Top NFT projects to watch as we enter 2022

Highlights 

• NFTs bring to the world of collectibles what Bitcoin and altcoins bring to the world of currencies
• The blockchain underpinning with peer-to-peer review of ownership has turned NFTs into a craze
• Most blockchain-based games use NFTs to reward users and also to let gamers enter combats

It seems no force can halt the non-fungible (NFT) bandwagon. Calendar 2021 has been a phenomenal year for these blockchain-powered collectibles.

In March, the ‘Everydays: the First 5000 Days’ artwork by artist Beeple sold for multi-million dollars and set the trend for high valuations. The craze is such that popular tech executives like Twitter founder Jack Dorsey are using NFTs. Dorsey’s first tweet has sold for nearly US$2.9 million as NFT, and the Bitcoin-enthusiast CEO donated the proceeds to charity.

Top NFT projects to watch as we enter 2022

Recently, SoftBank has dipped into its Vision Fund 2 to bet on an NFT gaming platform, The Sandbox. It has its own metaverse – something similar to what Facebook is coming up with – where gamers can create a virtual world and own NFTs. Most blockchain games that reward gamers with NFTs have seen a surge in the price of their linked token after Facebook’s meta makeover.

In this light, let’s find out five NFT projects to watch as we enter 2022.

1. CryptoPunks

CryptoPunks is arguably the most popular NFT project. Many characters created under this project have sold for millions of dollars each in 2021.

The project is helmed by Larva Labs, which has tapped the famous Ethereum’s blockchain to register the record of ownership for characters. For now, the project claims to have 10,000 unique characters. This is indeed the foundation stone of any NFT since no ‘fungible’ item can have NFT attributes.

The collectibles under the project are ERC-721 tokens. It is claimed that the initial characters were all free of cost to anybody using Ethereum. Today, the resale of these characters occurs on NFT marketplaces.

CryptoPunk #7523 sold for US$11.7 million in June 2021. At least two other CryptoPunks, #3100 and #7804 have sold for over US$7 million. The sale price of CryptoPunk #7523 is second only to Beeple’s Everydays digital artwork.

Also read: Top 5 most expensive NFTs ever sold including CryptoPunks

2. Bored Ape Yacht Club

Like CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club also has 10,000 unique characters. Other similarities between the projects include use of Ethereum’s blockchain for ownership registration and the ERC-721 feature.

In this project, ‘bored’ Apes have distinct features to make them unique and to entice art lovers to catch hold of them. The project claims that most characters have already been sold, and the resale can occur on the OpenSea NFT exchange. OpenSea is a leading exchange for NFTs, and it may soon find competition from Coinbase’s NFT platform.

The Bored Ape has a collection of digitally created apes that have distinct clothing and expressions. It is said that one such character costs 0.08 ETH in the initial sale. The owner can then trade it on an exchange to earn profit.

Also read: Is Bitcoin better than gold as hedge against high inflation?

3. MakersPlace

What’s a collectible if it cannot be resold further at an appreciated price? While some collectors buy any unique piece of art for their own, some buy it to sell it and earn profit.

MakersPlace connects the creator of the artwork with the patron. This opens up a market for the artist, and for the patron it is a way to own an authentic artwork, signed and issued by the artist. MakersPlace also allows the patron to invest in an upcoming artist and then earn profit on this investment by listing the art on any exchange platform.

The marketplace claims to have thousands of digital creators who are using the platform to showcase their work and find buyers. The platform is leveraging the blockchain technology to enable digital artists to sell their works as NFTs.

Also read: What are DeFi games & which are the most popular DeFi games?

4. OpenSea

OpenSea is the arguably the biggest name when it comes to trading NFTs. It uses the decentralized peer-to-peer attribute of blockchain to allow trade in unique collectibles.

The platform has listed CryptoPunks and Axie Infinity’s Axie creatures on its marketplace. It earns revenue from the fee charged on transactions, which is 2.5 per cent of the purchase price. Lately, Coinbase has also announced the launch of its NFT trading platform, which is set to heat up the market with more competition.

Ethereum’s Ether remains at the heart of OpenSea as all trades are undertaken in Ether. This also provides a use case for Ether cryptocurrency that has been gaining value of late.

OpenSea has a variety of collectibles, including characters like CryptoPunks, sports-related tokens and even decentralized domain names.

5. SuperRare

OpenSea’s trading platform differs from both MakersPlace and SuperRare. The latter two act as auction platforms instead of an exchange. This means that traditional auctioning is undergoing a paradigm shift in the world of NFTs. SuperRare, like MakersPlace, lists original artworks to help artists find patrons.

Here, a fee of three per cent is charged on every purchase. The platform charges a 15 per cent commission on every primary sale of artwork, and thereafter a royalty is paid to the original creator on all secondary sales. SuperRare also uses Ether as the currency for all transactions.

The platform stores purchases on smart contracts executed on blockchain. This is the feature in all NFTs to make the ownership record immutable and peer-to-peer reviewed. The platform claims to charge no fee on primary sale in the event of token ID less than 4000 to promote the use of beta phase.

Bottom line

NFTs are refusing to give up the lead they have taken in the cryptocurrency world. The entry of Facebook in metaverse is being viewed by many as a boost for blockchain-based gaming platforms and NFTs. The virtual reality of metaverse will likely have enough utility for digitally created artwork. Bitcoin has made blockchain a popular tech, thanks to its decentralized characteristics, and NFTs bring blockchain to the world of collectibles. The above five projects are likely to gain traction in the near-to-medium term.