Why all popular NFTs are avatars? —from a product perspective

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NFT avatars have gone from complete obscurity to mainstream attention and million-dollar sales in less than a year. I’ve personally bought multiple myself, gotten immersed in the community, and written multiple articles about them.

If you’ve only just heard about these NFTs and perhaps seen a picture of a tired-looking cartoon monkey with a $3 million price tag on the news, I assume you have a lot of questions. First up, don’t worry about the crazy prices you hear about though. These are just anomalies. More on that later.In this article, I try to explain the very basics of what these cartoon avatars are all about. I won’t cover how to invest, trade, or which are the best projects to buy. This is only meant to teach you the fundamentals of what NFT avatars are, how they’re created, and why they make sense.

CryptoPunks, Bored Apes, and Doodles — these are just a few of the countless influential generative avatar projects that live within the continuously growing non-fungible token (NFT) ecosystem. Commonly referred to as PFPs, an acronym for “profile picture,” these unique NFTs have undoubtedly become frontrunners in the NFT market.

As generative avatar projects continue to grow in popularity, and the debate surrounding whether or not NFTs truly need utility persists, it’s time to shed some light on how PFP NFT collections came to be in the first place. Here’s what you need to know.

NFTs are certainly the talk of the town where I don’t think I need to explain. After looking into it for a bit, I realised only rough 10% of NFTs are sold and it takes up 85% of all the transactions. And what makes me curious is that all the NFTs that made to the headline with big dollar signs are Avatars NFTs — also called PFP NFTs.

From the well-known CryptoPunks, Bored Ape to Hong Kong locally created Bunny warriors, Lucky Kittens. They are all avatars. If we think NFTs are the digital presence of the traditional art market, this definitely does not align. Portraits are not particularly dominant in the traditional art market. I don’t think it happens out of luck. I believe there are product reasons behind that.

Before we begin, let’s talk about the rationale: the golden Rules for all startups, product makers, creators is to — Make something people want. Assuming this rule is inevitable, then what makes Avatars NFTs something people want beyond the hype and investment incentive?

It all starts with creating an avatar

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Profile picture (PFP) non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have dominated the weird wide world of digital collectibles. Generative avatar projects became astoundingly popular in 2021, and their significance has only increased as the NFT ecosystem has grown.

At its core, a PFP NFT is a digital token or artwork designed to be displayed as a person’s social media profile picture. Many of the world’s most popular NFT collections, like Bored Apes and Doodles, are PFPs.

PFPs live at the intersection of collectibles and generative art. They’re collectibles in that they usually come in large quantities (of 10,000 or so) and have varying degrees of rarity, somewhat similar to trading cards.

Проекты NFT-аватаров по-прежнему занимают относительно небольшую нишу на рынке, но спрос на них растет. Торговый оборот некоторых подобных коллекций достигает сотен тысяч в криптовалюте ETH, опережая NFT-игры и других участников рынка невзаимозаменяемых токенов. Пока одни считают, что проекты аватаров утратят свою популярность через год или два, другие готовы отдать миллионы, чтобы стать владельцем одного из них. Вопрос в том, чем же вызвана популярность NFT-аватаров? Обладают ли они реальной ценностью? И что ждет в будущем коллекционеров таких аватаров? Об этом Sostav рассказал генеральный директор NFT Stars Богдан Хоменко.

Чем обусловлена популярность проектов NFT-аватаров?

У фанатов криптоискусства появился новый и относительно недорогой способ продемонстрировать свою верность клубу поклонников NFT — токены-аватары. Пользователи могут выбрать подходящий аватар, исходя из своих предпочтений, в таких проектах, как Bored Ape Yacht Club, World of Women, CryptoPunks и других. Адепты научной фантастики, к примеру, могут найти для себя аватар в коллекции NFT Hero, чтобы почувствовать себя настоящим исследователем вселенной блокчейна. Для каждого хобби и сферы увлечений существует своя коллекция NFT-аватаров, которая позволяет пользователям транслировать миру именно то, что им хочется донести до окружающих.

CryptoPunks — это первый проект NFT-аватаров, запущенный в середине 2017 года. Коллекция включает 10 тыс. пиксельных изображений со случайно сгенерированными элементами персонажа, такими как цвет кожи, аксессуары и другие. То, что началось как эксперимент с раздачей Punks-токенов бесплатно, позже превратилось в феномен невзаимозаменяемых токенов, продаваемый по тысяче долларов за каждый. Так, Covid Alien, или CryptoPunk #7523 был продан за $11,8 млн. CryptoPunk #3100 ушел за $7,58 млн, за ним последовал CryptoPunk #7804, цена которого составила $7,57 млн.

CryptoPunk #7523 продан за $11,8 миллионов

Так как CryptoPunks были одними из пионеров NFT-сектора, популярность проекта можно легко объяснить исторической значимостью первой коллекции такого рода. Но это не объясняет, почему многие другие проекты NFT-аватаров становятся мегапопулярными и приобретают значительную ценность. Получается, что существуют и другие причины их популярности.

Аватар NFT как индивидуальность в цифровом мире

Проекты NFT-аватаров быстро стали частью цифровой идентичности покупателей. Когда CryptoPunks набрал популярность и поступил в продажу за тысячи долларов, аватар стал чем-то вроде доказательства особого цифрового статуса. Если пользователь смог потратить крупную сумму на аватар CryptoPunk, он заявил о внушительном криптовалютном состоянии и времени, которое он посвятил криптографии и NFT. Bored Ape Yacht Club, напротив, размещал более доступную по стоимости коллекцию, чтобы сделать акцент на открытости и гостеприимстве своего клуба.

Скачок популярности коллекции World of Women был частично обусловлен уникальными условиями владения NFT с разными уровнями роялти, и частично — особым видением создателей проекта. Авторы заявили, что их миссия заключалась в расширении прав и возможностей женщин с помощью искусства.

В каждом вышеуказанном случае аватары служили индикатором членства в эксклюзивном клубе. Тот факт, что многие проекты NFT-аватаров также создают закрытые чаты и сообщества в социальных сетях, ещё больше усиливает ощущение элитарности сообщества. Эксперты рынка полагают, что совместное вложение денег, времени и энергии в проект усиливает особую связь между участниками.

Встроенный дополнительный функционал

Многие коллекции NFT-аватаров выходят далеко за рамки набора изображений. В проектах либо уже существуют, либо планируются дополнительные функции — такие, как роялти, фарминг (один из видов пассивного заработка на токенах — прим. Sostav), обновления для персонажей и возможность использовать их в игровой среде. Таким образом, аватар становится полноценным криптоактивом с реальной или потенциальной ценностью.

Метавселенная Doge Pound NFT

NFT от Bored Ape Kennel Club предусматривают выплату роялти в размере 2,5% при вторичной продаже. Аватары из коллекции World of Women бывают трех разных уровней, которые и определяют процент роялти и других льгот для владельца. Обладатели NFT Doge Pound получают доступ к метавселенной и эксклюзивной одежде. В проект также планируется добавить больше функций, например, пулы ликвидности (так называют пулы токенов, которые зафиксированы в смарт-контракте и способствуют эффективной торговле активами).

Возможность вписать свое имя на страницы истории NFT

Проекты NFT-аватаров также рассматриваются как инвестиционный актив. Все коллекции представлены ограниченным количеством токенов. Гарантированный дефицит NFT и вероятный рост цен — вот что побуждает коллекционеров цифрового искусства покупать NFT независимо от их характеристик или художественной ценности. Затем возникает эффект домино: когда один аватар покупается по высокой цене, другие из той же коллекции автоматически дорожают.

Будущее проектов NFT-аватаров

Растущий интерес к NFT-аватарам и стабильное развитие существующих проектов предполагают, что коллекции останутся на рынке и будут продолжать развиваться. В ближайшие месяцы и годы будут преобладать проекты, которые могут предложить гораздо больше, чем те функции и преимущества, которые описаны выше.

Можно выделить несколько новых тенденций на рынке проектов NFT-аватаров:

What is a PFP NFT?

Generative avatars, often called PFPs, are a unique facet of the NFT space. While most independent artists tend to focus on 1/1 pieces and limited edition collections, PFPs are generally conceived by groups of artists/developers and are released as a collection of thousands of individual tokens.

The history of PFP NFTs begins with CryptoPunks, a collection of 10,000 unique 24×24 pixel art images launched in June 2017 by product studio Larva Labs. Yet, Punks wouldn’t gain any significant traction until 2020, when NFTs first started to gain notoriety. Then, in 2021, the NFT ecosystem exploded with numerous other PFP projects, solidifying generative avatars in the NFT market.

While PFPs now have their own unique existence in the NFT space, they still live at the intersection of collectibles and generative art because of how they are created. They are collectibles in that they come in large quantities (usually 10,000 or so) and have varying degrees of rarity, somewhat similar to trading cards. And they are generative in the way that (like other forms of generative art) they are created partly through the use of an autonomous system.

Zero trait CryptoPunks

In the NFT space, though, generative avatars have ventured beyond the usual profile-pic constraints. While many PFP collections emulate the Bored Apes chest-up style, others, like CrypToadz or Invisible Friends, have introduced full-body and even animated PFPs. Regardless of form, though, generative avatar collections are distinctive due to their vast quantities and how they are created.

If we retrace the steps of popular projects like Bored Apes, Doodles, and Cool Cats, it’s clear that PFP endeavors always begin with an artist (or artists). In the case of the three aforementioned projects, those artists were Seneca, Burnt Toast, and Clon, respectively.

Once an artist has set their sights on a PFP endeavor or joined the cause and creative vision of a project, PFP projects become somewhat of a modular process throughout the planning and development phases.

Bored Ape Yacht Club

What’s interesting about the collection

The consensus throughout the NFT space seems to be that the most exciting aspect of the Bored Ape Yacht Club is its community. In the last year, it has expanded to encompass collections like Mutant Apes, Kennel Club dogs, and the slowly evolving Otherside project.

Moonbirds

Moonbirds, widely considered one of the best PFP collections ever made, was created by prominent American internet entrepreneur Kevin Rose as part of his Proof Collective — a private members-only collective of NFT collectors and artists.

A few days after launch, Moonbirds had already achieved nearly 100,000 ETH (approximately $300 million at the time) in secondary sales volume, immediately making it one of the highest-grossing NFT collections of all time. Aside from the typical PFP NFT roadmap promises, the Moonbirds collection offers its collectors a wide range of incentives, including creative commons (CC0) licensing, meaning owners have free reign to do whatever they want with their NFTs.

Fluf World

Fluf World is a collection of 3D rabbit avatars programmatically generated from over 270 traits. Each NFT within the collection is said to be a metaverse-ready avatar that acts as a ticket to a world of exclusive content, digital connectivity, IRL experiences, and more.

Launched initially as a standalone project, Fluf World has since evolved into a complex metaverse ecosystem encompassing numerous secondary collections (some that are even standalone PFPs like Party Bear) in addition to virtual and in-person events. While the multi-faceted metaverse endeavor is still under construction, Fluf World’s IRL branch, Fluf Haus, continues to hold exclusive in-person events at secret locations around the world.

Integration of NFT Avatars in NFT games, softwares and applications.

The NFT’S avatars created in multiplatforms are compatible and integrable with other applications in the metaverse depending on the interests of the developers so that an asset acquired on a platform can be used in various apps on the avatar.

Azuki

While we’ve seen many projects journey down a similar path — either anime-themed or aiming to become a household name, or both — Azuki was one of the fastest-growing projects the NFT space had ever seen. Even a founder scandal couldn’t slow Azuki down. And while the project struggled for a bit to recover after its ordeal, community sentiment has only improved.

Avatars in the Metaverse

You’ve likely seen a statement to the effect of “all 10,000 NFTs were generated from over XXX number of traits” as part of the marketing language for many PFP projects. And all of these traits used to make PFPs are first created by an artist.

Once the project team has decided on a subject (ape, cat, duck, etc.) or an artist has settled on which of their signature characters/objects to duplicate, it’s time to figure out how to create the many thousands of NFTs that will form the collection. To do this, the project developers (devs) need to create a sort of jigsaw puzzle that can be assembled many times over via computer, i.e., the aforementioned plug-and-pay method.

Each NFT needs to be broken down into parts before it can be assembled, so the project’s lead artist must create a multitude of traits like body type, head shape, facial expression, accessories, arm position, background color, and more. For reference, check out the NFT ranking website Rarity Tools’ breakdown of all the top Bored Ape traits.

Aside from the simple creation process, artists have to consider the canvas placement of each attribute so that, once assembled, the entire composition will make sense, yielding a single cohesive NFT avatar. This means creating each NFT character in layers to ensure that ears, noses, eyes, and accessories sit right on the head of the avatar, and the head must sit right on the body, and so on.

With these layers separated, devs can load each trait into a program (like Python) or write some code that can mix and match the attributes to create single NFTs quickly. The programs vary depending on the team and whether they hope to generate each avatar beforehand or in real-time during the minting process.

More often than not, though, after a few generative trial runs to work out any potential errors, devs will generate the total supply of 10,000 or so unique, non-duplicated (but sometimes very similar) NFTs. Creating a 10,000 supply PFP project has become incredibly easy thanks to this plug-and-play method.

It’s important to note that not all PFP projects require a generative aspect. While generative avatars and PFPs often go hand in hand, at times, independent artists will take on a PFP project, illustrating or crafting batches of hundreds of NFTs in their style. One such example of this is Ghxsts —  a project consisting of over 700 NFTs that were each drawn by hand as 1/1s but altogether seemingly fit the definition of a PFP collection.

World of Women

World of Women

World of Women (WoW) came as a refreshing entry into the 2021 PFP market. With a supply comparable to other influential projects, while this collection may be generative, it’s one of the only projects to give a human spin to the avatar craze.

The price of an NFT avatar

The mint price for most new NFT avatars is within the $100 to $500 range. A few are cheaper or even free while some are more expensive. Moonbirds just launched with a mint price of 2.5 ETH or almost $8,000.

While the latter is certainly a high starting price for a completely new NFT, the real value is determined in the weeks and months after launch when these avatars trade on the open market.

A few examples of NFT avatars in the $100 - $250 range: Froggy Friends, Skvllpvnkz, and Winter Bears

In little less than a year, the BAYC avatars have gone from a mint price of $250 (0.08 ETH) to the current $350,000 (110 ETH) for the cheapest ones. In that same period, other avatar projects have gone from comparable starting points to anywhere between zero and thousands of dollars.

NFTCLICK and MintyScore are two of my favorite sites for tracking upcoming NFT launches

So what makes one avatar worth 10,000 times as much as another?

What is an NFT avatar?

First up, let’s just make sure we’re on the same page here. The type of NFTs I’m talking about is what’s known as an avatar or “profile picture” NFT. Each NFT avatar is part of a collection, typically consisting of a few thousand similar-looking faces.

There have been countless of these collections created over the past year, and several new ones launching every day. They typically consist of between 2,000 and 10,000 avatars. Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, Doodles, and Cool Cats are just a few of the most well-known.

How To Find the Best Upcoming NFT Launches Early

What’s really interesting is that all the avatars within a given collection are completely unique. This aspect, and how they’re made to be unique, is one of the primary innovations behind the success of NFT avatars.

Collections of NFT Avatars available on the web

Between collections Most popular NFT avatars are:

Cryptopunks

Source: image available at cryptohabanero.com

Bored Ape Kennel Club and Avastars

Source: image available at abc.es

* The logos and contents of these mentioned websites and softwares are materials with intellectual property exclusively of their registered trademark and their use on this page is purely informative.

Forgotten Runes Wizards Cult

Forgotten Runes Wizards Cult

Forgotten Runes Wizards Cult is regarded by many as the most well-crafted and well-run fantasy-themed PFP projects in the NFT ecosystem. Featuring a collection of pixel-art wizard NFTs complete with rich lore and an expansive universe, Forgotten Runes has stood the test of time, maintaining relevance despite numerous ups and downs.

Initially, Forgotten Runes gained notoriety via its innovative RPG-inspired concept and unique, animated minting process. As the collection evolved, the project’s team has set forth initiatives like a conceptual realm (a metaverse), book of lore, burn mechanism, companion collections, and more — all culminating in Forgotten Runes taking on the legacy entertainment industry with a decentralized approach to IP rights and world-building.

Creature World

Creature World is a project based on the Creature character created by multidisciplinary and NYC-based artist Danny Cole. The project is based on lore that features the Creature’s journey to find himself and is one of the most visually unique PFPs out there.

From an innovative online game to IRL playgrounds featured at conferences like NFT.NYC, Creature World has seemingly captured the imagination of the NFT community. Offering an inclusive, friendly community that has even impressed basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal, enough to join as a collector, Danny Cole’s brainchild is yet another testament to independent artists bootstrapping their own NFT microcosm via PFPs.

What Do Reddit NFTs Do?

Reddit NFTs, like many other NFTs, don’t do much in terms of functionality. They are tokens, after all, so their main purpose is to hold value (subject to demand). But these avatars can also be set as Reddit account profile pictures.

Beyond this, you can sell or trade your Reddit NFTs with other collectors.

How to Buy Reddit NFTs

If you’re interested in buying or collecting Reddit’s NFT avatars, you can find them on OpenSea, one of the world’s biggest NFT marketplaces.

You may find it a little overwhelming when you search for Reddit NFTs on OpenSea, as there are numerous Snoo NFTs for sale. This can make it hard to choose which you’d like to purchase. Many NFT artists have created and listed their own Snoo-inspired NFT avatars that range in price from less than a hundred dollars to tens of thousands.

Take the Drip Squad NFT collection, for example. You can grab a Drip Squad NFT for just $30, whereas other tokens from this collection are worth hundreds of dollars at the time of writing. The price usually depends on the uniqueness of the avatar and the demand surrounding it.

Goblintown

Goblintown is a unique and humorous PFP project that embodies what every NFT collector can experience during a huge market drop: anger, chaos, confusion, and pandemonium. In this respect, the name is a colloquial expression for bear markets, and the project could easily be seen as an elaborate commentary on the state of NFTs and NFT collectors.

From the start, the founders were upfront about the nature of this project, writing on the official website: “No roadmap. No Discord. No utility. CC0.” While several prominent NFT collectors have recently noted that an NFT project must have meaningful utility to be taken seriously, Goblintown’s creators seemingly aren’t concerned with that.

Okay Bears

Emotion attachment & Rarity

Remember your childhood teddy? or your latest Marvel figure on your desk? Human loves to build an emotional attachment with other beings, it goes from our affection with animals, favourite movie characters to fictional anime characters. We’re much easier to fall in love with an “individual being” than “an object”.

Looking at common traits of avatars NFTs, with the colourful backgrounds, themed costumes and accessories, they all represent and reflect certain styles via visual forms. It does not only create a sense of uniqueness but also helps people to like their NFTs more.

Add-on to make it more special — in some cases, when you mint it on sales, you will mint from the collection randomly. Everyone like the taste of lucky draw, and we love it even more after spending money on it. Because it feels like our “destiny” to get this particular one.

Both way works

Utility — Profile Picture/Avatar

One of the biggest reasons Avatars NFTs go viral was people can change their social media profile picture to their newly owned NFT. It creates a massive networking effect in the best place — social media.

Apart from that, avatars NFTs can be an actual 3D avatar in the metaverse — when metaverse is popularised in the future.

CrypToadz

Inspired by Larva Labs’ iconic CryptoPunks, CrypToadz was conceived by now prominent anonymous artist Gremplin during a time when PFP and Punk-derivative projects saturated the market. The project proved that even independent artists can succeed in a large-scale PFP endeavor with a bit of help from the community.

Created first as a meme, Gremplin’s ambitious amphibious collection racked up a rapid and impressive sales volume after release. Beyond becoming one of the most influential PFP projects of all time, it also received praise as one of the first large-scale projects to release under CC0 licensing.

How to create an NFT avatar?

Finally, if you want to create your avatar with MiT Avatar you only have to access its web portal: Indicate if it is a full or half body avatar, choose your gender, you can select a photo in your gallery or take one in the app and wait a few seconds while your avatar loads. The use of this application is free.

The metaverse came to change everything, so do not stop create your avatar to stand out in the new virtual ecosystems, if you are an artistic creator, do not miss this opportunity to monetize your talent.

Solutions MiT in NFT games

A Breakdown of Reddit NFTs

As you can see in the Dune chart above, the sale of Reddit NFTs has been climbing since September but saw a sharp spike in October, when sales grew exponentially to 26,000. At the moment, this number is continuing to increase. In fact, Reddit’s NFTs are challenging the likes of Bored Ape Yacht Club, a hugely popular NFT avatar collection worth millions of dollars.

One NFT even sold for 18 ETH, which currently equates to around $24,000. This was one of the avatars from the Spooky Season collection, which you can find on OpenSea.

Polygon has also benefited from the hype of Reddit’s NFT collection. Between the 23rd and 26th of October, the price of Polygon’s MATIC coin rose from $0.8 to $0.95. Though one MATIC is still worth less than a dollar, this is a healthy price hike and is undoubtedly good news for Polygon.

But why are so many people now buying these NFTs? Are they useful in some way or simply experiencing a wave of public hype?

Pudgy Penguins

Pudgy Penguins NFTs

Pudgy Penguins is a collection of penguin-themed NFTs that’s become a beacon of positivity in the NFT Space. Since its launch, the collection has seen significant ups and downs but has still bootstrapped a robust ecosystem of NFT enthusiasts.

Mfers

Mfers is a project created by once prominent NFT influencer Sartoshi and features NFTs based on Sartoshi’s hand-drawn memes. Mfers is unique in that Sartoshi initially promised collectors no roadmaps or hidden incentives before stepping back and leaving it in control of the community.

The real value of an NFT avatar

It can be hard to fathom why a digital cartoon monkey is worth hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. Even $100 or $1,000 may seem pricy.

There’s obviously the image itself and some avatars truly are works of art. Most collectors want avatars that they think look good, defined as whatever characters, art styles, and color palettes they’re into.

Three collections with highly popular artwork: Psychedelics Anonymous, Azuki, and World of Women

Some have their avatars printed and framed. Others display them in digital frames at home or as wallpapers on their devices. A few dedicated collectors even showcase their avatars and other NFT art in digital galleries.

How to Evaluate New NFT Projects

Some avatars have gained popularity because of their historical or cultural significance. CryptoPunks fits into this category, having been created in 2017 and arguably inspired all the new avatar projects we see today.

What most people don’t know, however, and the actual real reason behind the explosion in popularity and value of these avatar projects, is this:

An NFT avatar is just a visual representation of the underlying utility you get as an owner.

This is a huge topic that I’ve written about before, so I’ll keep it short for now. Just know that holding the NFT avatar in your wallet lets you unlock a variety of cool things depending on the specific avatar.

Squishiverse and Coolman’s Universe provide two examples of NFT-gated websites

Exactly what an avatar unlocks will depend on the project, and new utility is continuously invented and added to the best ones. This helps to explain why some NFT avatars keep going up in value while others fizzle away.

It’s not all about utility though. There’s definitely a large element of pure price speculation. And then there’s the less tangible “status symbol” piece.

Owning a Bored Ape is the digital-native version of flexing a Lamborghini or Rolex in the real world. And that’s simply because everyone knows how expensive it is (and that Justin Bieber, Paris Hilton, Post Malone, Eminem, and many other celebrities own one as well).

But how will the world know that you own a Bored Ape? That’s where the profile picture trend comes in, and why these avatar projects are also called “profile picture” or just “pfp” projects.

Sup Ducks

When Sup Ducks dropped, it was as if the entire NFT community stopped and took notice. A collection of trippy PFPs with a duck theme, the developers of these NFTs went above and beyond in art and community building.

Sup Ducks burst onto the scene with interesting, textured art and a simple “sup” when it arrived. With a robust Discord and numerous events past and future, it seems many collected a Duck for the art PFP and stayed for the community.

Minting vs buying on the secondary market

When a new avatar project launches, it does so with a fixed supply and a set price per NFT. At the announced time, the NFTs will be available for purchase on the project’s website. Buying an NFT in this process is known as “minting”.

NFTs 101: Primary and Secondary Markets

As soon as you mint an NFT, you’re able to resell it to another buyer on a marketplace like OpenSea, LooksRare, Magic Eden, or Solanart. This is also where you can go and buy your favorite avatar from someone else. And all of this happens with the use of cryptocurrency, of course.

All NFT avatar collections can be filtered according to ‘traits’

On the secondary market, you can see all the available avatars and pick your favorite. This is one of the great advantages of buying on the secondary vs primary market. You’ll of course be limited to the avatars that are actually listed for sale, but at least you get to pick and choose.

Furthermore, there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to mint an NFT when a new project launches. The most popular projects sell out fast, and some require you to be on a so-called “allow-list” to even be eligible to mint. Thus, buying on a secondary marketplace is usually a better approach for beginners.

Reddit NFTs Are on the Rise, For Now

While Reddit NFTs are certainly all the hype at the moment, nothing is certain in the NFT realm. We may see these NFTs continue to grow in popularity, but their demand could also plateau or even decrease along with their value, such is the nature of NFTs!

Clone X

RTFKT x Takashi Murakami Clone X

CloneX is a joint venture between metaverse fashion house RTFKT and renowned multimedia artist Takashi Murakami. Featuring a wide variety of 3D NFTs, the CloneX collection has kept the collective NFT community on its toes with announcements about numerous Nike integrations.

Since the initial CloneX PFP collection sold out in less than a day, the project has evolved to encompass many secondary initiatives, including Space Pods, MNLTHs, and more. With new and exciting virtual and real-world expansions happening on a near-monthly basis, the initial CloneX collection continues to gain popularity with both new and seasoned NFT collectors.

IKEA effect & Community

Some may argue non-avatar NFTs can achieve the same. However, to build a sense of social presence, having an avatar has its irreplaceable importance — also a technique product designer uses to increase conversion. Avatars could easily build up a sense of community. You don’t want to talk to a car on discord, don’t you?

Avatars, metaverse and NFT games

If you are one of these people who is already earning their cryptocurrencies in Play To Earn games, minting and collecting NFT ‘yes then you must already have your avatar to identify yourself,  If you don’t have it yet, you must create one in a hurry, an avatar also makes you a more interesting character and can capture the attention of others by facilitating your access to the NFT gaming communities.

Doodles

Doodles is a project created by a team with a proven track record as builders within the NFT space. Designed in Burnt Toast’s unique line-drawn style, the collection has become a coveted part of the NFT ecosystem.

Doodles quickly gained influence within and outside the NFT community only a few months post-launch. Although it received a bit of backlash due to the Doodles founders privatizing the Discord before launch, a laundry list of prominent celebrities has since bought in and even joined the project’s team.

Releasing PFPs onto the blockchain

The final step in the PFP process is the most public and likely best understood in the project pipeline: releasing these new PFP NFTs into the world.

Yet, this final step is entirely dependent on whether or not NFTs will be generated during mint or pre-generated offline and loaded into a sort of randomized, first-come-first-serve grab bag. For independent artists, like Jen Stark and her Cosmic Cuties, generating offline then loading the entire supply onto a marketplace like OpenSea and selling them over time usually makes the most sense.

In the case of large-supply projects, though, many other steps must be completed before PFPs go up for sale. Before release, devs focus on creating a website, setting up a smart contract, testing the minting functions of both the website and the smart contract, deciding on a sale method, setting a release date, price, and more.

This is because, above all else, the release of a project is quite possibly the most important event of all. For a high-level summary of the technical side of releasing a PFP collection, read security researcher Harry Denley’s post here.

The public sale has a lot to do with the overall perception of the project. Of course, whether or not the generative NFTs look good plays into things, but rollout mechanics, including whitelisting and pre-sales, Dutch auctions vs. releasing in waves, etc., all play a massive role in how a project is perceived.

But why would someone want to buy a PFP NFT in the first place? Well, aside from the potential of a generative avatar to increase in value, minting a PFP NFT often comes with perks, including membership into an exclusive holders-only Discord server, access to live and virtual events, first dibs on subsequent collections, and of course, bragging rights and the ability to change your social media profile pic to the unique new NFT you own.

NFT avatars and rarity

While all these avatars are unique, some are still considered to be rarer, and thus more valuable, than others. This goes back to the ‘traits’ we just covered.

NFT marketplaces like OpenSea lets you see which NFTs are listed for sale and sort according to price

An avatar with a rare background, outfit, fur type, eye color, and perhaps a 1-of-1 pair of glasses will be extremely valuable relative to the rest of the collection. It will also make for a much better status symbol.

NFT Avatars: The New Status Symbols

Rarity isn’t everything though. You’ll often see certain traits gain popularity simply because of their aesthetics or what they represent. Many people just buy the avatars they like or resonate with the most.

How is an NFT avatar created?

When you look through one of these avatar collections, you quickly notice that all the avatars look similar — yet different. You can easily see that all the Bored Apes belong in the same collection and that they don’t belong in the Cool Cats collection. And yet no two avatars are the same.

Each avatar is made up of certain traits: Background color, fur, clothes, eyes, and a mouth, for instance. Each of these traits has multiple variations. In the case of BAYC, there are 8 different backgrounds, 43 types of clothes, 19 types of fur, and four other traits with their own variations.

Three avatars from the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection

All of this is created by an artist. Then, when the project launches and people go in and buy the avatars, all the different traits are automatically and randomly combined to generate 10,000 unique avatars.

This means that if you buy an NFT right when the project launches, you won’t know until afterward how your avatar looks. In fact, you’ll typically have to wait a few days for the artwork to reveal. Until then, you can still see the NFT in your wallet and on the marketplaces, but with a placeholder image.

Not knowing the avatar you get is also part of the excitement though. Especially considering that you may get lucky and buy a rare one.

Cool Cats

When it comes to community-driven projects, Cool Cats is a tough one to beat. Consisting of thousands of “stylistically curated” NFTs, the collection launched as an immediate competitor with Gutter Cat Gang (not listed here but still a truly influential collection) for the title of hottest cat-themed PFP project.

Since its release, Cool Cats has earned accolades in the NFT space as a fun and inclusive project. With the collection floor achieving 10 ETH at one point — propelled by collaborations with Ghxsts and TIME magazine, plus a nearly viral milk chug challenge — the Cats have had their ups and downs. However, they are still considered a fan favorite.

The top PFP projects of all time

Doodles, which also consists of 10,000 avatars, launched in October 2021 and has easily become one of the most popular PFP projects in all of NFTs. Featuring a vibrant community, seasoned executive team, and a multifaceted approach to entertainment, Doodles has yet to cease winning over the hearts of countless NFT enthusiasts and veteran NFT collectors.

Moonbirds, another collection of 10,000 NFTs, was created by prominent American internet entrepreneur Kevin Rose as part of his Proof Collective — a private members-only collective of NFT collectors and artists. Only a few days after its April 2022 launch, Moonbirds had already achieved upwards of 100,000 ETH (approximately $300 million at the time) in secondary sales volume, immediately making it one of the highest-grossing NFT collections of all time.

When it comes to community-driven projects, Cool Cats is a tough one to beat. A collection of 9,999 generated and, as the developers say, “stylistically curated” NFTs, the collection launched in June 2021, earning accolades and being propelled by collaborations with Ghxsts and TIME magazine, plus a near viral milk chug challenge.

These are only a few of the dozens of generative avatar projects that dominate the NFT market charts. Read about more interesting and influential PFP NFT projects here.

Psychedelics Anonymous

Psychedelics Anonymous has taken an exciting and innovative approach to community-building. Although the Psychedelics Anonymous Genesis trippy PFP collection features nearly 10,000 NFTs, the project consists of various unique collections.

Each collection within the Psychedelics Anonymous ecosystem yields unique benefits for owners. With the Genesis collection, holders can access limited edition merch, metaverse wearables, IRL events, and more, including interoperability between the entire Psychedelics Anonymous NFT ecosystem.

Deadfellaz

Deadfellaz is a zombie-themed PFP project that’s become one of the most robust and beloved within the NFT community. Featuring a horde of cartoon zombies created by crypto artist Psych and his wife, Betty, the project features a range of exciting incentives.

As one of the only spooky projects to stand the test of time, Deadfellaz understandably thrives during the fall around Halloween yet loses barely any steam throughout the rest of the year. Featuring collaborations with Steve Aoki, Cool Cats, and more, Fellaz has continued to prosper, effectively changing the lives of its creators.

What’s next for NFT avatars?

A lot has happened since the launch of CryptoPunks and the other earliest avatar projects back in 2017. The NFT has been legitimized and proven itself as a viable space for creators, attracting the best entrepreneurs, developers, artists, and other creators.

These people keep innovating and pushing the boundaries for what an NFT can be and be used for. They create amazing pieces of art. They add exciting new utilities. They bridge the gap between online and offline value.

Two of the biggest trends that everyone seems to be talking about but that haven’t yet come to fruition are gaming and the metaverse more generally. Countless projects are working on games of all kinds where you get to play as your avatar.

Even more projects claim to have big plans for “the metaverse”, which typically means letting you and all the other avatar owners hang out in a virtual world of some kind. This will likely happen in one of the many purpose-built platforms like Decentraland, The Sandbox, or NFT Worlds.

The Sandbox is one of the leading metaverse platforms where developers can build their own experiences

And then we’ve got the people saying NFT avatars, or perhaps all NFTs, are a fad or a scam. While I obviously don’t believe so, I do think it’s important to remain skeptical. I love how creators are exploring what the NFT technology can be used for — and what it shouldn’t be used for.

Where we draw these lines and what ends up looking like a good vs bad use of the technology in 5 years remains to be seen. Until then, remain skeptical and proceed with caution. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. My last key piece of advice to newcomers is this:

Don’t buy individual NFT avatars as “investments”.

It’s tempting to think of NFTs as get-rich-quick schemes and your way to financial freedom. However, Bored Ape Yacht Club and the other top-tier projects mentioned here are the anomalies. Most projects have been terrible investments and you’re likely better off investing in the NFT infrastructure.

Just have fun with it! Stay safe and buy NFT avatars you like with money you can afford to lose. And if you ever have any questions about the market or specific projects, you’re more than welcome to reach out to me.

The profile picture trend

Owning an NFT avatar means being part of a community. It unlocks a gated Discord server or gives you access to community events. But it’s also just about representing your community and having your ownership publicly recognized.

The primary way people go about this is pretty simple: They use their favorite NFT avatars as their profile pictures on social media.

Why Are People Using NFT Avatars As Their Profile Pictures?

So regardless of the utility or value of your next NFT avatar, at least it will always be useful as a profile picture and an access key to community and new friendships.

Invisible Friends

Invisible Friends is an animated PFP collection created by multidisciplinary artist Markus Magnusson in collaboration with the increasingly popular Random Characters Collective. These NFTs are far from invisible, though, and have remained a major success story of a PFP collection meeting its hype.

The invisible characters in this collection are identified by their clothes — from high-end sneakers or fancy hats to regular, everyday staples. The team is collaborating with the apparel brand Kith to further customize the characters’ outfits and corresponding traits.