NFT NYC Takeaways
Last week, I attended the NFT NYC Conference in NYC and I cannot tell you how much excitement there was. It felt like the 2017 ICO boom but instead of a promise to be fulfilled in 4 years, it is a technology already here and the promises are more tangible.
NFTs are attracting so many people including those that stayed away from crypto. There were artists, collectors, crypto natives, and people new to crypto and NFTs just trying to learn.
Key Takeaways
NFTs should be viewed as a technology and that tech will drive the next wave of adoption for the crypto space (culture, business, and broadly human organization)
NFTs will continue to expand as creativity in the space flourish. Investing in NFT platforms that ride this wave of NFT expansion makes a lot of sense long term
There are too many pfp projects today, but the ones that survive will be social clubs. Solana NFTs have yet to reach the masses of the NFT community
Broad Summary of NFT Technology
The NFT technology is insanely powerful. Currently the focus is on ETH projects, but other L1s are gaining traction, especially Solana
No one is talking about cross chain apps implications with bridges. What happens to Solana or Ethereum NFTs when interoperability goes mainstream? Why is this not a focus of discussion? Polkadot, anyone?
NFTs will reach almost all parts of life with anything that desires proof of ownership. This includes social clubs (pfps), art, metaverse, tickets, IP (Disney is coming). NFT & Metaverse platforms like Immutable, Enjin (ENJ), OpenSea, Decentraland (MANA), and Sandbox (SAND) will thrive
NFTs are going to get crazy realistic. Alethia AI is building interactive NFTs
Artists like the tech because of its ease of ownership transfer and a smaller percent of sales go to middlemen. Artists are clearly extremely bullish, but they see it from an artist perspective. They express the technology potential, not the appropriateness of investing
PFP Project Key Takeaways
Community engagement is extremely high in the space especially with pfp NFTs. For example, I met many Veefriends holders who are extremely passionate about the project and Gary Vee. They clearly will never sell and a large percent of their net worth is tied in the project
Creativity is extremely high. Quick examples I saw were (i) BAYC building a mansion in Miami that BAYC owners can stay at, (ii) Deadheads with a YouTube show, (iii) Knights of Degen creating a gambling community, (iv) Galactic Geckos telling a story through NFTs, and many more
One of the coolest I saw was RTFKT Studios creating NFT sneakers and collectibles for the metaverse. Imagine buying sneakers for your avatar character in Decentraland. A crazy world we are entering
Solana NFTs
When other crypto protocols were mentioned (SOL, AVAX, WAX, etc), the rooms felt uneasy and very tribal. Why the hesitation by ETH NFT enthusiasts to use Solana? It felt like if they switched, they would be committing treason
Yet Solana NFTs have exploded, reaching $1bn market cap
With the NFT community still primarily on ETH, I believe the Solana NFT space is so early and has a long way to run
From discussions, Solana NFT “blue chips” include SMBs, Degen Apes, Aurory, Thugbirdz, and Galactic Geckos
Conclusion
I am bullish NFTs broadly and I am left with more questions than answers of its impact on the world.
NFTs will interact with games, the metaverse, and much more bringing the next wave of mass crypto adoption.
The NFT space is full of money grabber projects, but top tier projects and NFT platforms will thrive. We have only seen the tip of the iceberg of NFT tech implications.
Authored by Derman Capital (Twitter)