There has been much speculation regarding NFT sales and many have predicted that it is just a fad, but contrary to this belief, NFT sales have held firm even as the price of Bitcoin has dropped by half since its high in April. According to a Dapp Industry Report, NFT sales in the second quarter of 2021 have outpaced NFT sales from first quarter, from $2.3 billion to $2.4 billion which doesn’t take into account the increase in off-chain sales which occur through auction houses such as Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips. Additionally, there has been a spike in the number of sales and daily average number of unique active wallets, gaining 111.46% and 151.89% respectively from the previous quarter.
A couple of the most popular new sets of NFTs that launched recently, include the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and VeeFriends. Sales volumes in June alone from the BAYC reached on average, $44 million USD per day. Both offerings include extra perks alongside the art. BAYC offers access to a Discord server, Telegram chat group, and a digital graffiti wall, while VeeFriends offers a three-year access pass to business conferences led by entrepreneur, Gary Vaynerchuk.
Other NFTS yielding extra value include virtual lands and in-game items, such as, WAX’s Alien Worlds and Ronin’s Axie Infinity, which added over 250,000 unique active wallets each in Q2 alone.
Meanwhile, 2021 has been a record year for Venture Capital funds pouring into the crypto space. So far this year, the total investment equals $17 billion according to PitchBook; $10 billion of that total has been injected into Bullish Global, a new crypto exchange, but even without that, we would still be on par with the previous record of 2018. Ledger SAS, the popular choice in hardware wallets for cryptocurrencies, had the second biggest raise with $380 million.
Another great indicator that the NFT market is strong and “is poised to transform all aspects of our lives,” is the new $2.2 billion fund raised by Andreessen Horowitz positioned for investments in crypto networks. Angel investor Chris Dixon adds, “we are radically optimistic about crypto’s potential to restore trust and enable new kinds of governance where communities collectively make important decisions about how networks evolve, what behaviors are permitted, and how economic benefits are distributed.” This fund will focus on de-fi or decentralized finance built on blockchain technology. Its current holdings include OpenSea, a platform for digital items and NFTs, and is now valued at $1.5 billion. (This past June alone, OpenSea had $160 million worth of sales.) In addition, the fund holds Dapper Labs, makers of NBA’s Top Shot store for crypto collectibles. The fund has “also assembled a team of advisors including several with policy experience, hoping to navigate potential cryptocurrency regulations that could be on the horizon as calls for federal involvement intensify.”
Although NFTs and crypto asset prices may fluctuate over time, innovation and opportunities continue to increase through each cycle. We hold firm to the belief that NFTs are in the early stages of what is to come, and we are excited about the future of this space.
Stay Curious!
~NFT Art Source
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