Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) dominated crypto and mainstream media headlines all throughout 2021 as investors who held CryptoPunks and other projects minted prior to 2018 were finally rewarded for their patience. Meanwhile, newer projects like the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Art Blocks Curated saw some of their rarer pieces sell for millions of dollars.
Despite the million-dollar sales for select one-of-a-kind NFTs and the record-breaking sell volumes on marketplaces like OpenSea, data shows that a majority of the lower-priced NFTs and lesser-known projects in the market do not accrue value and this means that the sector is rather illiquid. Using data from OpenSea, a recent report from Bloomberg found that 73.1% of NFT assets had only one transaction in the past 90 days.
In comments to Bloomberg, Gauthier Zuppinger, the COO of Nonfungible, said that “maybe 90% of collections minted today are totally useless and meaningless.”
Regarding ‘successful’ NFT investing, Zuppinger:
“Ninety-nine percent is about being in the right circle, having the right information at the right time. In the NFT space, you live with this constant frustration that you have missed a chance to make $1 billion.”