A simple and straightforward question like any other, except for the fact that any answer you give, apart from the most generic one, is bound to create ripples in every pond, digital or otherwise. For the sake of time and efficiency, we will define NFT shortly and link you to a dissident source. Generically, NFTs are non-fungible tokens, which is a term that, according to NFT News Today, describes “a cryptographic token that defines an asset uniquely”; in other words, it is a reference to a unique, often digital, asset. This asset, in turn, can represent a one-of-a-kind artwork (or multiple editions thereof), song, or video, or whenever you decide to attach to that individual reference.
Due to that unique reference, it is possible to prove the authenticity of the asset attached to it.
Dan Olson, the creator of the channel Folding Ideas, brings in-depth analysis of what constitutes an NFT and what are, in his opinion, the downsides of the tech. He discusses the contradictions and criticism-averse side of NFT creators and self-proclaimed gurus, comparing the NFT fever to the financial crisis of 2008 surrounding mortgage-backed securities, “financial instruments that could be traded or collected based on a bundle of thousands of individual mortgages”.
Feeling ready? So now buckle up and let’s talk about the latest developments as of July 2022!
What’s hot right now in the NFT fam?
Every couple of months, especially following market price drops of cryptocurrencies (namely Bitcoin and Ethereum), people on Twitter, the extra-official communication platform for everything NFT-related, prophesize the end of Web3 and the death of the NFT community. That cycle has already happened at least at three different moments in 2022, and the market has survived and flourished after each.
As of, and perhaps especially, today, we are experiencing the newest flourishing phase. New NFT projects continue to appear every day. In the wake of the recent Supreme Court of the United States decision to overturn Row v. Wade, at least 5 projects stepped up in order to fund reproductive rights in the United States, all of them with different premises, from music and FoxNews screenshots to collage artworks.
On the social and educational side of NFTs, Division Street, a sports venture company that assists in the creation of marketing programs aiming to maximize revenue opportunities for the University of Oregon student-athletes, in partnership with Sedona Prince, Oregon Ducks basketball player, Lili Tae, graphic designer, and other fellow student-athletes, announced the upcoming launch of an NFT collection named Visions of Flight that aims to support the equitable futures of women student-athletes at the University of Oregon.
The project, which consists of 12 unique NFTs based on the personalities of the partner athletes, claims that 75 percent of the proceeds from the sales will be split equally among the participating athletes, while the remaining 25 percent will be retained by Division Street in order to offset expenses, so don’t forget to check that out!
Another exciting and yet dystopian novelty is Vitalik Buterin’s new Web3 pet project: Soulbound tokens (SBTs). Essentially, these SBTs are non-transferable tokens that store identity and reputation data, thus allowing an individual to verify their information (such as education, work history, credit score, medical history, etc) using blockchain technology. Although SBTs share most NFT characteristics, it differs in the fact that they are not transferable. Also, unlike NFTs, institutions (by means of their private wallets) would be able to grant individuals (more accurately their private wallets) achievements, such as the completion of a degree. There are, however, a myriad of obstacles currently hindering the effective implementation of SBTs. Two of the main issues to solve are the need to differentiate this from the Chinese social credit system, and a feature that would allow a user to hide or destroy/discard their SBT.
On the entertainment front, following the initiative of other luxury car brands like Ferrari and Mercedes, the car manufacturer Bentley is set to release a genesis NFT with hopes to better connect with its customers and occupy a share of the market already explored by its competitors. If you’re a fan, you can sign up for updates from Bentley here!
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This image was taken from the project's main page |
“But cars aren’t really my thing!” I hear you say - and not to worry, here is another long-expected project: Tomorrowland, a Belgian electronic dance music festival, has released more information regarding its new NFT collection, TBR July 15th! It consists of 6,500 collectibles minted in Solana, with about 1,500 NFTs on sale onsite at Tomorrowland Belgium for 3 SOL, according to NFT News Today.
Notwithstanding, the rapper French Montana has also announced interesting details about his project called the French Family Membership NFTs collection, according to which each owner thereof will have associated rights to Montana’s album “Montega” - an alleged music album with unique digital and physical experiences that unlock through the collection of its exclusive NFT.
What’s going on in the market
One of the main factors concerning the European NFT market is the European Union (EU) discussion of a new batch of regulations that would help combat money laundering activities tied to crypto assets, as well as establishing an authorization regime for crypto service providers. This new piece of regulation aims to set “legal jurisdiction over NFT creation and trading”, thus allowing legal bodies to prosecute individuals and entities attempting to scam investors and clients with “pump and dump”, “rug pull”, or any other types of schemes.
That movement in Europe, however, has not discouraged the market from continuing to do its own thing. A quick check at the latest Chainalysis report shows that while the total volume of NFT sales has seen a decline in comparison to mid-January, the NFT sales volume was still able to reach what NFT News Today characterizes as a “healthy” $3.7 billion, which is in accordance with the whole of crypto assets decline and was nothing but expected.
Sure, your Bored Ape Yacht Club might have seen a recent decline in value, but with other collectibles around the corner, the market is sure to recover and possibly even renew its interest in the unenthusiastic primates. Two of the collections that pulled a lot of weight this year are Moonbirds and Okay Bears, though it would be foolish to not include Goblintown and a project by Bored Ape Yacht Club called Otherside, a metaverse game that aims to include Apes, CryptoPunks, Meebits, Cool Cats and other NFTs.
The advent of P2E (play-to-earn) NFT games is yet another factor that is increasingly pushing the market forward, in fact, according to data collected by Coingecko, “metaverse/gaming NFTs are the most common type of NFTs owned”, which corresponds to 35.8% of the NFT owners that took their survey (opposite to 27.% of owners that use NFT as profile pictures, 25.3% that acquire it as artwork, and 11.5% that listed other reasons).
Conclusion
From that overview, it seems fair to affirm that NFTs, like it or not, are here to stay, and for what it’s worth, they do try to appeal to every taste: from social, political, and humanitarian causes, to art, music, gaming, and entertainment as a whole. And here is a final reminder, whether you use it to collect or flip art, variable collectibles, or gaming assets, you will also (likely) need to use a reliable wallet to keep your assets safe. While there are literally hundreds of options available to you, I like things that make my life easier, so my choice is NOW Wallet. Its clean UI provides a better experience than most other options out there, and it allows me to not only quickly access my NFT collection but also to connect to any dApps on the main blockchains simply by scanning a QR code, which really comes in handy in a world of NFT game assets, for example. That said, you also can’t go wrong with Coinbase wallet, Metamask, Trust Wallet, or Binance.
