Crypto collectibles have been the constant chatter of the whole world. Of course, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have been adored by artists, brands, celebrities, and even teenagers. The numbers speak for themselves. Overall, digital collectibles have a market capitalization of $39.54 billion as per CoinMarketCap. Let us take a look at the past, present status related to NFT development, and what lies ahead 

NFTs: How it catapulted to stardom

Coloured Coins emerged in December 2012 – NFTs made a big-bang entry around 9 years ago. This ambitious project aimed to digitize physical assets on the blockchain network. Investors could use each unit of their Bitcoin holdings. 

“Versatility” is the hallmark of Coloured Coins. Buyers utilized it as access tokens, coupons, equity shares, real estate, and subscription plans. Interestingly, Yoni Asia labelled this phenomenon as “Genesis Transactions”. 

The uniqueness of Coloured Coins was it operated in a 100% permissioned environment. Hence, the details of all transactions were stored in a distributed ledger. 

First crypto collectible in 2014 – While digital collectibles are in vogue now, their roots began 7 years ago. Quantum was the foremost crypto collectible. The rare octagon-themed animation was made by Kevin McCoy, a New York City based artist. The NFT came to light on May 2, 2014, on the Namecoin blockchain network.

What happened to Quantum now? – Interestingly, it was sold for a whopping $1.4 million in June 2021. A buyer named Sillytuna bought the unique artwork via an auction conducted by Sotheby’s. 

CryptoPunks launched in June 2017 – “10,000 unique characters and the curator of the ERC-721 standard”, CryptoPunks has come a long way in the past 4 years. It offers lots of advantages like the availability of punks with various attributes, irrefutable proof of ownership, and real-time sharing of data related to prices, sales, and trading volume. 

How CryptoPunks is breaking records – It recently crossed $1 billion in total sales. CryptoPunks was the third project to achieve this record after Ethereum-based platforms like Axie Infinity and OpenSea.

Overall, buyers purchased 70,990 crypto collectibles ($233.75 million) in the last 1 week from CryptoPunks. The valuable Punks come with numerous attributes like Alien, Ape, Blonde Bob, Dark Hair, Female, Male, Pigtails, and Zombie. 

 CryptoKitties came to light in October 2017 – Digital cats became a big hit as CryptoKitties announced a big-bang entry on the Ethereum blockchain network. Generally, users must breed and collect online kitties. Besides that, players can also adopt valuable cats across all colours and shapes. 

They can tap the Catalogue section and select 5 types. Gamers get to choose and hold Cattributes, Exclusive Cats, Fancy Cats, Most Liked Collections, and Special Edition kitties.

 Investors can utilize Coinbase Wallet and Trust Wallet for storing their NFTs. Importantly, users can convert their fiat currencies like Canadian Dollar, Great Britain Pound, and US Dollar into Ethereum (ETH) cryptocurrency. This will help them to purchase high-value CryptoKitties. 

How CryptoKitties is taking the world by storm – The primary and secondary sales of collectibles are 237 and 2039 respectively in the last 7 days. Buyers struck deals worth $6.3 million as per the NonFungible database.  

OpenSea announces its arrival in December 2017 – No wonder, the Ethereum-based marketplace is the hub of all kinds of digital collectibles. It has the highest daily trading volume of $158.47 million according to DAppRadar. Further, the OpenSea NFT trading platform operates on 2 blockchain networks (Ethereum and Klaytn) and one sidechain (Polygon).    

Content creators experience maximum comfort and receive high returns by selling their work. They can list their artwork, domain names, music, 

sports goods, trading cards, and utility assets. OpenSea supports an array of digital wallets. Both artists and investors can use several online wallets like Arkane, Coinbase Wallet, Dapper, Fortmatic, MetaMask, Portis, Torus, Trust Wallet, and WalletConnect. 

2018 to 2020 – Boom in NFT marketplace development – Undoubtedly, crypto collectibles are sought-after in the market now. This is because of the rapid growth in the past 3 years. Many NFT trading platforms like Axie Infinity, Decentraland, NBA Top Shot, and SuperRare got the spotlight. 

March 2021 – Beeple pulls off a record deal – American graphic artist sold his NFT collection named “The First 5000 days” for a whopping $69 million in March this year. Unquestionably, it was the trigger point for growth in digital collectibles. A JPEG file containing 13 years of work was sold by Christie’s, a British auction house. 

What are the latest trends in NFT development?

Crypto collectibles are discussed with a huge frenzy across the world now. Of late, entertainment studios, gamers, movie stars, musicians, photographers, social media companies, etc., are launching their exclusive collections regularly. Likewise, techpreneurs can also avail of NFT development services and strike big in the cryptosphere. 

The newest headlines in crypto collectibles are

• Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT sold for a mind-boggling $2.25 million at the Sotheby’s Auction House. There are a total of 101 crypto collectibles in the exclusive collection. Importantly, the total value of BAYC assets in the sale will cross a humongous $12 to $18 million. 
• Dogecoin cryptocurrency came to light in December 2013. The meme-inspired digital asset was worth $4 million. Investors purchased the NFT named DOG in an auction. The total value of all the DOG crypto collectibles (17 billion) skyrocketed to $550 million.

Investors can purchase the unique digital collectibles on PleasrDAO, a platform where skilled artists can connect with NFT collectors. 

• NFTs are getting a huge craze in football. Manchester City came out with its second crypto collectible named “Creation”. Sports fans can purchase the soccer-themed digital collectibles on the MakersPlace NFT marketplace. Later, interested investors can get the exclusive collection after participating in a lucky draw.   
• OKEX, a cryptocurrency exchange located in Seychelles launches its own NFT marketplace in India. Importantly, users can buy, sell, and trade crypto collectibles for free. They need not pay any fees to the online platform. Moreover, artists have full freedom to fix their royalty fees. They will receive it instantly after their work is sold or resold. 
• NFTs continue to thrive in the video gaming industry. Shiba Inu crypto collectibles will launch today in the market. Buyers can purchase 10,000 Cyber Shibas. Players can also win exciting prizes by participating in the metaverse. The minting cost of each NFT is around 0.05 ETH.
• OpenSea witnessed $3.4 billion in trading volume in August 2021. The buying and selling deals struck on the NFT trading platform increased by 10 times when compared to July this year ($340 million). The removal of gas fees for regular-selling artists has catapulted OpenSea to the top position in the industry. 

Wrapping Up

Further, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have entered everywhere and the frenzy is yet to stop. Importantly, they are receiving a great response from industries like artwork, e-commerce, entertainment, financial services, food and beverage (F&B), gaming, music, sports, and virtual real estate.   

Moreover, investors can also buy crypto collectibles for free. If you are wondering how? Buyers bought 10000 digital collectibles from the ICPunks project without paying any money.  They got hold of NFTs in just 30 minutes after participating in an airdrop program.

Above all, this is the perfect time for entrepreneurs to connect with an NFT  development company. Subsequently, they can enable artists and content creators to conduct decentralized auctions and strike record-breaking deals soon.