Before NFTs there was crypto and before that there was none. Once the concept and creation of the blockchain were deployed, things changed for the better. This means that there was a good possibility that the currency we use today would soon become digital too. NFTs made their introduction into the world through two people Kevin Mcoy and Anil dash. These 2 people introduced us to the first NFT in the year 2014 which was called Quantum.
These NFTs started picking up the pace and took the world by storm and then caused a massive ruckus in the entire market. Initially, countless people thought it was a fad, but as things progressed people started realizing they were wrong. These NFTs started greatly rising in value until one broke the record for the most expensive NFT with a price of 69.3 million dollars, the NFT was Beeple’s “Everydays- first 5000 days.” Although this was the most expensive NFT, there were some famous ones like Bored Ape Yacht Club and the crypto punk collection. Apart from this the most important thing that was needed to buy or sell NFTs were NFT marketplaces. These acted as platforms to sell NFTs and help create an easily accessible for all crypto investors to sell, trade, or buy NFTs.
With all that said, one of the key reasons for the growth of the NFT market is cause they have many benefits when compared to regular artwork. These artworks are exclusively unique and cannot be copied or replicated so they created a USP dominant enough to grow the NFT market rapidly.
Marketplaces And More
NFT marketplaces have started to become quite prominent, given that a few years back they didn’t even exist. The reason these NFTs are so easily accessible is that these NFT marketplaces make it easy for everyone to buy sell or trade NFTs. In the begging, marketplaces did not receive as much attention but that changed in the year 2021. That year in august the entire NFT market witnessed a huge boom in sales and several massive purchases were made. From a handful to over 100, this has been the growth of NFT marketplaces in the last 2 years since they were initially introduced.
While there are several different NFT marketplaces, it would make sense to list a few and they are:
- OpenSea
- Larva Labs
- NBA Top Shot Marketplace
- Raible
- SuperRare
- Nifty Gateway
- Axie Marketplace
- Foundation
These are but a few of the NFT marketplaces that are well known throughout the world. While there are a lot more different types of NFTs these have been here for a long time.
NFT Trends
Even a fantastic week in 2017 could have only gotten you 100 total sales. However, despite a rise in December of that year, NFT sales only dropped to roughly 15,000 per week. NFT weekly sales have ranged between 15,000 and 50,000 since then.
Weekly sales increased between November 2019 and April 2020, with most weeks ranging between 30,000 and 80,000. However, NFT sales dropped to approximately 10,000 and have just recently rebounded to the 15,000 to 50,000 level.
For most of 2017, the overall value of NFT sales every week was much below $10,000. Then, during the winter surge, it peaked at $13.9 million. This has calmed down to roughly $450,000 each week, with peaks of up to $6 million on busy weeks.
Despite a slight increase in sales, the total amount of such weekly purchases reached $4.8 million in September 2020. Weekly sales would subsequently remain between $2 and $4 million until late January 2021, when they would begin to rise to a high of $176 million in May. Weekly sales dropped after that, but they’ve remained above $10 million thus far.
NFT Market History
In any seven-day period since the first week of September 2020, at least $1 million has been spent on NFTs. Of course, this pales in comparison to the $176 million spent in the first week of May 2021, but sales appear to have steadied between $10 and $20 million every week since then. 1
In 2020, the total amount of all NFT transactions exceeded $250 million, nearly quadrupling the $62.9 million exchanged in 2019. In 2020, the market capitalization (the total value of all assets) will likewise reach $338 million. 17
According to nonfungible.com’s quarterly report, total revenues in the first quarter of 2021 were $2 billion. This is more than 131 times the sales value in the first quarter of 2020, and as it rises, it just draws more purchasers, so it may become much more valuable in the future.
Although NFT artwork launched the sales boom in February 2021, it was collectibles that drove the rise into March. This rise is mostly due to CryptoPunks, which are little pixel-art pictures created algorithmically. However, collectibles that aren’t tracked by nonfungible.com, like NBA Top Shots, have grown at a comparable rate.
2 Things That Matter- Size, And Quantity
People didn’t want to buy NFTs at first because they considered them a fad. Once they were willing to overlook this, they were able to begin buying these Non-Fungible Tokens. Initially, there were just about 1000-3000 unique buyers, but that changed soon enough and currently, there are nearly over 30000 unique buyers daily. According to several statistical results, it is shown that nearly 29% of the American youth invest in NFTs. Not only that but also that men are 3 times more likely to purchase NFTs than women as well.
The NFT market which is now a 3 billion dollar industry had its tough times as well. The industry had a massive boom between the years 2020 and 2021 where it became 20x times what it was originally worth. This not only shows how much the industry has grown but also how it is a rapidly goring trend that people are adapting themselves to. While time there is a difference of opinion between people and investors alike saying that while a risky venture it has a substantial payoff. there is a chance that these NFTs could lose their value as well which certainly comes across as worrisome but looking at the growing market and user base such a possibility seems difficult to predict.
More Crypto, NFTs, And What The Customer Sees
NFTs are basically from the same groundwork as crypto and with the recent crypto crash, several people are grinding their teeth with worry. This is because there is a worry that this could happen to the NFT marketplace as well. NFTs are usually purchased and traded with cryptocurrency but they can be purchased with real-world money as well.
These Cryptocurrencies fluctuate in value depending n several factors and their usage and other external factors. A good example of this would be the time when tesla declared it wouldn’t accept Bitcoin. This hit the value of Bitcoin hard affecting the market massively. With all that being said NFT trends have been making headlines with new concepts being adopted such as phygital NFTs and some of them are also being made into means of purchasing physical items. The difference is, in terms of a physical aspect you get the NFT and something physical too but in terms of a physical point of view once the physical item is acquired the NFT is burnt.
All this is something that has been going on for a while but something more important than all of that is how buyers and customers perceive the whole thing. Users initially were not willing to invest, however that took a huge change when bitcoin turned into a digital goldmine for several investors. This was when the user base and the number of users grew for the crypto market. The blockchain could have been a time machine but if the users did not acknowledge it then it is pointless.
Conclusion
The NFT market and the crypto market have come a long way from where it initially was. Now with the Web3 phase coming blockchain is going to play an important role. These NFTs have revolutionized everything from P2E games to even heavily influencing the internet. NFTs are the future and this is a fact and a statement.
