With the growth and development of the crypto sector over the years, more and more unique concepts are making their way into the mainstream world. The emerging digital currency market has attracted many investors and consumers to explore this new marketplace. Moreover, new projects are making their presence felt in the industry in recent times.
The advent of crypto has led to innovations like decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). These unique concepts have attracted a large following in a relatively short time span. Their increasing popularity has led to more innovation and exploration of the sector.
The NFT market has surged exceptionally in the last few months. The year 2021 has proven to be a major dealmaker for the emerging market.
The upsurge of the NFT market
The NFT market proved to be a major success in the year 2021, as it was able to generate $2.5 billion in sales within the first half of the year. From being termed as a financial bubble, the NFT market went against all odds to prove itself as a success.
In the last few weeks, NFTs have enjoyed sheer spotlight with new projects and trends. The Ethereum network hosts most of the NFT action on its blockchain, and despite the criticism, it has received over its adverse environmental implications, the NFT market has been able to pull through and make a strong statement for itself.
Hottest trends and projects around the NFT market
NFTs are now responsible for millions of dollars’ worth of capital. More and more blockchains are issuing NFTs to join the latest trend of the market. Investors and content creators are making hefty profits out of it.
Several industries like entertainment and sports are utilizing NFTs in one way or another. Content creators and artists are fighting copyright issues through them and they are using NFTs to earn the credit and profit they rightly deserve.
Moreover, there are certain other trends and projects that have fueled discussions around the whole crypto sector. Some of them are mentioned below in the article as well.
There are a number of big names in the NFT market. Many people refer CryptoPunks to be at the top of the list. It is still considered to be the gold standard for NFTs since 2017.
CryptoPunks are quite ancient in the NFT sector, thus accounting for its worldwide popularity. However, the emergence and then growth of projects, like the Bored Ape Yacht Club has also shocked the entire sector.
Bored Ape #7090 was purchased for 600.0 ETH
https://t.co/foUfbPxS4a— boredapebot (@boredapebot) September 2, 2021
These NFTs depict bored apes in several facial expressions. These bored ape NFTs are being sold at very high prices, as a single bored ape went for $2.25 million worth of ETH in early September.
Overall, the collection made more than $400 million in total volume, and the number is expected to rise as many NFTs are still up for auction. The community of NFT projects like Bored Apes plays a strong role in encouraging customers to buy and pursue NFTs. This is also a reason that people are showing more interest in these digital images.
Another popular project, EtherRocks, also auctioned 100 NFTs depicting the images of rocks. These images of cartoon rocks were sold for over $100,000 in August, this year.
The same NFTs were worth millions of dollars by the end of August. EtherRocks have several other inspired NFTs. It started off in 2017, and now it has become extremely popular among the NFT collector community.
NFT trends have been changing over different NFT mania waves. Previously, companies minted their own NFTs depicting different items, but this time brands are more interested in buying existing NFTs to sell them at a profit.
One such example of this trend is that Visa purchased a CryptoPunk NFT for 50 ETH to add to its collection of ‘historic commerce artifacts’. The beer giant, Budweiser also purchased an NFT for about 8 ETH. The NFT was part of the Rocket Factory NFT series. This shows that all these brands are highly bullish on the performance and the scope of NFTs in the near future, as they expect to make huge profits through their increase in value.
Another hot trend in the NFT realm is related to the gaming sector. This has been the talk of the town for a long time now, as projects like Axie Infinity have risen to success rather quickly.
The Ethereum-based gaming platform racked billions of dollars in NFT transaction volume over the last few months. The monster-battling game rewards players in crypto tokens. These rewards are quite high paying, which has popularized the game in developing countries. With more than one million daily active users, Axie Infinity has gained sheer popularity among investors as well.
All of these trends and examples are living proof of how NFTs are making a name for themselves in the world of crypto and blockchain.
In the coming months and years, the craze around NFT is expected to rise as more and more money is being thrown into the sector. Investors and content creators are also expected to make huge gains in the near future for their timely investments in the sector.
