NFT has managed to stay with us after taking the world by a storm in early and the rest of 2021. As some people are still trying to figure out what it is, artists such as Beeple are making tens of millions from selling these digitized tokens. Others are spending millions in virtual pieces of land, an investment that may have sounded impossible and stupid for several people a while back.
We cannot downplay the attention these tokens have received and the resulting debates they have stirred. This article will look at some of the trends you should be looking out for in 2022. People are already doing amazing things with NFTs, which you can achieve by being interested enough. Let’s explore some of the trends you can hop on.
1. NFT and the Entertainment World
NFT has greatly permeated the entertainment scene. These tokens have empowered several artists by giving them a platform to profit from their sales. Artists are now tokenizing albums and getting millions in return. DJ 3LAU is a classic example of an artist who took advantage of these tokens by making over $10 million in NFT album collectibles. We will soon witness more artists creating their song NFTs and trading part ownership to fans, trading from their creativity.
NFTs have also made their way into the music and movie world, attracting funding from several big names. Fox Entertainment pledged to invest $100 million on NFTs not so long ago, a trend that many investors and movies platforms have taken up. Platforms such as Vuele haven’t been left behind. It tokenized an Anthony Hopkins film, making money off it.
Several musicians have also been securing NFT shows in metaverses. Steve Aoki, Travis Scott, and Ariana Grande have managed to perform virtually and sell some of their digital assets to players. We hope to see more of these events soon.
2. NFTs and AI
Artificial intelligence has attracted lots of conversations, just like NFTs. Most people believe that it will disrupt tech and bring several advantages, while a faction believes it will end humanity. You should note that AI has found its way in the NFT world, whatever side you are on.
NFT investors and enthusiasts had the chance to watch AI-generated art such as GAN, which sold for slightly higher than $400000 at a Christie’s auction, explaining just how these tokens have made people realize the value of digital assets.
Artificial Intelligence modules can study paintings from different artists and manage challenging computing to identify the underlying patterns used before replicating or coming up with something better. Do you now understand why most people are worried about artificial intelligence?
It gets even better. Creators are now coming up with non-fungible tokens with AI personalities, known as iNFTs. They can hold conversations, take in new information and even modify their behavior. Some have been sold for over half a million dollars. One of the biggest players in the creation of iNFTs is Alethea AI. It has partnered with many enthusiasts and even obtained massive funding from different investors. This company owns Noah’s Ark, a metaverse filled with NFTsdriven by artificial intelligence.
However, note that these special types of NFTs are challenging and expensive to produce, which explains why they are not as popular yet. However, with the technological advancement and increased funding extended to the NFT and virtual world, we will soon see more of them in platforms such as The Sandbox. This is a cool concept.
3. Fragmentation
Some NFTs are extremely expensive and cannot, therefore, be obtained by the average investor. Jack Dorsey’s first tweet NFT that went for millions is a good example. This high cost prohibits enthusiasts from purchasing these digital assets however much they need them.
However, we are experiencing a new trend where platforms increase the liquidity of some of the most expensive tokens through fragmentation. As can be easily derived from the name, fragmentation involves obtaining smaller parts of something whole. NFTs are being broken down into ERC-20 tokens, allowing communal ownership since people can now afford smaller pieces of the token. The Merge, one of the most expensive NFTs to be sold, going for a cool 98.1 million, was broken down into masses and is currently owned by over 20 000 NFT entrepreneurs.
These buyers own shares of the NFT, which gives them a virtual right over it. A classic example is the Doge meme that saw the creation of Dogecoin and was sold for four million dollars. The new owner decided to break it down into several pieces for users willing to own a stake. One of the greatest painters in history, Picasso, had his art made into NFT fragments, attracting thousands of bidders. This trend shows that people are willing to adapt as these tokens become more popular. Don’t you think this might be the best time to buy or create an NFT?
4. Popularization of NFT Avatars and Profile Pictures.
You must have noticed that NFT avatars and profile pictures have greatly risen in popularity in the past few weeks or months. Well, these can be traced back to 2017 when CryptoPunks came out, which doesn’t have much attention nowadays, even though it was once one of the best metaverse platforms to be developed.
It generated 10,000 NFTs and gifted users provided they had an ETH wallet, who later turned out to be some of the luckiest people in the world. By 2021, the cheapest CryptoPunk was selling for around $50O 000 dollars. PFPs and avatars have grown in popularity owing to this occurrence, and sites such as Open Sea can confirm that they are some of the most expensive digital assets at the moment.
In case you are wondering why the reason is quite simple. PFP NFTs are not treated like the average non-fungible tokens. They are often integrated as digital identities, meaning that ownership allows you great access permission in the NFT world. You can be part of an exclusive community with many benefits, such as access to exclusive facilities. Therefore, ownership of PFPs offers you a sense of pride in the NFT world.
Try changing your Twitter profile picture to a non-fungible token if you are doubting and observe what happens. You will attract community members, acknowledging that you are part of them. People are looking for these identities, which explains why PNP NFTs are expensive.
This trend is here to stay from the look of things. Jack Dorsey, one of the biggest proponents of NFTs, is thinking of verifying NFT profile pictures. This won’t appear as the normal twitter verification but a small ETH mark next to the NFT after verification. This is a good move, showing how several industry players respect these tokens. By allowing you to own your profile picture, Twitter gives people a unique identity. This will be a good trend to hop on if you love cool things.
5. Major Improvements in NFT Gaming
NFT gaming can be traced back to CryptoKitties, a 2017 video game that allowed people to breed and trade digital kittens. It gained popularity fast and, at one point, negatively impacted the Ethereum blockchain. This definitely opened the space for several games centering on NFTs. We’ve seen developers integrating these tokens when coming up with games, a trend that has seen a massive shift to play to earn games.
Good examples are Axie Infinity and Decentraland, which allow people to earn tokens as they play. They can then exchange these tokens for digital assets or in-game tools. This phenomenon has given people a chance to monetize gaming, an activity that has had a negative connotation for quite some time. Some currencies that you can sell for real money include SLP from the renowned Axie Infinity.
We have to mention the metaverse, now that we have discussed play-to-earn games. This is expected to be space beyond the universe, bridging the virtual and physical worlds. You must be wondering how the metaverse, a beyond-virtual platform, is connected with non-fungible tokens. Simple. NFTs will be used to prove ownership of digital assets in the metaverse.
For example, your title deed will be tokenized if you buy property or land in the metaverse and stored in the Blockchain to prove that you own it. NFTs will also be used to build an economic system within the universe since, just like money, they can also be limited.
Lastly, we’ve also seen a trend where in-game marketplaces are getting better each passing day. Note that our common gaming system limits in-game purchases, rendering them useless when one gives up the game. Developers are currently turning in-game items into non-fungible tokens in their play to earn models, giving them a value that goes beyond the game. These can also be transferred, unlike in traditional games.
NFT has influenced a trend where people make money from games and benefit from their in-game purchases long after they are done playing.
6. The Rise of Digital Twin NFTs
Several big players in the NFT world seem to support the creation of digital twin NFTs, which can be easily defined as the digital copies of tangible products. What does this mean? People are using non-fungible tokens to preserve digital ownership records, a trend that is becoming popular.
Entrepreneurs believe that NFTs will help prove authenticity and reduce instances of counterfeit goods and paintings that have rocked our world. Digital twin NFTs are coming up to help people tell real from fake, which has become increasingly hard owing to an increase in counterfeit creativity and technology.
Developers and several big shots aim to link physical items to NFTs, storing the records in a Blockchain guaranteeing more security. They will only play a verification role by acting as easy to access and secure proofs of authenticity. Therefore, whenever your favorite watch company makes a timepiece, it will create its NFT, acting as a digital twin. If you decide to resell the shoes, your buyer will receive the products and an accompanying NFT.
We’ve seen brands like Nike apply efforts to counter the increasing issue of counterfeit goods raining the market. Prada has already partnered with Aura to make this a reality, showing how receptive brands are to this idea and trend.
Note that Nike has CryptoKicks, a Blockchain-based verification system for its products. We should expect more from these major NFT players.
7. Virtual Galleries and Auctions
This is perhaps the biggest NFT trend at the moment. You must have witnessed an increase in digital art in the past few months, with several digital artists making crazy profits from auctions. You should be aware of several digital art trends other than AI and fragmented art.
Metaverse galleries and auction houses have shown interest in the metaverse, with Sotheby’s making great strides. This auction house has its metaverse, stocked with digital NFTs that a customer can buy. It also conducts auctions in this digital space, a trend that several fashion companies have also hopped onto. Gucci once held an exhibition gallery in a virtual space, selling some of its limited-edition NFTs at higher prices than their normal physical goods. Therefore, this is a trend worth looking out for.
We’ve also seen creators and NFT houses destroy NFTs in a process called burning, creating scarcity and making them lucrative in return. Other firms have even gone ahead to acquire super expensive pieces of art such as Morons and burn them to the ground, recording the burning process and selling the item as an NFT.
As crazy as it sounds, that is precisely how NFTs work. We may witness a trend of people destroying unique, rare art pieces in the world and saving them as NFTs to curb counterfeits. However, this may take time as some people cherish physical paintings. Burning a rare piece of artwork that has existed for over 200 years for a digital version may not make sense to others.
All in all, we can’t ignore the increased real estate ownership in the metaverse. Most landowners have started building these virtual spaces, which they will probably turn to rental business units soon. We will definitely witness a surge in rented auction places and galleries, especially once the metaverse is released.
8. NFT Fundraisers
Despite being a pretty new concept, NFT Fundraisers have shown great potential. Note that these tokens have found their way into different industries, including charitable organizations and fronts. Luckily, their appreciation has doubled recently, as the world strives to achieve new and updated technologies.
Several charity organizations are currently exploring how much they can achieve with non-fungible tokens. These unique creations can be used to set up charity events, saving on overhead costs by embracing a more decentralized option. By applying more smart contracts to non-fungible tokens, entities can create additional charitable venues and enhance the accountability of donations since NFTs can be easily programmed to make automatic fund transfers.
These tokens have become increasingly popular when organizing fundraisers because NFTs and smart contracts are secured by Blockchain technology, assuring a transparent and publicly traceable database guaranteeing donors that nobody will redirect the funds. It is also cheaper and faster to make charity payments via crypto.
Also, many people have channeled the profits earned from their NFT collections to different charitable fronts. We recently saw Beeple; a renowned digital artist, donate $86 million from the sale of the Ocean Front to the Open Earth Foundation, which aims to raise awareness on climate change. One of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, Ellen DeGeneres, also channeled $33 495 off her NFT auctions to the World Central Kitchen.
We have to mention the ImpactNFT Exhibition in Hong Kong, a charitable NFT display that showcased digital artworks created to promote the 17 United Nations sustainable development goals. Several collectors purchased these tokens to raise awareness. The recent Afghan crisis also saw Jack Butcher, the creator of Visualize Value, establish an NFT fund for the Afghan crisis. Each NFT sold for around $89.50, allowing the families to access emergency needs for around a month. Even though this trend is not as popular yet, we expect more developments soon.
These tokens are definitely playing an important role in rectifying a number of issues and crises in our world, indicating that they have a bright future.
Conclusion
These recommendations are a few trends in the NFT world that we would like you to look out for. These tokens hold even better promises for the future, guaranteed by increased technological advancements. We are also on the verge of witnessing the Metaverse, which most people believe will be kick-started by Apple as Facebook also works on its virtual world version. Therefore, it would be good to be on the lookout and benefit from as many trends as you can as they keep coming up.
Make sure that you keep up with our articles to learn more about NFTs and the metaverse, concepts that have taken the world by a storm, and monetize your skills.
