TL;DR
In the past year, NFTs have exploded both in volume and popularity. As it becomes more mainstream and people rush into the metaverse, it will only increase in popularity.
Now entering 2022, we take a look at projects that have exploded within the last year and will continue to grow their dominance into this year. Such projects have been supported by an amazing community from their earliest days until now.
NFT are non-fungible tokens that can be traded in the crypto market. Each individual NFT is unique, a distinction from cryptocurrency where coins are equally the same and can be exchanged with another.
Introduction
NFTs are unique digital items that are secured and exist in the blockchain. Unlike cryptocurrencies, each NFT is unique and has a unique identifier on the blockchain.
NFT could represent digital art, memes, cards, collectibles, or even music. The possibilities are endless. Although NFTs exist digitally and have been popularized through digital items like digital land and pictures, it is important to understand that it is possible to digitize real-world items. For instance, in the not-so-distant future, it would be possible to popularize a painting like the Mona Lisa and split its ownership between different people. That way the Mona Lisa painting would be owned by multiple people. Although I don’t know who would want to sell the painting, the point stands.
Most notably, NFTs have been performing really well as digital items and art. Below are the top 5 projects to keep an eye out for in 2022.
V. Decentraland
Decentraland is an online virtual reality game. Players can trade LAND amongst each other. This LAND is virtual land and is backed by an ERC-721 token. Players can use parcels of LAND to create buildings and monetize their parcels. Further, they can use those parcels of land to create games within it or art or anything they would like. They can fill the content of that LAND with whatever their creative mind can muster.
Think of this game as a virtual reality version of real-world real estate. You can buy land in the real world and create anything on top of that land, even an amusement park. The possibilities are endless.
Players can purchase LAND by buying up MANA. MANA is the official currency of Decentraland. Decentraland seeks to build the first decentralized virtual economy. Talk about being the first mover. It has gained extreme popularity over the last year and looks to extend that further in 2022.
IV. Axie Infinity
If you are familiar with Pokemon, then Axie Infinity should come as no surprise. Axie Infinity is a metaverse game that pins players to opponents and computer A.I. Players buy pets called Axies and are pinned against one another in battles. You can also take part in adventure mode where you battle monsters. You can also trade those Axies in the NFT marketplace.
On the technical side of things, Axies follows the ERC-721 standard on Ethereum, similar to Decentraland. Further, much like Decentraland, Axie Infinity also has land and items that players can trade.
III. Beeple NFTs
Although some might argue why Beeple is on this list, others might ask why is he too low on it. One thing is certain, Beeple has done a great deal in shedding light on the NFT marketplace. Beeple has been prominent in selling some of the most expensive NFTs of all time. His most expensive items sold for close to $70million. That is more than most land would sell in highly coveted areas like New York, San Francisco, or even Monaco, let that sink in. Also, keep in mind, that this is a digital painting and there is only one in existence.
With this last painting, Beeple propelled himself as one of the “highest-valued” artists around the world. His record-selling painting, "Everdays-The first 5000 days” is a collage of paintings he painted every day for 5000 days. Imagine the hype surrounding this.
He became notorious and famous as a result. His digital artwork soon followed and has allowed him to become the most successful NFT artist thus far. As for being here on this list, it is certain any painting he sells will go for millions.
II. CryptoPunks
Larvalabs is the company behind this project. They are one of the earliest NFT projects to exist on Ethereum. Just to gauge how successful they are, one of their NFTs sold for over $23 million dollars. Twenty-three million dollars for a digital picture. Let that sink in.
Cryptopunks is a 10,000 unique digital collection that exists on Ethereum. In other words, no two are alike. Further, we are starting to see a trend here. NFTs and Ethereum have become synonymous. Most successful NFT projects have launched over this network despite there being an abundance of other blockchains that could host similar projects.
Nevertheless, CryptoPunks were launched back in 2018. At launch, each individual CryptoPunk could be claimed for free. Not kidding at all. You could have claimed one for free if you had an Ethereum wallet and sell it for millions of dollars years later. Talk about making a sweet investment. Wouldn’t you wish to have a time machine right about now?
I. Bored Ape Yacht Club ecosystem
At number one we have the Bored Ape Yacht Club. This NFT project was founded almost a year ago. Talk about blowing up. Nevertheless, they have grown to include the Bored Mutant Ape Yacht Club and the Bored Ape Kennel Club. If you think having three NFT projects was enough, consider that they launched their own coin in mid-March of 2022. Talk about rapid expansion.
Nevertheless, Bored Ape Yacht Club has managed to find its way into the hearts of its supporters. Popular celebrities have even bought some Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, including pop star Justin Bieber. As for the price floor, it currently sits at $333k dollars. As for the highest-selling Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT, it sold for $2.3 million. Talk about gains considering at launch they were minted for a little over $190.
This NFT project has now expanded to include their own coin, ApeCoin. If you were one of the very few owners of any of these three NFT collections, then you received these tokens for free. Some even received close to $100k worth of Apecoin, just for owning a BAYC NFT. With their goal of becoming an NFT behemoth, it will be exciting to see how far this project can go.
Final Thoughts
Without a question, NFTs are here for the long haul. As they become more mainstream, they’ll continue on the upward trajectory of popularity.
As with any investment, it is important to DYOR. Most NFT projects do not succeed and go to zero, so make sure to research the collection and team. With that being said, drop it down below which project you are interested in or invested in?
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