NFT market cap worldwide 2018-2021

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The market cap of NFT, or non-fungible tokens, shows a fast moving development, growing more than 3,000 percent between 2020 and 2021. The source of these figures states that coming up with a market capitalization for a market this young is «a tricky exercise» and even mentions this particular estimate is «conservative». The volatile nature of developments in this new market can also be seen in the transaction volume of NFT for various segments as well as the market size of NFT within the same segments: Transactions declined for gaming, whilst value grew for arts. This latter aspect was demonstrated in early 2021, when an NFT digital artwork was sold in an auction for roughly 69 million U.S. dollars — making it the third-most expensive art piece ever sold from a living artist.

Hands holding NFT against purple background. Getty Images stock photo

The market size for digital collectibles known as NFTs is catching up to that of the traditional art market.

NFTs are now inching closer and closer in value to the traditional art market, where people buy and sell physical works. The latest estimate from a 2021 report showed sales of conventional art and antiques reached $50 billion in 2020. That number was a decline from the year prior, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market report found.

To be sure, other estimates on NFTs differ, with separate data from DappRadar showing the market hit $22 billion in 2021. But the explosive trend upward is still clear as DappRadar also put digital collectible sales at just $100 million in 2020.

And art-industry stalwarts have taken notice. Centuries-old auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s have sold millions of dollars worth of NFTs as they capitalize on the burgeoning market.

Many have debated the merits of the digital collectibles. Enthusiasts have said they’re the key to unlocking the next phase of the internet, often called the metaverse or Web3. Naysayers, often called right-clickers, say there’s little to no value in the digital tokens.

Griffin Cock Foster, one of the twins behind NFT exchange Nifty Gateway, told Insider previously that the long-term picture for the market is «very strong,» and it’s likely naysayers will eventually become participants.

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Artworks titled Bored Ape Yacht Club, left, and The Last Warrior by Sepand Danesh, right, at the Portrait of an Era NTF exhibition in London. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

Critics of non-fungible tokens say they are symptomatic of unsustainable digital gold rush

The global market for non-fungible tokens hit $22bn (£16.5bn) this year as the craze for collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club and Matrix avatars turned digital images into major investment assets.

Data from DappRadar, a firm that tracks sales, showed that trading in NFTs reached $22bn in 2021, compared with just $100m in 2020, and that the floor market cap of the top 100 NFTs ever issued – a measure of their collective value – was $16.7bn.

The most valuable NFT sale this year was The First 5000 Days, a digital collage by Beeple, the name used by the American digital artist Mike Winkelmann, that was auctioned for $69.3m in March, making it one of the most valuable pieces of art ever sold by a living artist. Another Beeple NFT, Human One, sold for $29m.

Other multimillion-dollar NFTs included the Bored Ape Yacht Club, a collection of 10,000 NFTs represented as cartoon primates that are used as profile photos on the social media accounts of their owners and which raised $26.2m. Celebrity BAYC owners include the talkshow host Jimmy Fallon and the rapper Post Malone.

DappRadar said a key factor in the surge in NFT trading was mainstream businesses entering the fray.

Coca-Cola raised more than $575,000 from selling items such as a customised jacket to be worn in the metaverse world of Decentraland while the Matrix star Keanu Reeves failed to keep a straight face when told by an interviewer that his Matrix film series now had NFTs attached to it.

Football fans have been targeted with NFT marketing – including with NFTs backed by the former England players John Terry and Wayne Rooney – and have been warned by experts that they are risky assets, unregulated in the UK. It will take years before NFTs behave like a conventional market, said George Monaghan, analyst at research firm GlobalData.

“2021 NFT activity was frenzied. That’ll subside in coming years and NFTs will settle into something more akin to today’s modern art market, where consensus on value is more solid. That said, it’ll be years before any crypto market, let alone NFTs, comes to resemble anything conventional markets would call stable. I wouldn’t throw your rainy day fund into any meme NFTs quite yet,” he said.

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Image source: Getty Images.Last year, hardly a month went by without news of a non-fungible token selling for thousands or even millions of dollars — prices that pieces of fine art can fetch. The average price of an NFT rose from around $150 to $4,000 as interest in NFTs exploded.This year, NFT prices have plummeted by over 50% in just one month.Despite the rollercoaster in prices, interest in NFTs has persisted. In January, 2.4 million NFTs sold on OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace — over a million more than sold in December. NFT sales by value broke records in January, with over $4.8 billion sold on OpenSea. Major art auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s have leaned into auctioning NFTs. And NFTs are central to burgeoning efforts to create the metaverse, providing a way to own virtual assets like homes, offices, art, clothing, and more.To foster better understanding of the NFT market, The Ascent, a Motley Fool service, put together this NFT market guide composed of historical data on NFT prices, sales, volume, and the most expensive NFTs sold.Key findings

NFT trading volume reached $25 billion in 2021Trading took off in the second half of the year. NFT trading volume in the first and second quarters of 2021 was $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion, respectively. Trading volume then skyrocketed to $10.7 billion in the third quarter and $11.6 billion in the fourth.

Data source: DappRadar.OpenSea is the largest NFT marketplace by volumeTo make shopping for NFTs easier, marketplaces have popped up. Creators and owners can list NFTs on marketplaces and prospective buyers can bid on listed NFTs. The largest marketplace by overall transaction value is OpenSea, which has facilitated $14.68 billion worth of NFT sales, according to data from DappRadar.Axie Infinity, a video game in which players collect and battle creatures called “Axies” (which are NFTs), boasts the most traders, with 1.6 million using the Axie Infinity marketplace since its inception in 2018. Almost $4 billion worth of NFT transactions have occurred on the Axie Infinity Marketplace.The CryptoPunks marketplace houses the CryptoPunks NFT collection, which includes some of the most expensive NFTs ever sold. The marketplace has the highest average NFT price among major NFT marketplaces and has seen over $2 billion worth of NFT sales.Data source: DappRadar.A record-breaking $4 billion worth of NFTs sold on OpenSea in JanuaryNFT sales reached a new high in January, with over $4.8 billion sold on OpenSea alone. That’s a massive increase from January 2021, when $8 million worth of NFTs sold on OpenSea, and a $2.3 billion increase from December 2021.

Data source: Dune Analytics.Over 2.4 million NFTs sold on OpenSea in January 2022January was also a record-breaking month for the number of NFTs sold on OpenSea, which reached over 2.4 million. That’s another huge jump from January 2021, when just over 11,000 NFTs sold on the marketplace.

Data source: Dune Analytics.The average price of an NFT swung between $6,900 and $1,400 in JanuaryThe average price of an NFT has fluctuated wildly over the past month and year. In January alone, the average NFT sale varied a great deal. On January 2, the average NFT sale price was around $6,890. By January 23, the average sale price was $1,363.In January 2021, the average sale price of an NFT was $347, according to nonfungible.com. In February, the average sale price rose to around $1,800, only to fall a couple hundred dollars through May, then plummet back to around $400 in June and July. Prices took off again in August and September and then launched to over $2,500 in October.The average sale price of an NFT in January 2022 was $3,257.

Data source: Nonfungible.com.NFT prices generally track with Bitcoin and EthereumAs Bitcoin and Ethereum plunged in December 2021 and January 2022, so did the average NFT price. NFT prices show a weak positive correlation with Bitcoin and a moderate positive correlation with Ethereum — unsurprising, given that Ethereum is the cryptocurrency used in the majority of NFT transactions.

Data source: Nonfungible.com, Coindesk.The most expensive NFTs»The Merge,» $91.8 million— Artist: Pak. Year created: 2021.»Everydays: the First 5000 Days,» $69.3 million— Artist: Beeple. Year created: 2021.In May 2007, digital artist Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) began producing a piece of digital art every day. «Everydays: the First 5000 Days» is a collage of the first 5,000 daily pieces from Beeple. Auctioned at Christie’s, «Everydays: the First 5000 Days» was the first NFT sold at a major auction house.»HUMAN ONE,» $29 million— Artist: Beeple. Year created: 2021.Beeple partnered again with Christie’s to auction «HUMAN ONE,» a “kinetic video sculpture” housed in four video screens that display an astronaut walking through shifting landscapes. «HUMAN ONE» can be updated by Beeple at any time, a unique twist given that art, even in the digital space, is traditionally static.»CryptoPunk 7523,» $11.8 million— Artist: Larva Labs. Year created: 2017.»CryptoPunk 3100,» $7.7 million— Artist: Larva Labs. Year created: 2017.Another of the nine Alien Cryptopunks, «CryptoPunk 3100» sports a simple headband with single horizontal blue and white stripes. It sold for 4,200 Ethereum (then valued at $7.7 million) on March 11, 2021. It is currently on sale for 35,000 Ethereum, roughly $86 million.The most valuable NFT collectionsBored Ape Yacht Club— Market capitalization: $2.95 billionNFTs from the Bored Ape Yacht Club are owned by international sports stars including Neymar Jr. and Steph Curry, music superstars including Justin Bieber and Snoop Dogg, entertainers including Jimmy Fallon and Kevin Hart, and high-profile inventors such as Mark Cuban.Developed by Yuga Labs, Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection of 10,000 NFTs that are portraits of stylized apes wearing different accessories and outfits. Individual Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs have recently sold for millions of dollars’ worth of Ethereum, and most have fetched hundreds of thousands of dollars.CryptoPunks— Market capitalization: $2.04 billionIt’s no surprise that the CryptoPunks collection is among the most valuable NFT collections, given that two CryptoPunk NFTs are among the top five most expensive NFTs ever sold. CryptoPunks is a collection of 10,000 pixelated, 8-bit style portraits designed by LarvaLabs, each sporting a unique combination of accessories.Mutant Ape Yacht Club— Market capitalization: $1.14 billionHalf of the 20,000 NFTs that form the Mutant Ape Yacht Club collection are tied to Bored Ape Yacht Club. In August, owners of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs were given vials of “mutant serum” (the serums form a separate NFT collection called Bored Ape Chemistry Club) that allowed them to transform their Bored Apes into Mutant Apes. Another 10,000 Mutant Apes were minted and put on the market.The Apes aren’t the only items fetching high prices — a vial of serum is going for an average of $78,800. The most expensive serum so far recently sold for $5.8 million.CLONE X — X TAKASHI MURA— Market capitalization: $801.87 millionCLONE X — X TAKASHI MURA is a collection of 20,000 3D NFT avatars with randomly generated features, designed by RTKFT Studios and Takashi Murakami. It is intended that owners will be able to use avatars from this collection across the metaverse, in Zoom meetings, and elsewhere. Clone X avatars have sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of Ethereum.Cool Cats— Market capitalization: $376.31 millionCool Cats is a collection of 9,999 randomly generated cat portrait NFTs, each with a different combination of body style, face style, accessories, and outfits. The makers of Cool Cats plan to eventually allow “breeding,” which some have speculated will allow owners of two Cool Cats to combine them into a new Cool Cat NFT with traits from each of the “parents.”The NFT outlook2021 was a monumental year for NFTs. Despite fluctuating prices, NFTs grew more popular and moved toward the mainstream. Artists and developers pushed the boundaries of what’s possible with NFTs as an artistic medium. Efforts to conceptualize and build the metaverse with NFTs as a foundational element picked up steam.In each of these areas a significant amount of money was exchanged, and interest, as measured by dollars, grew by levels of magnitude in 2021.What does that mean for the future of NFTs?From a skeptic’s point of view, long-term, mainstream use cases for NFTs are still largely unproven. NFTs have certainly carved out a sizable niche in the art market, but whether they can reach and provide value to a larger audience remains to be seen, and the advantages of using an NFT over more traditional digital art are not entirely proven. NFT values remain volatile and prices correlate with Ethereum, a relatively risky and unregulated cryptocurrency.Sources:

What Are NFTs?

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a digital asset or a unique identifier that assigns, links, or proves ownership of unique physical and digital goods. These goods can be anything ranging from artwork, music, digital real estate, or videos.

How Do NFTs Differ From Cryptocurrencies?

Cryptocurrencies are identical to each other and can serve as a medium of commercial exchange, NFTs on the other hand, cannot be exchanged or traded at equivalency.

This is because they are not identical to each other.

Fungible items like cryptocurrency and fiat money can be exchanged with one another without losing value because their value is not tied to their uniqueness.

An example of a fungible item is a dollar bill. Every $1 bill has the same value, so exchanging one bill with another bill that has a different serial number will in no way reduce the value of the $1 bill.

The reverse is the case with NFTs. Each token is unique and is not always worth the same amount as other similar tokens.

Why Do NFTs Have Value?

The primary reason for NFT value is that each token is unique and cannot be interchanged.

NFTs are also valuable because they help verify the authenticity and ownership of a non-fungible asset.

Even though these digital assets may be duplicated, the original is unique and irreplaceable. Plainly put, the value of NFTs is tied to the non-fungibility of the tokens.

Unlike fungible tokens, NFTs cannot be broken down into smaller units. Fungible tokens such as bitcoin are divisible into smaller units. For instance, bitcoin can be split into Satoshi.

The implication of this is that even though an NFT asset can be copied, the digital certificate of ownership that can be bought or sold along with the artwork can’t be duplicated.

Only the original asset has the ownership certificate. So while other people may have access to the asset, none of them can claim ownership of it. Even though the NFTs are virtual, the fact that their ownership and authenticity can be verified makes them valuable.

What are NFTs Used For?

NFT buyers can choose to do whatever they like with their NFT after purchase. In most cases, the use of the NFT is dependent on what type of NFT it is.

Some may choose to hold NFTs that they believe will have long-term value, while others may sell their NFTs after buying just to make some profit. Savvy NFT traders take advantage of price fluctuations and actively trade NFTs to generate profit.

On the other hand, some NFT buyers like art collectors are not interested in reselling the NFT. They buy NFTs because they like collecting them. This group of buyers derive joy from knowing that they are the sole owners of certain digital assets.

Also, the importance and uses of NFTs keeps increasing as more categories are being discovered.

Below are some things you can use NFTs for:

Verifying the Authenticity of Products

This information cannot be tampered with or duplicated.

The fact that all this information about a product can be accessed easily helps to solve the problem of the circulation of fake copies of a product.

Gaming Industry

The uses of NFTs in the gaming industry cannot be overemphasized. Game developers use NFTs to create a constant stream of revenue by having gamers buy and trade in-game NFT items.

Intellectual Property and Patents

You can use NFTs to protect intellectual property and patents and also prove your ownership of any piece of digital content.

With NFTs, the creator of content can prove that he is the original creator of a digital asset at any given time.

Utility in the Metaverse

NFTs play a leading role in shaping the virtual reality future like the metaverse.

Literally, every item sold in the metaverse is an NFT. Transactions are already being made in the metaverse using NFT coins.

How to Calculate NFT Floor Prices?

NFT floor price is the lowest price an individual is willing to sell an NFT for.

Alternatively, the NFT floor price can also be the lowest amount of ETH a person is able to spend to own an NFT or become a member of an NFT project.

NFT floor price is often determined and set by the owner of the NFT. The seller can decide to choose a floor price that is less than that of other similar NFTs within the NFT project.

Knowing how to calculate the floor price of an NFT will save you the trouble of making a bad investment.

In most cases, NFT investors use the floor price to determine the rarity of an NFT and find out if the NFT project has the chance of appreciating in value.

The major determinant of the value of NFT floor price is the demand. If the NFT is in high demand, the seller will not want to sell it at a price lower than the value of other NFTs in the project.

But if the reverse is the case and the demand for the NFT is low, the seller will most likely pick a low floor price in order to sell out the NFT quickly before it freezes out.

As stated above, the floor price of an NFT is determined by the demand for the NFT.

Below are factors that can affect the demand for an NFT and ultimately affect the floor price of NFTs:
— The utility of the NFT
— The uniqueness of the product
— Creator’s popularity
— The product appeal to a wide range of buyers
— The diversity of the NFT creators

How to Mint NFTs

Anyone can mint NFTs. This minting can be done on many of the available NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, SuperRare, and Rarible.

Because many of these marketplaces are only available on the Ethereum network, you must have Ethereum’s native currency Ether, and a wallet compatible with the Ethereum network to be able to mint NFTs.

The process of minting NFTs in each marketplace may be slightly different, but they are similar. The major difference in the minting process is the fees charged by each marketplace.

The minting steps below are applicable to most marketplaces:

Create a Crypto Exchange Account.

You will need Ether in your wallet to pay the minting fee.

Create a Crypto Wallet

To get started with the minting process you need to open a crypto wallet and connect it to the NFT Marketplace.

If you are using a wallet like Coinbase or MetaMask, you may be asked to connect your wallet through a QR code scanner on your smartphone or download the wallet to your computer.

Send Ether to your Wallet

After setting up your wallet, the next thing to do is to send Ether from your exchange to your wallet.

In most cases, you will be able to send crypto to a wallet with a public address.

Your wallet’s public address will always be visible when you open your wallet plugin on the browser or on your smartphone.

Connect Your Wallet

After opening your wallet, go to the website of the platform you are using and click on the profile option.

When you do this, you will see an option for connecting your wallet to the marketplace.

Select the option.

Your profile can include information such as what type of crypto you accept as payment, your website, and social media link, and some information about yourself.

Mint Your NFT

To mint your NFT, click on the «Create» button. When you do this you will be redirected to a page where you will upload your NFT.

Ensure that your NFT is in a format that is allowed by the marketplace.

Name your NFT and upload it, then scroll down and click on «Create».

Once you do this your NFT will be on the marketplace.

Sell Your NFT

After creating your NFT, you will need to list it for sale.

To do this, click on the «Sell» option on your NFT page. You will be redirected to a new page where you can choose to sell your NFT for a fixed price or auction it.

If you are selling at a fixed price, set the price you want to sell at, then complete the listing.

Before finally listing your NFT for sale, your platform may ask you to initialize your wallet. You will also need to confirm the selling price through your wallet.

Once this is done, your NFT has been minted and is ready for sale.

State of the NFT Market | Q1 2022

In partnership with CryptoSlam

NFT sales amounted to US$18.5 billion in 2021—a 570-fold increase from 2020 as the record bid for Beeple’s digital collage and the strong reception for NBA Top Shot attracted new collectors and boosted prices, data from NFT industry data aggregator CryptoSlam showed.

Companies from Gucci and Ray-Ban to McDonald’s and Coca Cola also began to offer NFTs.

With monthly sales holding above US$2.5 billion in recent months and reaching as high as US$4.5 billion (data as of February 2022), the market for new NFTs will likely grow to at least US$30 billion this year. CryptoSlam has projected 2022 sales volume to rise by at least 50% to 70%, considering the expected 200% to 300% growth in the number of buyers.

The growing interest in NFTs contrasts with other financial markets which have undergone a roller coaster ride as central banks prepare to raise interest rates as inflation hit multi-decades highs.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, long touted as the safe haven hedges, have failed to provide investors with shelter as total market capitalization fell below US$2 trillion in January 2022, the lowest level since September 2021.

According to CryptoSlam, NFT sales totaled US$4.5 billion in January 2022, just below the market’s all-time high of US$4.9 billion set in August 2021.

Monthly NFT sales crossed the US$1 billion mark in July 2021 and have not looked back since.

CryptoSlam data shows there were 759,145 unique sellers of NFTs in January 2022, up from 27,963 in January 2021 and just slightly less than the market’s all-time high of 791,631 in November 2021.

While “whales”, or investors with substantial portfolios, will likely continue driving impressive sales in the industry, the rise in the number of unique buyers shows that the NFT-curious are warming up to this novel asset class.

Coinbase’s soon-to-be-launched NFT marketplace already had more than 3.7 million people on its waitlist at the time of writing. Coinbase has partnered with Mastercard so any cardholder can buy an NFT without the need to use cryptocurrency, removing one of the current pain-points involved in buying NFTs.

Floor price refers to the lowest price for an NFT collection that someone can buy directly from the market.