Will NFTs Continue To Boom In Bear Times? With Cristiano Ronaldo and Binance's NFT collection being the latest on the block, let's see how the cryptographic assets are faring this season
By Paromita Gupta •
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The term non-fungible token (NFT) first came into public knowledge when, in 2014, 'Quantum' was created by Kevin McCoy and Anil Dash. Cut to present, NFT has become a household name, even if you aren't investing in it.
A unique digital identifier stored in a blockchain, NFT, cannot be copied, replaced, or split and is used as an authenticity or ownership certificate. These identifiers typically contain photos, videos and audios.
The year 2021 witnessed some of the expensive NFTs being sold in the form of Merge and Everydays: The First 5000 Days for $91.8 million and $69.3 million respectively. This Web3 segment also welcomed on board folks like Eminem, Jimmy Fallon, Madonna, Steph Curry, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Snoop Dogg.
However, with the recent shockwaves across the globe in the technology sector, there is an understood sentiment about the market: the bear is here. With the Internet being divided as to where it stands on metaverse and everything related to it, the run for NFTs may not be on one's top list of priorities.
A plunge from Q3 2021
Some of the costliest NFTs sold this year include Clock ($52.7 million). Cryptopunk #5822 ($23.7 million), Cryptopunk #5577 ($7.7 million), UkraineDAO ($6.7 million), and All Time High In The City ($6.2 million). A point to be noted here is that all of the above mentioned, however, account for the Q4 of FY21-22.
Calling the season a 'crypto winter', blockchain trader DappRadar shared "The third quarter of 2022 saw $3.4 billion (INR 2,77,68 crore) in NFT sales, down from $8.4 billion (INR 68,602 crore) the previous quarter and $12.5 billion (INR 10,20,86 crore) at the market's peak in the first quarter of the year." Additionally, the NFT sales dropped from $10.7 million in Q3 of 2021 to $3.4 million in 2022.
The market place
The scene might be cold for many, but a handful of players are bringing out new NFT collections in hopes of entering the metaverse before it is too late. American toy enterprise Mattel launched its own marketplace in Mattel Creations, making it the first toy company to enter the NFT horizon. With more than half of the world population currently hooked to the ongoing FIFA World Cup underway in Qatar, the event holders have gone one step ahead with its FIFA+ Collect initiative to drive fan engagement.
An American financial service provider, VISA, banked upon the essence of goal moments and came out with VISA Masters of Movement NFT ahead of the world cup. The Lionel Messi's Messi Time Machine Collection and Cristiano Ronaldo's collection with Binance being the cherry on top for football fans.
It certainly comes as no surprise that the sports NFT market is the frontrunner in the global NFT market according to Market Decipher.
The future
To all the metaverse and NFT enthusiasts, fear not, the market will rise again. According to a report published by Verified Market Research, the market value for NFT is expected to reach $231 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 33.7 per cent.
