The most valuable trend in the NFT space and why it should matter to you

After a long day of doom scrolling on Twitter, you might leave behind a crowd of verified NFT profiles featuring apes and punks to switch to another social media channel for a new stream of content.

Except now, there’s a high chance that the whole horde of apes and punks and zombies and more might follow you across the internet. New data has revealed that the NFT marketplace is racking up formidable numbers – and social media giants are ready to cash in on the trend.

Notice me, metaverse!

Data from Messari Research showed that the market cap of the NFT market was more than $15 billion. What’s more interesting, however, is the composition of the sector. NFT avatars made up the largest share of the market cap with a value of close to $8 billion.

Messari analyst Mason Nystrom also noted that NFT avatars had more value than NFT games, art, and collectibles combined.

Avatar NFTs currently represent the largest sub-sector within NFTs, accounting for ~$8 billion of the $18 billion dollar market capitalization and more than the next three categories combined. pic.twitter.com/zyiqZebA8r

— Mason Nystrom (@masonnystrom) February 10, 2022

He admitted the difficulties of a market drawdown, but added,

“However, the long-term horizon of the NFT ecosystem is bright as the NFT industry continues to expand as newcomers enter the space and new companies issue non-fungible tokens based on existing or new intellectual property.”

Speak of the devil…

Newcomers have certainly made a splash in the NFT ecosystem, and how. While Twitter’s unveiling of verified NFT profile pictures was met with both appreciation and controversy, another platform has now joined the crew: Only Fans.

The content subscription platform – thought to be friendly for creators monetizing adult content – shared that users could display verified NFTs as their profile picture. OnlyFans’ CEO explained this was to “empower creators.”

However, we need to take a deeper look. OnlyFans told Reuters that it was only supporting Ethereum-minted NFTs at the time, and verifying NFTs with an Ethereum icon. This drastically narrows DeFi lovers’ options. It also poses the problem of how popular the verified-NFT profile picture feature will be when users have to deal with extravagant gas fees.

Wen sequel?

Things are heating up in the NFT space as more blockchains race to add NFT functionality for their users, in an attempt to shake Ethereum’s dominance. What’s more, new NFT marketplaces are rising to challenge OpenSea’s trading volumes.  If that wasn’t proof enough, metaverse coins are getting popular, with even Grayscale Investments considering them.

With digital giants like Meta and Twitter looking into NFT features, and a rising market cap, it seems the apes and punks are here to stay.