2022 hasn’t been one of the best years for the digital asset market, with prices recording steep drops seemingly overnight. While investors were still grappling with the changes and trying to make sense of what was going on and how to proceed going further, 2023 arrived with positive changes. Crypto prices were on an ascending path for the first time in months, and the momentum seemed to hold. However, the movement that saw exchanges collapse one after the other in 2022 continued this year, and several crypto-friendly banks took some significant hits. Naturally, these changes negatively impacted the market.
And yet, cyber money investments have continued to remain important. Exchanges have resumed recording transactional interest, with investors looking to buy Ethereum and other tokens. And while ETH is one of the most common items to have in your portfolio, you should look for diversified assets within your holdings.
One of the most popular is non-fungible tokens, commonly referred to as NFTs. However, you might have noticed that the market isn’t as focused on these assets right now as it was around 2017 and 2018 when they were first launched on the Ethereum blockchain. And while the hype might not be as prominent as it was a few years ago, you can still expect novelty and development from the market.
Diversity
The crypto ecosystem is often stereotyped as a boys’ club, with the NFT market also following suit. In the US, roughly 10% of women own crypto, while the figures are nearly double in the case of men. Approximately 70% of investors worldwide are men as well, while in the NFT world, only around 16% of artists are women.
Therefore, there’s no denying that the digital asset ecosystem wasn’t exactly winning any points for promoting diversity. Yet that doesn’t mean no women are interacting with the blockchain. And if there’s one area of the market that can bring a positive shift in this direction and create substantial and sustainable changes, it is the non-fungible tokens market. Women-led projects are currently leading the way for all those who will follow in their footsteps, creating room for the women who wish to enter the world of NFTs.
World of Women is one of the most popular collections currently available, counting 10,000 generative PFPs. The 200 visual assets were drawn by hand by co-founder Yam Karkai. Chiefly dedicated to bringing women into Web3 and endowing them with the necessary tools to succeed, this project is guaranteed to continue to grow, as well as power developments across the market. An NFT space that focuses on mitigating the effects of gender imbalance a little more isn’t only an ethical change but also offers opportunities for better revenue.
Artificial intelligence
AI-powered tools and solutions are becoming more popular across all markets and industries. While many retain moral reservations about the possibility of software and machines making art pieces, it seems like artificial intelligence is the future of technology. Therefore, it would only make sense that it would also be the future of digitally based non-fungible tokens.
The solution seems to be for artists themselves to incorporate the technology into their collections in a manner that is fitting and which doesn’t infringe upon their artistic integrity. Platforms that put forward entirely AI-generated items are already available for use, meaning that the tools have already entered the NFT environment, and it’s not likely that they will go away anytime soon.
However, a question remains as to how the general public will perceive the changes. It might be the case that there will be pricing differences between items created solely by human artists and those generated, either partially or completely, through artificial intelligence. In an ideal scenario, however, NFTs and AI would bring value to each other so that creators and collectors can benefit and the market will grow.
Decentralized finance
While the Ethereum blockchain is undoubtedly associated with its native currency, Ether, the network saw many different uses, particularly in the field of decentralized processes. And since NFTs are also an Ethereum development, launched only three months after the blockchain itself, it only makes sense that the two will end up joining forces at some point. While in the beginning, non-fungible tokens were mainly for show, collected largely as a status symbol, this is bound to change as users discover the many ways to employ practical use cases for the tokens.
DeFi accepts NFTs as collateral for crypto loans, and investors expect marketplaces to create rewarding mechanisms based on NFT staking. The tokens can be used within the gaming industry to improve the Play-to-Earn mechanism, especially as the gaming community begins to adopt Move-to-Earn tools. This type of game, which is set to be one of the major trends on the market in 2023, will reward people for staying active and moving.
Virtual events are another obvious use for non-fungible tokens, as participants will require avatars, memorabilia, and assets. NFTs can be used to power concerts, private parties, and conferences and act as extensions for reality-based platforms. Speaking of which, we can’t bypass examining the ticket industry when studying tokens. In 2023, NFTs are expected to become more popular within the music industry, as artists will use them to interact with their fans more. While some marketplaces have already begun selling projects in collaboration with music producers, the trend is bound to develop even more throughout the year.
Different marketplaces
Cryptocurrencies have gained a reputation as a fully decentralized asset class, with everybody that has access to the network having the same rights. However, over the past few years, this tendency has changed a little bit as lawmakers began to see a necessity for using the same rules and regulations for the market as those employed in traditional assets.
Since the financial possibilities are difficult to neglect, 2023 will likely see the advent of state-run NFT marketplaces. While China is currently the only country in the world taking this type of initiative, with the market taking a highly-regulated turn, it’s very likely that they’re simply the tip of the iceberg, and others will soon follow in their footsteps. Thailand, the world leader in the number of NFT users, as well as the United States, Vietnam and Brazil, are some of the other nations that are likely to follow suit.
While NFTs are a relatively new development, nobody can deny they’ve taken the world by storm. And there are still many ways in which they could grow.