Long Live The Dynamic NFT

It’s been hardly more than eighteen months since the heady days of JPEG files-as-NFTs selling faster than hotdogs on a New York street corner at the height of summer. Throughout 2021, ecstatic shouts of “Wagmi!” floated down the gold-plated NFT Twitter streets like Ethereum-coated confetti.

Those heady and halcyon days of NFT buying frenzy have now been doused with a cold ice-bucket of crypto winter. The ongoing crypto crash, more like a market correction, seems to have been precipitated by the pushing of boundaries within the industry, as well as an overuse of leverage. In the past, top NFT projects such as Cryptopunks have generated over $23 million for a single NFT, giving rise to legitimate concerns of a bubble, or an artificial market.

It would seem natural then, under those circumstances, that everyone would imagine they might just have a chance to hit the big time in the NFT world.

In mid-April of 2022, investors, NFT enthusiasts, watchers and outright Degens cheered at Moonbirds' two-day $280 million launch. Moonbirds’ parent company Proof Collective went on to trade approximately $300 million in NFT volume in just four days, with one bird selling for a million dollars seven days later.

Shortly thereafter, Bitcoin plunged 70%, and a massive Crypto meltdown began. While this appeared to be unexpected, it could be seen as a natural course-correction for a bloated and over-extended market, a constriction to a more realistic playing ground, where the average investor might hope to get involved, and not just crypto and NFT whales.

NFT sales volume on OpenSea has dropped by 75% since July 2021, and industry activity on Twitter and other social platforms has markedly slowed down. So, what’s the future with NFT’s? Is it over? Has the sky fallen?

The short answer is no, it’s not over and the sky hasn’t fallen. The next step in the evolution of NFTs is just getting started. Unlike traditional NFTs which lately had the reputation of bringing more and more scam and trash, the next generation of NFTs – the genre of dynamic NFTs, also known as living NFTs – is evolving. Boosting engagement, being collaborative, and securing a floor, dynamic NFTs can constantly change, stay up to date, and provide a reason for users to want to keep them, collaborate on them, and acquire them.

There are plenty of potential uses of dynamic NFTs, and we will see them becoming embedded in the web3 world due their potential. For example, let’s take a look at documentation. Imagine if a deed to a house was a dynamic NFT. With each change to the house, for example, renovations, new rooms, improved heating, etc. the deed can reflect them, and the value can constantly update. Nothing can be hidden, and document ownership can be traced on the blockchain. And it goes even more with wallets, NFT tickets, move-to-earn apps, games and, of course, the artistic side where dynamic NFTs offer a completely new artistic method.

There is the very real potential for dynamic NFTs to claim a stake in art history, as the next natural stage in the evolution of digital artistic practice. Similarly, the link created between contemporary art and NFTs here allows for crypto-natives to gain insight into traditional art collection and history – all of which contextualizes dynamic NFT projects in the grander scheme of creative human history. 

For example, the OthersideMeta by Yuga Labs almost broke Ethereum blockchain on its minting day for its high request demands. Another dynamic NFT сollection long awaited, Life in Our Minds, has become deeply engaged with scientific research devoted to the psychology and behaviors of both humans and birds. Now, the project created by Random International and Danil Krivoruchko, produced by Pace Verso and Snark.art for OG.Art platform is entering its second phase through the reveal of Mother Flock, a generative virtual sculpture, which will be Christie’s 3.0 sale’s top lot.

Random International and Danil Krivoruchko, Life in Our Minds, 2022 © Pace Verso and Snark.art

Confirming the statement that dynamic NFT technology is opening the new era of NFTs, we see that big brands continue investing in projects like that. NBA, which is not new to the world of NFT, has launched NBAxNFT, official web3 home for the NBA, a collection of 30 thousand NFTs minted during the 2022 NBA playoffs. Each card is a dynamic NFT changing its appearance influenced by team and player on-court performance. 

With that in mind, let’s savour the moment of transition – from an overloaded scum NFT market to classy, highly innovative and art related dynamic NFT projects. Wagmi.