NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are all the rage in the crypto world these days. These tokens have surged in popularity in 2021, with a bundle of Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs recently selling for an incredible $26 million at a Sotheby’s auction.
So what exactly are NFTs, and why are they so popular? NFTs are unique digital assets that can be used in multiple ways, such as to prove the ownership of a real-world asset, to be collected and used as part of an online game, or simply collected for the unique artwork often attached to them. The key here is that each NFT is a unique asset that cannot be counterfeited as it sits on a blockchain and tampering is not possible. The vast majority of NFTs use the Ethereum blockchain, which can store a large quantity of information allowing a wide variety of tokens and NFTs to use it effectively.
There’s an increasing number of NFTs available, with new ones being created, or “minted”, every week. These digital products have caught the attention of many celebrities who have minted their own NFTs, including Grimes, Tony Hawk and Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, who sold an NFT of the first ever Tweet for over $2.9M.
World-renowned artist Damien Hirst has also entered the NFT space, with his “The Currency” collection of 10,000 NFTs, each with its own unique artwork. The novelty here is that each NFT also comes with a real-world original piece of art, with the buyer having to choose between keeping one and having the other burned.
This sudden popularity isn’t limited to celebrities; the owners of classic memes are also keen to get in on the action. One example is Zoe Roth, pictured in the “Disaster Girl” meme side-eyeing the camera while a house burns in the background. Roth sold this classic image for $500,000 worth of Ethereum.
Celebrity involvement aside, BrokerChooser is aware that the NFT market is still largely unknown to the majority of investors and even to many crypto enthusiasts. This has prompted us to dig deeper into the world of NFTs to paint a clearer picture of this new digital landscape.
So join us as we explore the many facets of this exciting new opportunity in the crypto-sphere. If you would like to know which ones are the best crypto brokers in 2022, look no further.
While the value of NFTs can vary wildly from project to project, some have sold for astronomical sums. The most expensive NFT so far is Everydays: The First 5000 Days by digital artist Mike “Beeple” Winklemann. This NFT is an amalgamation of his first 5,000 digital art pieces, and sold for an incredible $69.3 million at auction on March 11, 2021.
There are many different platforms for buying and selling NFTs, with some of the most popular being OpenSea, NiftyGateway, Rarible and Foundation. On OpenSea, for example, you can buy and sell NFTs as well as create your own.
We will now take a closer look at some of the NFTs that increased in floor price the fastest to reach certain milestones. Looking at some of the most popular NFTs, we’ve divided them into groups based on whether they’ve ever hit a floor of 1, 5 or 10ETH (Ethereum), and checked how long each NFT took to reach these floor levels from the date they were minted.
The following table shows the NFTs that have reached a floor of 10ETH at some point since mint. This gives us an idea of which NFTs are the most popular and represent the best options for investors looking for high returns.
To calculate this, we noted the date when each one was minted, as well as the date when each one hit a 10ETH floor price for the first time, revealing which NFTs managed this the fastest.
NFTs can be attached to anything from digital art pieces to audio files, and are often released as part of a larger collection or project in which there could be hundreds or thousands or variations of the NFT you bought. You can picture it like trading cards, but with only one of each card available for purchase.
As you can see, The 140 Collection by Twitter was the fastest to reach a value of 10ETH or higher, taking less than one day. This collection comprises 140 NFTs that were freely given to 140 handpicked Twitter users, and were so popular that their values shot up past a 10ETH floor price on the same day they were minted.
Three other NFTs took ten days or less to reach the 10ETH marker with Mutant Ape Yacht Club taking one day, Loot (for Adventurers) taking six days, and Meebits taking ten.
The following table shows the NFTs that have reached a floor of 10ETH at some point since mint. This gives us an idea of which NFTs are the most popular and represent the best options for investors looking for high returns.
At the top of the table, the MetaHero Universe: Generative Identities NFT hit 5ETH on its very first day. This NFT comprises a collection of heroes, villains and mutants from the MetaHero Universe.
The second fastest to 5ETH is 0N1 Force, which took eight days, while GEN.ART Membership took 15 days to reach 5ETH.
The size of the community for each NFT is a strong indicator of their popularity and the staying power of any media hype or buzz surrounding them. Without a large fanbase to generate discussion and keep them relevant, NFTs could struggle to keep from falling into obscurity.
Below is a compilation of the NFTs with the largest followings on Twitter. Twitter is an active platform for NFT enthusiasts, with most NFTs running their own dedicated Twitter accounts to engage and interact with their followers.
1. The 140 Collection by Twitter - Twitter Followers: 59,600,000
The NFT with the largest Twitter following is The 140 Collection by Twitter. This might seem like something of a cheat, but seeing as how this is the Twitter account they use to promote the NFT, it just about qualifies. This huge following of almost 60 million Twitter users means they can promote their NFT to a vast audience, creating hype and increasing value.
2. Bored Ape Kennel Club & Bored Ape Yacht Club - Twitter Followers: 162,900
These NFTs share a Twitter account, with 162,900 followers between them, and feature a range of ape characters with various features and styles. Owning a Bored Ape grants access to a private “club” and various attached areas such as “the bathroom”, which is a collaborative graffiti board.