An Overview of the 9 Leading Projects in the NFT Space
The NFT sector will experience explosive growth in the first quarter of 2021. The total sales of the top three NFT platforms rose from $7.1 billion in January to $34.2 billion in February.This article is from Yue Finance.
The NFT sector will experience explosive growth in the first quarter of 2021. The total sales of the top three NFT platforms rose from $7.1 billion in January to $34.2 billion in February. NBA Top Shot is a platform for users to buy or sell officially licensed NBA digital collectibles, which has garnered widespread attention in the NFT space, accounting for 67% of total NFT trading volume. Recently, Beeple's NFT artwork "Everydays: The First 5000 Days" sold for a record-breaking $69.3 million at Christie's auction house.
NFTs are often touted for their potential to revolutionize gaming, collectibles, digital art, and other fields, but their practicality is still being explored. OKEx Insights examines the top nine NFT protocols in areas such as collectibles, virtual worlds, gaming, and art based on total sales and volume. This article focuses on the following nine NFT protocols:
- NBA Top Shot
- Cryptopunks
- Hashmasks
- Sorare
- CryptoKitties
- Decentraland
- Rarible
- SuperRare
- Ethereum Name Services
1. NBA Top Shot: The Golden Age of NFTs
NBA Top Shot is the official licensed blockchain application of the National Basketball Association (NBA), created in collaboration with Dapper Labs and built on the Flow blockchain.
Each collectible in NBA Top Shot contains a short video capturing a highlight from a game, along with specific information such as game details, rarity, recent sales records, and more.
These "moments" are sold in limited quantities each week and categorized into several tiers based on their rarity: "Common," "Rare," and "Legendary." When the platform exits its beta phase, an ultra-rare fourth tier called "Ultimate" will be launched, featuring one-of-a-kind "Genesis" moments and three "Platinum" moments.
The popularity of NBA Top Shot has surged, placing it among the top in total sales in the NFT space. On February 23, a legendary moment of LeBron James from the Cosmic Series 1 Set sold for $208,000, marking the highest acquisition price for NBA Top Shot collectibles to date. As of the time of writing, NBA Top Shot has achieved over $427 million in sales, with its collectibles owned by over 333,000 collectors. Looking ahead, NBA Top Shot is expected to launch more features and games.
2. Cryptopunks: Breaking Sales Records in Cryptocurrency Collectibles
CryptoPunks is one of the earliest NFTs, consisting of 10,000 unique characters or "punks." Each punk is owned by an individual, and ownership is recorded on the Ethereum blockchain. These punks were initially offered for free during their release, but they were quickly claimed and are now traded on the market.
Those looking to acquire a punk can install MetaMask to connect their Ethereum wallet and then buy and sell punks on marketplaces like OpenSea.
The rarity of punks is based on their type, attributes, and accessories. For example, male and female punks are the most common, while alien punks are only nine in total. Additionally, each punk has unique accessories, such as hats and glasses. The value of each punk also depends on the number of accessories it has. Typically, two or three accessories are the most common, while the rarest punks have either zero or seven accessories.
The explosive growth in sales and prices of CryptoPunks drove the surge in the NFT market in February. NFT data provider Cryptoslam revealed that CryptoPunks ranked 16th among the top 18 crypto collectibles sales, with CryptoPunk 7804 selling for 4,200 ETH (approximately $7.8 million at the time of purchase), setting the highest collectible value to date.
3. Hashmasks: Unique Collaborative Art Collectibles
The Hashmasks protocol was initiated by Suum Cuique Labs in Switzerland, offering digital art collectibles created by over 70 artists worldwide. There are a total of 16,384 unique digital portraits (i.e., "Hashmasks"), and each character is unique in terms of its traits, masks, eye color, skin tone, and attributes.
Each Hashmask is owned by one user at a time, and the protocol encourages user participation by allowing owners to assign a unique name to each artwork. This is done through the platform's native token—called Change Token or NCT. Each holder can claim approximately 10 NCT generated from their Hashmask daily, and when they hold 1,830 NCT, they can burn them and rename the Hashmask on the Ethereum blockchain. The provenance of each Hashmask can be tracked via the InterPlanetary File System.
The purchase price of Hashmasks fluctuates proportionally, meaning the earlier you buy, the cheaper the price. Users participating in the initial distribution period also received 3,660 NCT, allowing them to change the name of their Hashmask twice.
One major distinction of Hashmasks from other NFT protocols is its gamification aspect, which incentivizes owners to hold their masks and claim tokens, which can then be used to name the masks on the blockchain.
Additionally, 12.5% of all Hashmask characters wear animal masks, while only 5.9% wear pixel masks. At first glance, pixel masks may seem more exclusive, but unicorn animal Hashmasks are even rarer, with only 13 in existence.
Since its initial distribution began in late January, Hashmasks has achieved sales of 27,269 ETH (approximately $45 million) with 4,004 owners. At the time of writing, Hashmask #9939 is priced at 420 ETH, ranking 12th in terms of cryptocurrency collectibles.
4. Sorare: Ethereum-Powered Fantasy Football Collectibles
Launched in 2019, Sorare is a global fantasy football game that allows users to buy, sell, and manage virtual football teams using digital player cards. Each digital card in Sorare is a non-fungible token based on the ERC-721 standard.
As it is powered by blockchain technology, Sorare card owners can verify the rarity and ownership of their cards and freely transfer them. Each player card displays several attributes, such as rarity, average score, and experience points. The three rarity types of player cards in Sorare include: Rare, Super Rare, and Unique. Each player card has one unique version, 10 Super Rare copies, and 100 Rare copies.
To become a football manager in Sorare, users first need to register their team and claim 10 common player cards. They can then form a starting lineup of five players and earn points based on their performance in actual football matches. Users can also participate in various competitions and earn ETH rewards.
Sorare has gained widespread popularity due to its official licenses with world-class teams such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, and PSG. The platform recently raised $50 million in Series A funding and partnered with Ubisoft to introduce the One-Shot League to their players. So far, Sorare has recorded total sales of 25,967 ETH, with over 12,000 owners.
5. CryptoKitties: The First Mainstream NFT
CryptoKitties is an Ethereum-based game that allows users to collect and breed virtual cats. The tokens in the game are non-fungible, as each token represents a unique digital cat on the blockchain. These digital cats vary in appearance and traits. Given the nature of these tokens, each digital cat represented by an NFT cannot be replicated, destroyed, or taken away.
To start breeding digital cats, users need to deposit Ether (ETH) into the game's official wallet, Dapper. There are two ways to breed new kittens: breed two of their own cats or breed with a male (i.e., father). Users can acquire their first kitten by purchasing items on the market or bidding in the game's "offers" system.
Experienced CryptoKitties players are dedicated to collecting as many valuable digital cats as possible. The value of each kitten depends on its rarity.
The "Generation 0" cats are the rarest, with a fixed supply of 50,000. This scarcity makes Generation 0 cats valuable, and their worth increases over time. Additionally, kittens with low ID numbers are also considered rare, including Exclusive cats or Founder cats, which can be traded at higher prices on the CryptoKitties market.
CryptoKitties was the first NFT protocol to gain mainstream attention at the end of 2017. The game attracted significant interest as users could breed rare cats and resell new Kitties for profit.
Although the "golden age" of CryptoKitties has passed, the game still retains its iconic status as a leading protocol in the NFT space. Currently, CryptoKitties has a total historical trading volume exceeding 66,000 ETH, approximately $32.8 million at the time of writing, with nearly 2 million NFT assets created.
6. Decentraland: A Decentralized Virtual World
Powered by the Ethereum blockchain, Decentraland is a decentralized virtual world that allows users to participate in governance processes using customizable avatars and trade collectibles.
To start exploring Decentraland, users first need to connect to a web browser using their crypto wallet. They can then choose and customize their avatar, providing a virtual passport that represents their identity in Decentraland. Once users complete the initial setup of their avatar, they can begin building their community and purchasing rare digital assets.
Participation in Decentraland requires both NFTs and fungible tokens (FT). MANA is the digital currency used in the Decentraland marketplace. Each MANA token can be exchanged for another MANA token.
MANA can be purchased from exchanges, and users can use MANA to buy land, in-game items, or even unique names on the marketplace. In addition to the Decentraland marketplace, users can also purchase supported items on NFT marketplaces like OpenSea.
Decentraland also uses NFT LAND to represent ownership of parcels and real estate. LAND is a non-fungible digital asset maintained by Ethereum smart contracts, representing virtual land in Decentraland. Each LAND token represents a unique piece of land that can be traded on the Decentraland marketplace.
Users can also participate in governance voting in Decentraland, with voting power derived from three aspects:
- Wrapped MANA: MANA is converted to WMANA, with each WMANA equating to one voting power unit
- Land parcels: Each parcel equals 2,000 voting power units
- Tiers: Each tier equals 2,000 voting power units
Users can vote on various governance topics, including:
- Functions and upgrades for land and parcels
- Marketplace fees
- Allocation of MANA for development work
- Adding new wearable items to the Decentraland world, builders, and marketplace
Decentraland currently has a trading volume of 147,830 ETH (approximately $2.48 million) and has 96,000 game assets.
7. Rarible: The Marketplace for Digital Collectibles
Rarible is an NFT marketplace created by Alexander Salnikov and Alexei Falin in January 2020. It allows users to mint, buy, and sell their rare digital collectibles. Rarible supports various digital collectibles and products, including digital art, domain names, DeFi insurance policies, memes, and metaverse items.
Minting digital collectibles in Rarible is relatively simple. Users can first upload their collectibles in any supported digital format (graphics, audio, etc.), then add descriptions and pricing details. After that, users need to connect with their Ethereum wallet to approve the minting transaction.
The NFT minting feature has attracted content creators and artists who can release previews of their content and only provide the full version to users after the related NFT is purchased.
Rarible has gained widespread popularity in the crypto community due to its governance token RARI. Although recent hype around governance tokens has originated from the DeFi space, Rarible was the first NFT protocol to release its own governance token.
The launch of RARI is the first step towards Rarible's ultimate goal: to create a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) for Rarible. As holders of RARI, users can submit and vote on proposals for system upgrades, including decisions regarding Rarible's transaction fees and new features.
At the time of writing, Rarible's historical trading volume has exceeded 67,000 ETH, or approximately $113 million.
8. SuperRare: The Marketplace for Unique Digital Artworks
Founded by John Crain in 2017, SuperRare is a digital art marketplace where artists can tokenize and monetize their authentic unique artworks as collectible digital products. Each artwork on SuperRare is represented by an ERC-721 token, which is cryptographically secured and traceable on the blockchain.
When artists issue verified digital artworks on SuperRare, their works are authenticated on the Ethereum blockchain to prevent forgery and provide provenance. Additionally, artists can showcase their works in virtual reality galleries and digital displays on SuperRare. On the other hand, art collectors can purchase artworks on SuperRare and then resell the NFTs on secondary markets like OpenSea. All transactions on SuperRare are conducted using Ether, and buyers are required to pay a 3% transaction fee for all purchases.
Similar to traditional art galleries, SuperRare also charges commissions to artists. For a single sale, artists receive 85% of the revenue, while SuperRare retains 15%. For secondary sales, artists receive a 10% royalty.
SuperRare describes itself as a combination of Instagram and Christie's, with its "Activity" tab featuring an interface similar to the former, while its marketplace resembles the latter. Art collectors can bid on digital artworks online.
To date, SuperRare's historical trading volume has exceeded 28,913 ETH (approximately $48.6 million at current ETH prices), and the platform has sold over 20,000 digital artworks.
9. Ethereum Name Services: Leading Domain Name NFTs
Ethereum Name Service (ENS) was established by the Ethereum Foundation in May 2017 as a distributed and scalable naming system based on the Ethereum blockchain. The protocol has over 190,000 registered names and has integrated with more than 100 wallets and decentralized applications to date.
The native TLD (top-level domain) on ENS is ".ETH." These ".ETH" domain names are unique and non-fungible, represented by ERC-721 compliant NFTs, and can be purchased and traded on NFT marketplaces like OpenSea and Rarible.
Since these domain names follow the ERC-721 NFT standard, they can also be seamlessly integrated into NFT marketplaces and wallet interfaces, enhancing the integration of NFTs and DeFi.
According to OpenSea data, Ethereum Name Service is the leading NFT in the field, with a historical trading volume exceeding 7,119 ETH (approximately $12 million) and over 31,000 owners.
The top five NFTs in domain names, with ENS ranking first. Source: OpenSea
NFTs Will Achieve Mainstream Adoption in 2021
2020 laid a solid foundation for NFTs, and in 2021, they have become mainstream through major partnerships in fields such as sports and digital art. Football and basketball fans have seen the value of NFTs through NBA Top Shot and Sorare, while Beeple shocked the art world by selling his digital artwork for a record $69.3 million. Looking ahead, UFC and MotoGP also plan to bring their large fan bases into the NFT space, and we can expect further prosperity for NFTs.
