News Tracing the Revolution of NFTs
Following a massive breakthrough year in 2021, it's apparent that NFTs will become ingrained in our daily lives as we consume content and engage with applications such as digital photographs, gaming, music, and movies. The past years, the global market for NFTs surpassed over 40 billion, as the demand for collections such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Matrix avatars transformed digital pictures into significant financial assets.
12 months filled with success
NFT fever reached the mainstream exactly one year ago, in March 2021, when a collage by artist Beeple sold for $69.3 million at Christie's, the auction house's first sale of its sort. Mike Winkelmann, the artist's given name, responded with a tweet: "holy fuck".
No list of prominent NFTs would be complete without including Cryptopunks, whom Christie's, New York's Post-War & Contemporary Art Specialist, Noah Davis, has dubbed the "Alpha and Omega of the CryptoArt movement." The most expensive Cryptopunk, #7523, fetched over $11.8 million USD, making it the second most expensive NFT sale, behind Beeple's. Cryptopunks were inspired by the London punk scene of the 1970s, which they believed best embodied the early blockchain movement at the time.
Additionally, numbered collections of NFTs grew widespread and were utilized as avatars on social media platforms to represent their owners' clubby status. The Bored Ape Yacht Club represents one of the most well-known NFT collections in modern times (BAYC). Among the notable investors in BAYC are talk show presenter Jimmy Fallon, rapper Eminem, and YouTuber Logan Paul. Since its launch in April 2021, their prices have risen, making this collection one of the fastest-appreciating in the business. Owners of these NFTs get a Yacht Club membership card, which comes with a slew of benefits, including invites to exclusive digital performances.
The Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) is another one-of-a-kind group of apes established independently by the creators of the BAYC. MAYC was made available in August 2021. The collection had 10,000 Mutant Apes, which were quickly sold for USD 96 million. However, this is not the end of the 'mutation'.
Furthermore, multiple successful brands have leveraged the opportunities provided by NFTs. Taco Bell, Crockpot, Gucci, Campbell's, and Twitter have all jumped into the rapidly growing sector, and more are entering daily. Some businesses utilize NFT collectibles or limited editions to diversify their income sources, increase brand loyalty, or raise funds for a noble cause, while others use them to enhance their image, tell a narrative, or reach new audiences, and still others for live event tickets.
What caused the massive adoption of NFTs?
One might ask why did the NFTs gain so much prevalence so quickly. Well, some critical factors have influenced this massive adoption, being underpinned by their innovative technology sustained by the blockchain. For artists, NFTs give a smooth way to sell digital work that may not have much of a market. Furthermore, there are ways in which artists might be paid fees for each successive sale of the work. On the opposite side, collectors are able to speculate on digital art as well as enjoy bragging rights in rare artifacts on the chain.
Furthermore, NFTs are a possible method to prevent identity theft. Digital artists may transform their artwork into NFTs for copyright reasons. It’s incredibly effective in preserving crucial papers such as academic transcripts and medical data. NFTs have also begun to merge with decentralized finance, notably in yield farming tactics. Nevertheless, NFT is still in its infant stages, and its principal application areas are confined largely to the bitcoin community and developers.
What lays ahead for NFTs?
As crucial as 2021 was for non-fungible tokens, industry participants anticipate that 2022 will be even more so. Additionally, rising demand for decentralized marketplaces is likely to drive the worldwide non-fungible token market's revenue growth in near future.