As NFT market cools, a chance to learn lessons from its explosive growth

What a difference three months makes. Back in March, there was a jubilant atmosphere when Beeple’s mega nonfungible token sold for $69.3 million. You didn’t have to look far to find bold proclamations that crypto art was the next bold frontier in culture — offering opportunities to fledgling creators and transforming the way we interact with masterpieces.

Things look a little different now we’re in June. All-time highs for Bitcoin and Ether are a distant memory, and sobering figures published by Protos suggest that NFT sales have plummeted by 90% since their peak in early May. (Some have questioned this data).

It’s a good time to reflect on how far we’ve come, and where we are going next. Endless column inches are now being devoted to the death of NFTs as an asset class — drawing eerie similarities to the hundreds of articles and tweets that have warned Bitcoin is heading to zero ever since its inception. (One of them came in September 2020, not long before the cryptocurrency’s dramatic bull run began).

Although the crypto markets are rather turbulent right now, those catastrophizing over NFTs might be rather short-sighted.

Just look at what Beeple — real name Mike Winkelmann — told CNN back in March: “NFTs as a technology are super exciting and a lot of people are comparing it to the early days of the internet. With the early days of the internet, you had a lot of hype and you had a lot of speculation, and then there was a bubble, and the bubble burst. But it didn’t wipe out the internet, people kept using the internet.”

Essentially, his point is this: NFTs that have real utility will continue to endure. And indeed, it’s worth noting that the Protos research stresses that crypto collectibles such as CryptoPunks have managed to remain resilient during this bearish downturn. (Indeed, Sotheby’s sold a rare CryptoPunk for $11.8 million just last week — what it described as a new world auction record).

Learning lessons

The NFT sector might have taken a beating in the short term, but this doesn’t detract from how these assets are unique, provably scarce and indivisible — transforming the notion of ownership entirely. There are use cases for nonfungible tokens that haven’t been dreamed up yet, and development and innovation in this industry is still at a nascent stage.

Explosive levels of growth in this industry have led to obstacles arising. At times, there has been very little oversight when it comes to the verification process. Congestion on the Ethereum blockchain, the birthplace of NFTs, has also stymied development.

One way of helping the NFT sector bounce back from its current malaise is to increase public awareness about the opportunities that these tokens bring — and make it far less expensive for creators to mint their very own tokens. Right now, digital artists who are just starting out risk overspending on minting NFTs because of Ethereum’s high transaction fees and gas costs — and they may fail to recoup these expenses if their art doesn’t sell.

Creating an environment where nonfungible tokens are easy to discover and inexpensive to buy and sell is nothing short of crucial.

The answers

One platform that is vying to make NFTs more accessible to all is MOVE Network — a developer-friendly blockchain that is energy efficient and well secured. Its end-to-end NFT aggregator brings digital assets together in one place. Gas fees are currently being waived for all users, and the ecosystem gives them a chance to easily tokenize their digital content with minimum expense.

This is coupled by a gamified experience that injects fun, intrigue and excitement back into the NFT space. Through the use of “blind boxes,” rare and valuable tokens are going to be hidden, waiting to be discovered. The project hopes that this will offer a new element of surprise for being a part of the MOVE Network community.

Some of the main focuses for MOVE Network include ensuring that these assets can be traded with ease and setting the foundation for NFT tickets — an innovation that could achieve a newfound level of sentimental value for fans who attend events, all while ensuring that tickets can only be resold under certain circumstances and eliminating the risk of counterfeits entering circulation.

The past 12 months have seen MOVE Network completing a beta test, enabling its platform to be used for demonstrative purposes. A collaboration has been established with the H Collective, a corporation that regularly works with top producers and talent in Hollywood. It’s hoped that this partnership will pave the way for NFTs to revolutionize the film industry. Meanwhile, the platform has also successfully closed a $1.5 million seed funding round to fuel its global expansion, and development of the blockchain technology that fuels its ecosystem.

Movie mogul Sid Ganis — who has worked as a top executive at studios including Sony Pictures, Lucasfilm and Warner Bros — has also joined MOVE’s advisory board. He said: “The film industry is constantly changing and innovating. I have been lucky to be a part of those changes for many years. Now movies and content are moving into the crypto marketplace via NFTs, which is another major shift into the 21st-century world of global entertainment. I am very happy to bring what I know to the process.”

MOVE’s NFT marketplace is scheduled to launch in the third quarter of 2021, complete with “blind boxes.” A MOVD token sale will also take place, with the cryptocurrency set to be listed on a major exchange thereafter. Later in the year, additional entertainment industry partners are set to be unveiled — with a decentralized NFT trading platform due to launch on Binance Smart Chain.