Practice activities in the where you want to level up your abilities branches of the NFT skill tree 🔑 Read my latest Bankless tactic because ! How to take custody of your crypto keys not your keys, not your crypto Author Bio is a professional writer and creator of —a Bankless newsletter focused on the emergence of NFTs in the cryptoeconomy. He’s also recently been contributing content to Bankless, JPG, and beyond! William M. Peaster Metaversal

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