Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) are booming. An NFT is digital content that is linked directly to the blockchain. NFTs may be images, videos and even audio. Non-fungible means they cannot be exchanged or replaced by an identical NFT. Each NFT is unique on its own.
What started as very bored apes has evolved. According to Chainalysis Inc., what began as a $100 million market in 2020 has reached $40 billion in 2021.
Jeffries estimates NFTs' markets to exceed $80 billion by 2025. Virtual real estate was a contributing factor to the NFTs market. Let’s explore the NFTs’ flow in 2021.
source: Chainalysis
source: Chainalysis
According to Chainalysis, the retail market held the largest volume in 2021. While pixel art NFTs and various NFT projects remain popular, what types of NFTs will survive in 10 years? What are the expected trends for NFTs in 2022?
NFT artists such as Beeple and Pak have earned their reputation in the NFT world. Their collections were sold for millions of dollars to NFT art collectors.
The MetaMask Token Scam
Naturally, highly valued items attract cybercriminals. In the crypto universe, honeypots are already being spread to lure in the blind from the dusty blockchain roads.
A great example of a honeypot was a MetaMask token (dubbed $Mask). In December, the scammer was able to inject malicious code into DEXTool's app front end of the Uniswap WETH/MASK.
The pair appeared as a verified token and lured in investors as the token made headlines on Twitter.
The smart contract was set to block selling once liquidity reached $1 million. The hacker was able to withdraw hundreds of ETH from Uniswap to Tornado Cash. Tornado cash is a popular coin mixer.
NFTs Security
In the NFTs, world scammers use various techniques. Wash trading is a way where the original owner inflates the price by purchasing the NFT from multiple accounts. The NFT will appear to have high demand, which will pocket the scammer a very high return on the investment.
Recent scams stole existing artwork of known artists and listed them as NFTs without the artists’ consent. Due to a lack of regulations such scams may continue.
OpenSea is the largest marketplace for NFTs, based on the Ethereum blockchain. Some of the most popular NFT projects (bored apes yacht club and CLONE X) are all auctioned on OpenSea.
OpenSea recently acquired Dharma, a cryptocurrency lending platform and a crypto wallet. While the size of the deal was undisclosed, it is estimated to range between $110 to $130 million.
Dharma facilitated transactions between its clients' bank accounts and decentralized exchanges. Despite its success, OpenSea recently admitted that 80% of the minted NFTs via the free creation tool were ‘were plagiarized works, fake collections, and spam.’
Auctioning art NFTs without the artist's consent is beginning to plague the NFT market. One solution that needs addressing is authenticating the NFTs at the minting process.
GuardianLink and CXIP Labs offer different methods of ensuring the NFTs' authenticity. Verifying NFTs authenticity may become more popular in 2022 in an effort to reduce NFT scams.
Real Estate NFTs
Virtual Real Estate in the metaverse has yet to fully gain institutional interest. There are 4 dominating metaverse platforms in today’s market:
The Sandbox
Decentraland
Cryptovoxels
Somnium
The Plein Group recently purchased land in the Decentraland metaverse for $1.4 million (approx.) The transaction was valued at 510,000 MANA, the native cryptocurrency of the metaverse platform.
The transaction was for 65 Decentarland parcels (over 150,000 square feet in real life). An art museum, a hotel and stores are just some of the plans for the land. According to CNBC, the price of virtual land rose +500% in the past few months.
What Affects the NFT Real Estate Value
Virtual real estate is estimated to reach $1 billion at the end of 2022. BrandEssence Market Research is expecting the metaverse real estate market to grow at a compound annual rate of 31% from 2022 to 2028.
Real Estate NFTs, at least at the time of writing are highly priced based on location. Like the real world, prime areas are worth more money.
The Plein Plaza project is located near Genesis Plaza. The Genesis Plaza is located at the heart of Decentarland. It is used to welcome users into the metaverse. Although the ability to teleport is available, such locations are considered attractive.
source: dappradar
Based on the recent Decentarland's land sales, investors are willing to pay a substantial amount of capital in hopes to attain a high Return on Investment (ROI).
Additionally, owning real estate next to a known figure increases the value of the land. In the Sandbox, a user paid $450,000 to own land next to Snoop Dog, a well-known figure in the entertainment industry.
According to research by Republic Realm, which owns more than 3,000 Real Estate NFTs in 24 metaverse platforms, the average price of a parcel in the main metaverses has increased from $1,265 to $12,684.
Approximately 25,000 individual crypto wallets own metaverse real estate. It is a relatively small amount when compared to bitcoin owners. While some suggest it is a new market, others warn that it may crash at any time.
Real Estate NFTs Auction
Institutional banks have yet to step into the metaverse due to a lack of regulations. The banking industry in the metaverse has its market. But, due to the fear of the unregulated territory, they remain on the fence.
However, one company is utilizing NFTs real estate transactions, in the real world. Propy enables real estate to be sold at live auctions. The highest bidder receives the property deed via an NFT.
The rights are minted as an NFT, the NFT owner then owns the property via a Limited Liability Company (LLC) that houses the NFT.
Propy is due to sell a home in Florida on Thursday (10 February 2022). At the time of writing, there are more than 6,000 bidders waiting for the auction. To participate in the auction, a large amount of ETH is required in a crypto wallet.
As the world is transitioning into a digital reality, it will not be surprising to see real estate auctioned directly inside trading platforms providers such as eToro and Saxo Bank.
NFT Credit Card
However, one bank has already partnered with a metaverse platform, Polka City. POLC (polka city native cryptocurrency) holders will be able to create free bank accounts on EQIBank.
In addition, asset owners will receive EQIBank debit cards for free through the EQIFI platform. The card can be used to withdraw money from ATMs, purchase goods, etc.
The most interesting part is that the debit card also comes in the form of an NFT. Polka City (based on the Polkadot blockchain ) users can have the card available as an NFT and in real life. The card is allowing Polka City users to spend the earned POLC in the real world.
The price of the NFT card is 6,000 POLC. Moreover, owning the card as an NFT generates a return of 50 POLC per week as passive income.
EQIFI is a decentralized protocol for pooled lending and borrowing for ETH, ETC-20 tokens, stablecoins, USD and more. The protocol is providing a platform for DeFi products that are operating with EQIBank accounts, loans, wealth management and more.
Passive Income NFTs
Further, Polkacity offers investors to earn a passive income by simply holding the metaverse NFTs. For example, owners of ATMs in Polka City earn a passive income of 19 PLC per week (20% APY) and 50% of ATM fees.
Although it was already sold out, owning a sports stadium in Polka City is generating the holder with 3,125 POLC per week (0% APY) and 50% of all profits earned at live sporting events on the platform.
The risks of these ‘metaverse investments’ is a devaluation in the platform’s native currency and possibly the shutdown of the platform itself.
Mortgage services for buying metaverse land or real estate are also available. TerraZero, Metaverse mortgages often work in the following manner. The client receives the land or real estate as a long (initially) and pays a fixed amount of crypto for a predetermined term. Upon paying the mortgage the land or real estate ownership is transferred to the owner.
Failure to pay the mortgage allows the lender to take control over the property.
Wedding Rings NFTs
Several weddings were already held in the metaverse. However, what is more unique is the exchange of vows as well as the wedding ring as a smart contract in the blockchain.
The innovative approach to traditional weddings may become extremely popular over time.
With the rise of NFTs and acceptance of the metaverse, startups may focus on organizing metaverse weddings and the minting process of the marriage license as an NFT.
While it is still a relatively new concept, over time its popularity may increase. It does make us wonder how NFTs can be terminated in an event of a divorce. Nevertheless, marrying on the metaverse with dedicated NFTs may be a rising trend.
As NFTs will integrate into our daily lives, coupons, bus fares and even academic degrees may transition into non-fungible tokens in the near future.
