While non-fungible tokens are associated with digital images, music, sports collectibles, and video games have joined the party over the last year. The advantages of NFT are exclusive ownership and access to unique features and capabilities.
NFT digital art collections are one of the drivers of demand, enabling many digital artists to yield decent returns. Fans of virtual art collect valuable objects both for their own pleasure status building and for subsequent sale at a higher cost.
Table of Contents
What gives NFT value?
After learning the basics of NFTs and their functionality, the next question that comes to mind is their value or price. Who exactly sets this price is a common question for those who have never dealt with NFTs or blockchain technologies before.
The value of an NFT depends on the type of asset it represents on the blockchain. If the asset is tangible property, such as a residential property, its NFT equivalence may be partially derived from its real value. But suppose the asset is digital content that does not have a physical equivalence, then its value is purely speculative, and it largely depends on market perception and forces of supply and demand.
You can think of NFT as a particular type of artwork, where the value of each piece is determined by market sentiment and how many potential buyers are willing to pay for it. This means that the seller can set the price of their work of art at any level they wish and it up for the buyer bears the cost to obtain ownership of the asset. Now let’s have a look at the most popular NFT collections.
The most popular NFT collections
CryptoPunks
CryptoPunks have become a real legend in the NFT market. Created in 2017 by the Larva Labs team, the project did not immediately gain wild popularity or a huge circle of fans. Initially, many of the non-fungible tokens from this collection were distributed for free. But as the popularity of NFTs grew, so did the cost of CryptoPunks. At the moment, the price of the most expensive image is $11.75 million, and the total trading volume for the collection exceeds $2 billion.
The collection consists of 10,000 8-bit images of eccentric characters. All CryptoPunks have similar characteristics more often or less often, and accordingly, the rarer the attribute, the more expensive the lot. The pictures were created based on generative art – a unique character was generated from a set of attributes resembling people, monkeys, aliens, and even zombies.
Despite their simplicity, we would not deny that CryptoPunks have contributed immensely to contemporary digital art because they have served as an inspiration for many digital artists and the development of other NFT projects.
Bored Ape Yacht Club
Who hasn’t heard of bored monkeys yet? BAYC is one of the most successful collections on the NFT market, and even celebrities such as Jimmy Fallon, Post Malone, and Eminem have managed to get their own monkey.
The collection was created by 4 anonymous developers with strange usernames. It consists of 10,000 monkeys with unique characteristics, including clothes, hats, and facial expressions.
BAYC provides several certain privileges to token holders, including:
- Access to an exclusive Discord server with over 30,000 members
- Access to the bathroom, which is a virtual board on which each monkey owner can draw
- Ownership and commercial use rights, which allows the token holder to receive money for using his image, as well as release products based on it
- Participation in private online and offline events
- Exclusive access to other NFT collections of the company and free airdrop of their tokens
We believe this explains why people buy monkeys. In addition to a good investment, BAYC has become a ticket to a closed exclusive community and display of social status.
It is impossible not to praise the marketers who worked on this project. Throughout the fourth quarter, a variety of newsworthy events and references to BAYC flashed in the media. Good PR has contributed to the popularity of the collection.
Decentraland
Decenerland (DCL) is a very famous project, already actively used by millions of users. It is a virtual world based on the blockchain. People can choose their own avatars and move freely through this Metaverse.
You can buy land inside Decentraland and build whatever you want there. Many build houses, estates, exhibition centers, etc. on their own land. The land you own in DCL is NFT. This NFT can be traded outside of the DCL on any market.
All land in DCL is already occupied and is rapidly increasing in value. Many people from countries such as South Korea, Thailand, etc. are already planning for the future with the land they own here. The land you own in DCL generates income for you in the following ways: rental income, income from sales as the value of the land increases, promotion of your products, and other NFTs to visitors who come to your building on the land. DCL land is in demand in markets such as Opensea. This is one of the best NFT and token projects to buy for 2022.
Doodles
The Doodles Collection is a community-driven NFT project consisting of 10,000 images by artist Burnt Toast. Each scribble token is generated from 100 possible traits, including face shape, hair, hats, body, and background.
The Doodles project is a DAO where NFT holders can join and vote on the future direction and development of the project.
The initial price of the tokens was 0.123 ETH. The value of the tokens in the secondary market increased 15 folds during the first week of the sale. After the sale ended, the project creators transferred 420 ETH to the community treasury. The average cost of Doodles for January 2022 is 10 ETH.
During the first week of January 2022, the most expensive NFTs from this collection were sold. A user with the nickname Pranksy bought a rare Doodle golden monkey just 40 minutes after the start of sales. There are already 71 Doodles in his collection of 30,000 NFTs.
Axie Infinity
Axie Infinity is the game that surpassed 2 billion in trading volume, according to a report by DappRadar. The game recently switched to the Ronin sidechain solution and generated over $776M in revenue in the third quarter.
Axie are creatures used to duel other players, fight enemies, and complete daily quests. These NFTs can be bred (minted), bought and sold, and are valued for their rarity and in-game advantages. In November, a plot of land in the game was sold for 550 ETH ($2.3 million).
Axie Infinity was established in 2018 and is currently leading the gaming sector as a pioneer of the “games to earn” or P2E movement. And since the launch of the staking program, which allows users to own Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) governance tokens, the trading game has become increasingly attractive to players.