Crypto is volatile and moves fast, and when it comes to NFTs, you can take that uncertainty and accelerated pace and dial it up to eleven.
This dynamism makes it difficult to predict what’s coming, since something unexpected can appear apparently from nowhere at any moment, and trends that seemed like clear, open roads might suddenly veer off into the woods. What makes an NFT valuable today, might not be the case tomorrow.
What’s more, sentiment spins on a dime, leading to rollercoaster price charts, and even if a collection has faded away, there is always the possibility of a post-burial, zombie pump, when the assets you had left for dead rise from the grave and make new all-time highs.
That said, identifying the meta is still a worthwhile pursuit, and it is possible to recognize emerging trends, even if it's far from certain where they will ultimately lead.
Coinbase to Alter Marketplaces?
OpenSea is the dominant NFT marketplace, and as such, has established a standard format followed by competitor marketplaces, and even by marketplaces that are not in direct competition. They've made how to create an NFT a simple task, accessible to all.
Examples of the latter are marketplaces on other blockchains (as in, not Ethereum), such as JPG Store (on Cardano), and Magic Eden (on Solana), which choose to follow the conventions developed by OpenSea.
This week, leading crypto exchange Coinbase launched the beta version of its long-awaited NFT marketplace, and while it shares some characteristics with OpenSea, there are certain aspects that are original, and lead in a new direction.
Notably, there is a comments function, and social-media-style user profiles. The comments function allows for chat to take place below each NFT that is listed. This creates something not dissimilar to what you see below YouTube videos and comes with the same benefits and problems.
If the comments section stays, then you can expect arguments, abuse, spam and shilling. However, there might be enhanced engagement and stickiness, and a sense of community.
In the case of user-profiles, Coinbase lets accounts follow one another, and displays follower information, as you would find on a platform like Twitter.
Overall, the feeling is that Coinbase is taking OpenSea and combining it with social media standards familiar from platforms, such as YouTube, Instagram and Twitter.
Whether or not this will be a positive development is open to debate, but what Coinbase is doing is, at least, distinctive and might cause NFTs to seem more user-friendly to new entrants.
Creative Commons Licensing
The CC0 licensing model, issued by Creative Commons, allows for anyone to utilize artistic content, such as NFT images, without seeking permission from either the current owner or the original creator. MFers and Nouns are examples of highly valued NFT collections that utilize CC0.
This goes further than the model used by Yuga Labs (who are behind Bored Ape Yacht Club), which gives licensing rights to the owner of an NFT. The Yuga Labs model itself is more permissive than anything you would find in traditional media, but CC0 takes it a step further.
In the world of NFTs, vibes play an important role (really, you’ll see that word a lot in NFT discussions, and the longer you spend in the NFT space, the more it makes sense), and CC0 plays into this.
There are more quantifiable reasons why a project might use CC0 (it opens a collection up to greater exposure if many artists start to play with the source material), but besides that, CC0 simply fits with crypto's libertarian, anything-goes culture, while distinguishing NFTs from other artistic formats.
NFTs as Membership Passes
The giant of the genre is, for the moment, Moonbirds, which itself comes from Proof Collective. Moonbirds trades on a sense of exclusivity, and on the identities of its founding team (which includes highly visible web entrepreneur Kevin Rose), who has enough clout to drive demand, almost regardless of what they have planned for the future.
Also, generating excitement is the casino element that surges constantly through the NFT space, causing buyers to remain alert at all times to the possibility of runaway momentum gathering within a new project.
Expect more of this format, with NFTs as membership passes to any and all of: secretive clubs, complex token systems, potentially lucrative startups, vague and sketchy startups, and, inevitably, entities that amount to little more than ponzi schemes and pyramids.
The ones that take off will attract whales, VCs, and perhaps celebrities who have not previously been involved in the NFT space (and who might in some cases acquire their NFTs as marketing gifts).
If such projects initiate the movement of large funds, bringing sidelined wealth or fresh liquidity into the arena, then they could be good for the rest of the ecosystem, on the provision that their plans are sustainable.
NFTs to Mint More NFTs
Related to the above, NFTs as membership passes, there are likely to be a growing number of NFTs that allow you to mint more NFTs. Some recent examples of this model are high quality and have proven worth getting hold of for buyers who snapped them up early. For reference, take a look at Haus and Nanopass.
By holding this kind of NFT, buyers gain access to the projects’ future whitelists, or their affiliated whitelists, becoming eligible to mint what could immediately become very sought after new assets.
In general, if a project is solid and has momentum, then holders will be very unwilling to let go of these NFTs, which operate, in effect, as mint passes, thereby driving up their prices.
