2022-05-01
Since time immemorial, there have been various types of investments. Numerous Individuals and corporations have powered bonds, real estate etc., with the expectation of making a profit and achieving financial growth and stability.
Blockchain Technology brought a new class of investment alternatives, and the beautiful thing is that these various investment projects are in their early stages and possess immense potential.
In the year 2021, one of the most widely discussed innovations in the blockchain community were NFTs.
Everyone wanted a piece of this massive invention, from artists to musicians to politicians -even Melania Trump launched an NFT platform with the first sale being a watercolour portrait of her eyes titled Melania's vision.
The Market is fast growing and still evolving, and with a market cap of $20billion and exponential growth of 1785%, it is evident that it's just getting started.
Despite what is already known about NFTs, a lot is still esoteric. NFTs have several use cases, all with remarkable prospects for investments.
What are NFTs?
NFTs stand for Non-fungible Tokens. They essentially are a Blockchain powered proof of ownership of an asset of value. Real world items can be NFTs, and tokenizing these assets enable them to be bought, sold and traded efficiently. NFTs are proof on the blockchain that a particular asset of value belongs to an individual or organization.
There are different configurations in place for creating and allocating NFTs. Still, the most prominent is the ERC 721 (Ethereum requirement for comments 721), which are application level standards in the ethereum ecosystem.
On the 3rd of May 2014, a digital artist named Kevin Mccoy minted the first known NFT called Quantum. This art piece eventually sold for over $1.4M in a Sotheby auction on the 28th of Nov, 2021.
Daily, the NFT innovation keeps unravelling, and it will continue to do so.
Below are the current and future aspects of NFT investments.
Aspects of NFT Investments
1.NFT Gaming
The Popularity of the video game Cryptokitties paved the way for NFT use in the Gaming industry. Cryptokitties, a video game launched in 2017 that allows users to collect, breed and sell NFT kittens, was so successful that the transaction volume challenged the Ethereum network by clogging up the network and creating a pile of unprocessed transactions.
Currently, hundreds of Games have incorporated NFTs into their operations.
Games like Axie Infinity and Blankos Block party utilize the play to earn (P2E) gaming model. In Axie Infinity, Axies, which are NFTs, can be bought, bred and trained for battle. Through Battles, players can earn Smooth love potion, a cryptocurrency sold in secondary markets for real money.
Over $3.6B have been traded on the Axie platform, and it is one of the most valuable NFT projects worldwide.
2.NFT Tickets
NFT ticketing addresses the problems of black marketing of tickets, lack of exchange products and customer trust. Companies like GET protocol and Centaurify are heralding a new dawn in ticketing via NFTs.
Tickets as NFTs gives better supervision over the resale market, a more secure storage form of access and the chance for tickets to be considered digital collectables.
Various monetary motivations have come from this ranging from King of Leon selling NFTs that entitle buyers to lifetime front row seats at their tours to Gary vee NFTs doubling as exclusive tickets for three years to the Vee Con conference.
3.Profile Picture and Avatar NFT
In 2017, 10,000 cryptopunk NFTs were algorithmically created and offered free to interested Ethereum wallets. Fast forward to 2022, and the cheapest of the 10,000 crypto punk is worth more than $400,000. Furthermore, more than $4B have been traded over this NFT series.
The Profile picture and Avatar NFTs have immense popularity and act as digital identities with exclusive membership to certain highly active communities.
4.Digital Twin NFTs
According to William Quingley, co-founder of Tether, "All consumer products that can't be eaten, in the next year will have digital twins".
The digital twin will serve as a digital record of ownership of physical assets. With the digital twin, physical items would be likened to an NFT and stored on a blockchain. Brands like LVMH, Prada, Cartier have collaborated on Aura- their blockchain used to tokenize ownership over real-world items.
5.AI NFTs
The Combination of Artificial Intelligence and NFTs are gaining wide momentum.
AI-generated art, e.g. Arlequin created by an AI called Alicia, was sold for $400. Meanwhile, the Intelligence NFTs phenomenon driven by Aletheal AI sold Alice(an intelligent NFT living on the blockchain that can have conversations and change personalities) for $500,000 at Sothebys.
This is in its earliest growth phase and holds so much promise in the future as a form of investment.
6.NFT Music, TV shows and streaming services
NFT is powering a creator economy that is causing a massive change in content creation. DJ 3LAU tokenized his album, making $11.6M off the 33NFTs he sold. Movie shows are also incorporating NFTs, e.g. NFT animated series Stoner Cats. Each Stoner Cat costs $1000 and is only 10,400 in existence.
There are over 5000 cat owners at the moment, and they are the only ones with access to the show.
7.NFTs and Health
Companies like Aimedis and Engin are creating an intersection between NFTs and Health.
Through Aimedis, patients can turn medical data into NFTs to be sold to pharmaceutical companies; this empowers them to own and monetize their personal medical information, thereby providing a new revenue stream to those willing to participate.
Conclusion
NFT projects and investment opportunities are rapidly growing and fast changing.
There has been consistent growth in the space, and with technological refinement and advancement, one can be sure of even bigger and better NFT projects in the future.