The Must Knows about the NFT Market & Ways to Embrace its Recent Trends

After generating a total revenue that surpassed the bar of $2.5 billion in the initial half of 2021, NFT-based blockchain assets sales had plummeted amid controversy, questioning the global impact of Ethereum-the most prominent hub of the blockchain network.

Fast forward to the year-end, and NFT is back on track, with many innovative trends in the marketplace conquering headlines. And the most substantive factor behind such ballooning remains the growing number of transactions.

NFT Market Trends — Why Such Massive Popularity?

The Art Newspaper Podcast’s February episode explored why crypto dominates the art market. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, have significantly impacted the artist community, and their novelty has already extended to the general public. However, it’s not hidden anymore that the revolution of NFTs reaches far beyond the art world. NFT adoption has substantially penetrated the heart of gaming.

Additionally, industries that focus on creating digital content (music or video) are experimenting with the technology.

Above all, the most surprising turn of events is the massive surge in NFT volume, which is over ten times the entire volume of NFT in 2020. Based on the vast popularity, it is evident that the growing market share of key players, including Microsoft, Tesla, Starbucks, can be significant drivers of the NFT growth.

Further, the global surge in Bitcoin purchasing and the growing promise of legalization supported the growth of NFT. As the non-fungible token (NFT) boom continues, even celebrities have jumped on the bandwagon to create and distribute their own NFTs.

Do you want to see the list of celebrities catching on to this trend? International rapper The Game, American DJ Steve Aoki, Rap God Eminem, and other notable icons from the Bollywood and Sports industries like singer Mika Singh, Prominent Celebrity Photographer — Dabboo Ratnani, Fashion Designer — Lubna Adams, World Boxing Champion — Mary Kom have made to the list.

The non-fungible world adds to the boiling curiosity. But it doesn’t stop there. Check out more hottest NFT Trends happening now.

Latest NFT Market Statistics in 2021

#1 Bored Apes: Membership in a club

CryptoPunks is the most well-known NFT brand, according to NFT geeks. But fashion is fickle, and a new competitor for the NFT crown surfaced earlier this year. Bored Ape Yacht Club, a series of NFTs featuring apes (bored ones) in various facial expressions, has gone viral in the NFT universe.

They’re also selling for big bucks: a single Bored Ape NFT sold for $2.25 million in ETH, bringing the collection’s overall amount to more than $400 million, according to CryptoSlam. More than 100 Bored Ape NFTs are currently up for auction at Sotheby’s, with an approximate total value of up to $18 million.

#2 Ancient O.G NFTs

EtherRocks is a 100 NFTs that illustrate rocks from royalty-free clip art. Besides the color differences, they are all the same. However, in early August, the same cartoon rocks were selling for more than $100,000. By the end of the month, they were worth millions of dollars.

EtherRocks has two claims to stardom. First and foremost, these NFTs drew inspiration from the classic Pet Rock toy trend that swept the 1970s. Second, as far as NFTs go, they have a legendary pedigree, having been among the first non-fungible tokens formed in 2017 — and with only 100 accessible tokens, they’ve become massively popular among NFT collectors.

#3 Fractionalized NFTs

Fractionalized NFTs have been in the NFT market for several months now, but they’ve recently risen to notoriety. While crypto billionaires swoon over Bored Apes and CryptoPunks, those six & seven-figure NFTs are out of reach for the average crypto user. However, unlike conventional artworks, it is plausible to fractionalize an NFT, dividing it into multiple parts that can be purchased by the less affluent.

To bring more attention to this new asset class, many crypto users are banding together in decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) specializing in buying up NFTs.

#4 Gaming NFTs

The “hottest NFT trends’’ are incomplete without mentioning gaming NFTs, a subculture within a subculture that is causing quite a stir in the crypto world. Since June, the Ethereum-based Axie Infinity has amassed more than$1.6 billionin NFT transaction volume — more than any other single NFT collection or endeavor.

It’s a monster-fighting game in which the monsters are NFTs, and they’re considered necessary even to play the game. In return, players receive crypto tokens, which can be just enough to support a living wage in certain countries.

#5 Art Blocks

A blockchain, believe it or not, can host the token representing a deed of ownership for a piece of artwork and potentially create the artwork itself. That is the assertion of the booming generative artwork NFT market, where a storyline or algorithm stashed on a blockchain generates unique artwork during the minting process.

Art Blocks is by far an essential player in the market. Collectors built a feeding craze around new releases and paid big bucks for secondary market pieces, resulting in $583 million worth trading in August. If you are still wondering about the impact of the NFTs further, let’s catch up on the NFT Trends 2021 market statistics.

Some of the Notable Events held in the NFT Marketplace:

• The most expensive NFT ever was sold in March, at $69.3 million; a major digital artwork offered by a renowned auction house.
• Doge, a hunting dog breed native to Japan, ranks as one of the most famous memes sold for $4 million this June on Zora.
• According to a report, the NFT sales range from 15,000 to 50,000 per week, earlier sold around 100 per week.
• A statistical report showed that in 2 years, NFT has boomed with a tenfold increase.

However, as the popularity of NFT surges, there happens to be a long-brewing threat of “wash trading.” A recent report has concluded that seven in ten cryptocurrency trades may also be fabricated at artificially inflated prices.

Recent Trends in Wash Trading

A range of articles has emphasized that the issue of exchanges fabricating trade volumes is not going away anytime soon. According to the Bitwise Asset Management report, the 95% value of Bitcoin Exchange on Data Aggregator CoinMarketCap came across as false claims.

Global investor Sylvain Robes revealed that 93% of the trading volume on China-based exchange OKEx is fraudulent. That doesn’t stop there. From Singapore-based Bitforex to China-based Huobi, wash trading in crypto exchanges has always been there.

Washtrade Detection, the AI watchdog for detecting the wash trades has been one of the biggest offerings from bitsCrunch. It has recently identified and flagged wash trade transactions in the renowned NFT collections.

Below insights have depicted that 348.63 M USD in volume has been washtraded in Ethereum alone. The notable point here is that this volume accounts for just 19 renowned NFT collections among the other collections in Ethereum.

Have you ever imagined what would be the total number for all the NFT collections in Ethereum? And would the number be doubled or tripled while considering other blockchains?

Sounds alarming?

But not to worry! We at bitsCrunch present you with the best AI-powered tool to identify and mitigate wash trading with our flagship product Washtrade Detection. Besides, with Price Estimation, Forgery Detection, we are always at your disposal to flag forgeries and estimate digital assets.

Wrapping up

For sure, the NFT industry is a promising area to keep your eyes on. The NFT community is always buzzing around new and innovative opportunities. Anything can be turned into a token, from traditional digital art to memes.

Given how much this niche has changed in the last two years, including the continued growth it generated in 2021 alone, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for NFTs.

Keep up with the latest NFT Market Trends to step into the world of opportunities only on Unleash NFTs. Your best bet on the dynamic NFT market cap.