With the recent… “market conditions” and the world going to shit, the crypto market and the enthusiasts that embed it have been stuck in limbo, a consolidation period if you will. As of recently, the markets have scared retail investors, but the die hard fans of the tech and crypto have been actively investing in new projects and surprisingly enough minting NFTs (although not anywhere close to the first half of 2022 which saw an over $2.7 billion spending spree on just the minting of NFTs).
Although nowadays, a simple picture of a monkey isn’t going to get anyone’s attention, many projects are taking the utility of NFTs to a whole new level. Just as we see each bullrun with crypto when projects have to take it up a notch in order to entice new investors, the same is happening with the NFT space where teams are building around their NFTs by creating complex worlds (metaverses), ownership NFTs, and even non-transferable membership NFTs. During these innovations, the markets are down and it is the ideal time for the next crazy trend in the NFT space to be discovered.
Recently, Vitalik Buterin has provided his opinion on the next NFT craze called soulbound NFTs. These NFTs basically cannot be transferred or sold/traded, naturally the crypto market responded with mixed emotions. Many stated that this will bring true ownership and an extra layer of security to the users. From the general feel of the soulbound NFTs, it seems they can be used well for login requirements, eradicating the need for passwords, hence them being non-transferable will allow people to log in to the requirement site or system with just the click of a mouse or even their VR joystick?
NFTs are the key, crypto is the answer
Edward – BlockDesk Ventures
NFTs VS THE BEAR MARKET:
A simplistic way to look at the difference in these markets is the value drop, but the value of NFTs (floor price) doesn’t necessary drop as much as the floor price of crypto coins and tokens. This is due to the let’s say liquidity of NFTs, as they are usually unique it takes one specific buyer to buy your NFT. So the waiting times between profits can be much longer with NFTs, and also it stops the floor price from dropping as many won’t sell or just cannot.
To really evaluate the NFT market, it is important to look at the trading volume to get a true insight into their performance:
September: Opensea daily trading volume down:
May 1: $405+ million
September: $10.29 million
So even though there has been a drastic value change, it is nothing compared to the value change on some of the crypto tokens out there. But the trading volume change is the real show of how much things have declined when it comes to interest from the market.
Here are some NFT facts to upgrade your current knowledge:
- The most valued NFT has a market value of more than $91 million. Its name is “The Meg”
- NFTs first appeared in the market in 2014
- Asia has the top 5 nations with the highest NFT adoption rates.
- NFTs are collected by 23% of Gen Y (millennials) in the United States.
- In 2020, the total value of NFT revenue was $250 million.
- In 2021, the number of NFT art sales topped 1.5 million in a single month.
- More than half of all NFT sales are for less than $200.
Why did NFTs boom?
People say there are many reasons for the NFT boom but arguably (this is an opinion) the real reason is the American market, famously as a US citizen you were not able to invest in the early stages of crypto projects but NFTs changed this as they are basically collectibles and are pretty similar to antiques so people in the US were able to mint and trade and most importantly profit from NFTs. This is arguably the biggest market which was thirsty for crypto. This alongside the general bull market and the fact that some of the Bored Ape Yacht club NFTs went to over $2,000,000 per piece, people were looking for the next big thing as we all do from time to time.
What is the next big thing?
Is it another NFT collection? Will the BAYC make a return? Will soulbound NFTs actually have value? Or will something else come our way. As always we, the crypto people, play the waiting game.
Signing off, Edward
