New report predicts NFTs will explode in popularity during 2021

Canadian-based analytics company NonFungible has released a report predicting that 2021 is poised for “a new Bull Market in the NFT industry.”

Although NFTs have been around since ERC-721 was invented by William Entriken, Dieter Shirley, Jacob Evans, and Nastassia Sachs in January 2018, the sector largely remained an obscurity outside of hardcore crypto circles until the latter part of 2020. The second half of 2020 saw NFT sales increase by 200% to more than $9 million.

However, NFT sales have since risen at an incredible rate with approximately $60 million non-fungible tokens sold in the last 24 hours.

The value of highly-sought NFTs has similarly skyrocketed, with multiple NFT sales garnering more than $1 million each in February so far. On Feb. 22, one collectible in the Cryptopunk series sold for 550 ETH, worth more than $1 million at the time of sale.

Farewell, my queen pic.twitter.com/EruVsLfOUu

Three days earlier, another CryptoPunk sold for 800 ETH with a value of $1.55 million at the time of sale, while another sold four days ago for 650 ETH.

According to the report, the total market cap for project-based NFTs finished was $338 million at the close of 2020. Messari research analyst Mason Nystrom believes this figure could rise to more than $1.3 billion in 2021.

Nystrom noted the art industry has embraced NFTs, driving more than $120 million in sales from conception to December 2020. He also noted great potential in the gaming and collectible categories, emphasizing that critical infrastructure is expected to launch in 2021.

Ethereum NFT project Ether.Cards has designed NFT cards that will randomly be given special utility traits such as reduced platform fees, increased future drop rates, or even shared royalties of the platform’s ongoing revenue. The platform will allow artists to set up raffles, bingos, deathmatches, and other games on their NFTs.

The NBA is arguably the biggest corporation to embrace non-fungible tokens, partnering with CryptoKitties’ creator Dapper Labs to release collectible NFTs in the form of NBA Top Shot “moments” for the past year.

Over the last 24 hours, more than 34,000 people traded the basketball-themed cards on Top Shot’s secondary market, generating for more than $46.7 million worth of trade. Earlier today, one card featuring Lebron James sold for $208,000, according to Cryptoslam.

Several celebrities have also attempted to jump on the NFT bandwagon, with Lindsay Lohan selling an Daft Punk-themed NFT for $15,000.

A Russian “artist” also sought to profit from NFTs earlier today, turning a video of him eating a live bat in front of the European Parliament into an NFT.