Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) sale exploded in 2021, reaching an all-time high of $411 million on August 29th, according to the number of sales.
According to NonFungible.com, sales in 2021 amounted to $15.57 billion and surpassed $160 million on January 31st, 2022.
There was a $121 million spike on March 7th, and another $102 million spike on March 17th. Although sales peaked at $54 million this week (April 26), excitement appears to have waned.
It's interesting to note that sales volume increased while sales value decreased in April. It took 42,792 sales on April 26th to bring in $54 million. 13,000 sales in March generated $102 million in sales.
A digital or physical asset can be represented by NFTs, which are smart contract tokens running on the blockchain. You can keep your NFTs and cryptocurrencies in one place with the help of NFT wallets, which are digital wallets. To authenticate works of art, to create limited edition collectibles, or to represent characters in game universes, they can be used in this way. By using NFT token standards, the rarity and uniqueness of in-game items can be preserved.
Because of this, auction houses like Sotheby's and Christie's, along with museums and galleries around the world, have partnered with digital artists like Refik Anadol, Dangiuz, and Sarah Zucker to sell NFTs associated with their digital artworks (via NFT platforms) and display those works.
Among the most popular NFTs in 2021, investors bought digital art collecting like Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks, metaverse games like Axie Infinity and Sandbox, and sports collectibles like NBA Top Shots. Real-world assets are being transferred in a new way thanks to NFT. NFTs have been implemented in some virtual world metaverses as a means of trading virtual items and virtual real estate.
NFTs can cost as little as a few dollars to millions of dollars for the most expensive NFTs. Merge by digital artist Pak, which sold more than 300,000 units in 48 hours for a total of $91.8 million in December, is the most expensive NFT collection to date.
Christie's sold Everydays: The First 5000 Days by artist Beeple for $69 million, making it the most expensive NFT ever sold. Jack Dorsey's first ever tweet as an NFT was purchased by cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sina Estavi for $2.9 million last year.
The NFT tokens, like many others, suffered during the recent flash crash, but over the last week (up to April 6), a wave of negative sentiment hit the crypto space and they all suffered a hit.
Do you want to broaden your investment horizons by gaining a foothold in the NFT market? NFT investments can be made by keeping an eye on popular cryptocurrency coins and tokens.
By market capitalization, these are the top five NFTs
Decentraland's MANA is the most valuable NFT-related token, followed by Axie Infinity's AXS and The Sandbox's SAND, then Theta Network's THETA and the ApeCoin (APE). Let's look at each one individually.
1.Decentraland (MANA)
A metaverse, Decentraland is a virtual world where users can engage in augmented reality, virtual reality, and the internet-based communication that these mediums enable. In the Decentraland metaverse, a parcel of land is sold as an NFT that serves as a proof of ownership. Concert stages, hotels, casinos, and other venues can be built on land and then sold for profit.
Decentraland's ERC-20 token, MANA, is based on the Ethereum blockchain. Land and other metaverse assets can be purchased with this token.
High-profile investors have shown an interest in Decentraland. A metaverse embassy in Decentraland was officially opened by the Barbados government in November, and Metaverse Group, a subsidiary of Tokens.com, paid $2.4 million for space in Decentraland for digital fashion shows and e-commerce in December.
With the rise of other metaverse-related tokens in late November, the MANA price surged from less than $1 in late October to a high of $5.90 on November 25th. More than 4,000 percent of the token's value was gained in the year ending in 2021.
MANA's price has dropped by 14% since yesterday, on the 28th of April, to $1.84, making ApeCoin the new market leader.
2.ApeCoin (APE)
AppCoin is an ERC-20 token used in the Ape Ecosystem, including the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), for the empowerment and incentivizing of a decentralized community building in the Web3.0 era. Eventually, it has risen by 30% in just a week to take the top position.
The ApeCoin DAO Ecosystem Fund is voted by ApeCoin holders via the decentralized governance framework that controls the ApeCoin DAO. ApeCoin holders' proposals are implemented by the APE Foundation.
ApeCoin DAO membership is the only use for the coin at the moment, but the roadmap suggests this could change in the future.
Initially priced at $17.75, it reached a high of $20.36 on April 28th, up 7% on the day, before falling to $20.36 on April 28th, up 7% on the day.
3.The Sandbox (SAND)
The Sandbox is also a virtual world in which gamers can make money. The Sandbox Game Maker allows players to create NFTs known as ASSETs and incorporate them into games. Also, they can post them to the Sandbox marketplace for trading.
Land purchased by Sandbox users can be used to build games and NFTs. In the Sandbox metaverse, SAND is an ERC-20 Ethereum utility token. It's possible to get sand from playing games and use it to buy things like weapons and armor to improve your gameplay. The tokens can also be staked in order to receive rewards and participate in the governance of the project.
After a slow start in October, the SAND token surged to a high of $8.44 on November 25th, up from around $0.75 in late October. A return of over 16,000% is expected in 2022 thanks to the token.
As February progressed, SAND's price fell by 35% from its February 8th peak, but it is still holding on to the second spot behind AXS. At $2.54, it has a market capitalization of $2.95bn as of April 28th.
However, applications that use blockchain technology to exchange value or game artifacts was banned from Valve's Steam platform in October 2021.
4.Theta Network (THETA)
Because it wants to become a leading media and entertainment blockchain infrastructure network in 2021, Theta launched NFTs in January 2021. Decentralized storage of digital assets, such as video-on-demand, NFTs, and other digital collectibles, is now being offered by Theta Network.
Long-term relationships with partners who are now building NFTs on the blockchain are allowing Theta Network to incorporate NFT drops into live experiences and fan rewards. Katy Perry bought a stake in Theta Labs in June 2021 and launched her first NFT collection on the network in December of the same year.
Decentralized exchanges, applications, and NFTs will be able to send and receive funds via a cross-chain bridge built by Theta in the first quarter of 2022. In the first quarter of this year, it plans to launch its TDROP decentralized governance token. Staking validator or guardian nodes use the THETA token for governance and governance. The TFUEL token is the network's primary means of payment.
At its highest point in April, the THETA price climbed from $1.86 at the beginning of January to $15.90 on April 16th, as part of the cryptocurrency rally that occurred in the first half of this year. While other cryptocurrencies rose and made new highs as markets fell, the THETA price remained at a lower level. Overall, it rose by 153 percent in 2021, ending the year at $4.71.
On April 28, THETA is struggling to keep up with the leaders. In our league, it has fallen 20% this week and is now battling for third, fourth and fifth place in the standings.
5.Tezos (XTZ)
Tezos has retaken the fifth and final spot in our league from Axi Infinity, who has fallen out of the top five spots.
No hard fork or split is required to add new functionality to Tezos' self-amending cryptocurrency ledger because of its functional module.
Token value has risen as Tezos has partnered with some of the most promising NFTs, making it an open source blockchain that supports NFTs. After a network upgrade in early October, the XTZ price rose sharply, peaking on October 4 at $9.18.
Ubisoft's decision to use Tezos to enter the NFT market in early December pushed the price of Tezos up again. After Ethereum and Flow, Rarible now supports Tezos NFTs on the platform, making it the third NFT marketplace to integrate with the Tezos blockchain. For the year of 2021, the XTZ price rose by 115 percent.
In the wake of the industry's recent setbacks, XTZ put on a good show. While the price rose to $4 in March, it has since fallen back to $3.55 in April due to a lack of positive sentiment. This dropped XTZ from fifth to sixth in terms of market capitalization, about $60 million behind ApeCoin.
