You’ve probably been hearing a lot of buzz around non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and OpenSea, and the curious kitten MUST have struck!
NFTs are essentially opaquely recorded non-exchangeable tokens on the blockchain. They can be used to prove who owns both physical and digital assets in a tamper-proof manner.
Everything, including digital works of art and music, in-game items, and physical items like real estate, can be tokenized. These digital assets have become extremely well-liked as a way for artists to safeguard their intellectual property.
In order to browse, buy, sell or create your own NFT, you have to visit an NFT marketplace, and the biggest one around is OpenSea.
SOURCE: OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace
How It Started
Software developers Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah established OpenSea in 2017 after becoming attracted by the introduction of the well-liked NFT series CryptoKitties and realizing the potential of NFTs to provide for the first time full ownership of digital goods.
The vision was to create a marketplace similar to eBay, Etsy, and Amazon, except the platform is a decentralized, peer-to-peer exchange that enables users to transact with one another directly in a trustless manner.
SOURCE: Analyze millions of NFT sales on OpenSea using PostgreSQL and TimescaleDB
What is an API?
An API, which stands for: Application Programming Interface, is a piece of software that allows one application to talk to another application.
This can be broken down into three components:
- Application – This is software that does some tasks. For example, Google Maps App gives us directions.
- Programming – This is where we give instructions to the application so that it performs some tasks for us.
- Interface – This is the place at which independent entities meet and communicate with each other. For example, when you open Google Maps on your phone, you input the location where you want to go in an interface. In this case, this is called a User Interface(UI).
SOURCE: What is API: Definition, Specifications, Types, Documentation | AltexSoft
What is an API key?
An application programming interface (API) key is a code used to identify and authenticate an application or user. API keys are available through platforms, such as a white-labelled internal marketplace. They also act as a unique identifier and provide a secret token for authentication purposes.
SOURCE: Why and when to use API keys | Cloud Endpoints Frameworks for App Engine | Google Cloud
For example, users can get a Google API key or YouTube API keys, which are accessible through an API key generator.
An API key is passed by an application, which then calls the API to identify the user, developer, or program attempting to access a website.
It can help break development silos and will typically be accompanied by a set of access rights that belong to the API the key is associated with.
OpenSea API
The OpenSea API helps developers build new experiences using NFTs and their marketplace data. They provide a set of endpoints that enable you to fetch ERC721 and ERC1155 token metadata as well as other core aspects of the marketplace, including events, collection, orders and more.
They provide this API free of charge and ask that you provide attribution to OpenSea on your site or in your app. When using the API, you should link to the OpenSea marketplace from the NFTs that you display, where appropriate.
Check out the Logos & Brand Guidelines for images that you can use for OpenSea attribution.
The API is rate-limited – if you’d like to use it in a production environment, please request an API key.
SOURCE: Guide to using Opensea’s Non-Fungible Token (NFT) API | by Burtrico | Medium
CONCLUSION
Hopefully, the curiosity in you MUST have been satisfied at least a little.
NO?
Perfect answer from a developer.
After all, according to our instructor Jeffrey, a life of curiosity and exploration makes one an expert.
This is why the perfect choice right now, is to enroll in the Metana Bootcamp. Not only will you be satisfying your thirst for knowledge, you can also initiate a career in one of the most revolutionary phases of the Internet: Web3.
See you soon!
