Why are NFTs so popular with people?

Highlights

• NFTs popularity really began surging in 2018, however it’s been the past two years - and particularly this year – where they’ve exploded

• Digital artist Beeple’s collage – “Everydays” – sold at Christie’s for a whopping US$69 million

• Combine the pandemic with the explosion of cryptocurrency this year, and there’s further reason for the corresponding explosion of NFTs

If there was any indication that NFTs were the hot asset of 2021, the Collins Dictionary declared ‘NFT’ to be Word of the Year for 2021.

Indeed, the non-fungible token has seen a meteoric rise this year, as artworks, music and collectables have generated millions upon millions of dollars in their selling as unique digital files.

Just some of the notable NFTs that have sold this year, include musician Grimes who, in March, sold a collection of digital artworks for US$6 million.

Why are NFTs so popular & will they bring digital revolution?

The iconic YouTube video, titled Charlie Bit Me, whose runtime is about a minute long, was sold as an NFT for around US$760,000, in April.

The big one this year, though, was digital artist Beeple’s collage – “Everydays” – which sold at Christie’s for a whopping US$69 million.

Why Are People Going Crazy Over NFTs? 

Believe it or not, NFTs have been around for much longer than this year. The very first NFT project dates back to when Kevin McCoy minted his non-fungible token “Quantum," in May 2014.

Quantum is a pixelated image of an octagon filled with ever-changing kaleidoscopic circles, arcs and other shapes.

NFTs popularity really began surging in 2018, however it’s been the past two years - and particularly this year – where they’ve exploded.

The Worldwide Covid Lockdowns

When you consider the other notable event which has consumed the world over the past couple of years, it’s no coincidence that NFTs have exploded during this time.

Indeed, worldwide mandated lockdowns to protect the spread of the Covid-19 virus, forced many people out of work, forcing them to look for alternative streams of income. As a result, NFTs have emerged hand-in-hand with cryptocurrency to achieve that end.

In developing countries like The Phillipines, NFT games have been adopted by millennials who play games like Axie Infinity as a full-time job. For the initiated, Axie Infinity is a game where players collect NFTs in the form of little digital creatures called ‘Axies’. Once acquired, these Axies can be sold on NFT marketplaces like OpenSea. Most Axies sell for a few hundred followers. with very rare Axies selling for more than US$1 million.

The Explosion of Cryptocurrency

This year, combine the pandemic with the explosion of cryptocurrency, and there’s further reason for the corresponding explosion of NFTs.

Bitcoin – the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation – has experienced two huge surges this year as the year-to-date growth has topped nearly 100%.

Bitcoin’s growth has pushed a number of other tokens to new record highs, this year, including Ethereum, Solana and Cardano.

NFTs are hosted by blockchains, like Ethereum, where they can then be sold in exchange for that blockchain’s native cryptocurrency.

Learn How to Invest in NFTs for Free 

NFTs may seem like an intimidating market to get your head around but fortunately, there are a number of resources out there to help you learn.

OpenSea is an online NFT marketplace where creators can sell their NFTs and consumers can purchase them. Included on this platform are a number of resources where users can learn about creating and selling NFTs.

Many NFT projects have their own online communities. Twitter and Reddit are two online forums where people can learn about an NFT project’s community.

And, of course, YouTube, is always a helpful resource to learn about something for free. Popular NFT channels include, NFT Times, Noealz and popular online entrepreneur, Gary Vaynerchuk’s channel, GaryVEE TV.

The Bottom Line 

Like cryptocurrency, it’s unlikely that NFTs will go away any time soon.

In fact, despite NFT’s burst into the mainstream, this year, we’ve only scratched the surface of what is possible with NFTs.