Cryptocurrency

Are NFT markets in a death spiral or ready for a resurgence?

Published

1 year ago

September 12, 2023

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) saw a massive surge in popularity in 2021, accompanied by sky-high prices, but the market has since come crashing back to earth, and it’s unclear whether there will be a resurgence.

NFTs are unique digital tokens recorded on a blockchain to certify ownership and authenticity. They can’t be copied or substituted but can be transferred and sold by their owner.

According to analytics platform NFTGo, the NFT market cap valued in Ether (ETH) is down 40.59% over the past year at the time of writing, with trading volume down 40.81%.

The market cap in U.S. dollars is down 41.16%, and its volume has dropped 66.77%. At the same time, market sentiment is ranked 13 out of 100, with an overall rating of “cold.”

The NFT market has fallen even further in the latter half of 2023. Source: NFTGo

Arno Bauer, senior solution architect at BNB Chain, told Cointelegraph that from a utility perspective, NFT projects are increasingly adding value and that this growth in functionality is where the future of NFTs likely lies.

Bauer said the NFT market is showing “promising signs of innovation and creativity,” which holds great potential for the growth and evolution of the tech.

“Market sentiment, cultural shifts towards digital ownership, and the potential for NFTs to be integrated into various aspects of our lives also contribute to a positive outlook for the future of NFTs,” he said.

“While current market conditions might seem subdued, the ongoing innovation and potential for integration with both digital and physical worlds suggest that NFTs have not had their day and that their continued relevance and growth are highly probable,” Bauer added.

NFTs in the long term

As for long-term use cases, Bauer said NFTs will “likely evolve” over time and become increasingly linked to real-world assets, such as property ownership or unique physical goods.

Currently, NFTs have been most successful in the art world, with some selling for tens of millions of dollars.

Digital artist Pak sold an NFT project titled “The Merge” for $91.8 million on Nifty Gateway in 2021, while Mike Winkelmann, also known as Beeple, sold “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” for $69.3 million via Christie’s auction house the same year.

Blockchain games also use NFTs to represent in-game items such as weapons and armor, and there is speculation the tech will make the jump to mainstream games. Various types of music assets are also being sold as one-of-a-kind NFTs.

Bauer thinks that as more robust technology provides enhanced use cases and ownership security, NFTs will likely become more attractive to mainstream markets.

He speculated that NFTs could link to financial instruments, representing shares in companies or investment funds, and social achievements, where they could symbolize badges of accomplishment in various fields.

“Beyond art, the ability to tokenize unique assets and provide verifiable ownership will create numerous applications across various domains,” Bauer said.

“Collaborations with traditional industries, technological advancements, clear regulatory frameworks and educational efforts can significantly boost NFT utility and adoption.”

“Addressing sustainability concerns could make them more appealing to a broader audience,” he added.

NFTs have the potential to make a comeback

Jason Bailey, co-founder and CEO of NFT tool and self-custody solution ClubNFT, told Cointelegraph he thinks “NFTs will come back and go mainstream” because crypto and NFTs rebound cyclically, just like previous tech crashes.

According to data gathering platform Statista, the NFT market is projected to continue growing in revenue, users and market capitalization.

As of 2023, there are 13.95 million NFT users, but that’s expected to hit 19.31 million users by 2027.

However, Bailey believes NFTs currently have some issues, most of which were amplified by rampant market speculation, that need to be solved before NFTs can go mainstream.

He said NFTs and the ecosystem around them are so complex that almost everyone is still vulnerable to many risks they may not even know about.

“Many of us have been trying to educate and onboard people into the space thoughtfully so they can be safe, but the truth is that NFTs won’t go mainstream until the complexity is replaced with a safe-by-default easy path,” Bailey said.

“For example, the vast majority of people don’t realize that an NFT is almost always at risk in a sense, except for fully on-chain NFTs, which are a truly tiny fraction.”

“The steps needed to protect the art from disappearing, and prevent the NFT from breaking, are complicated, time-consuming and error-prone,” he added.

Bailey believes that in the long term, NFTs or similar tech could prove invaluable in validating digital documents such as marriage certificates, diplomas and licenses.

Overall, he thinks NFTs solve too many of the current problems associated with digital ownership — including scarcity, authentication, provenance and provable ownership — to be ignored.

“We need to build infrastructure now, during the bear market, for smoother onboarding and to protect NFT adopters from malicious actors in the next NFT bull market,” he said.

“Once these issues are solved, NFTs will absolutely go mainstream because the train of digital ownership left the station decades ago, and there is no stopping it.”

Meaningful projects could be a game changer for NFTs

Speaking to Cointelegraph, Andy Ku, founder and CEO of digital content Web3 ecosystem Altava Group, said he thinks the previous highs in the NFT market were based on a hype cycle, so it’ll be hard for an individual NFT to reach such lofty heights again.

asked google bard to write me some tweets about NFT market right now…
mf really went for the throat on these… pic.twitter.com/aLjUbwH3gT
— beeple (@beeple) August 22, 2023

According to CoinGecko, many of the top NFT collections have seen significant drops in value over the past year.

At the time of writing, Bored Ape Yacht Club has fallen by 67.1%, CryptoPunks by 33.2%, Mutant Ape Yacht Club by 59.2% and Azuki by 49.3%.

Ku believes that if we can see more meaningful NFT projects on the market offering tangible benefits to more people, then it’s possible to have the combined volume bring the overall market value up.

“NFTs should offer value and utility beyond just a digital art or PFP. The two areas I particularly believe in are asset-backed NFTs and a membership NFT,” he said.

“NFT’s core value of being an immutable representation of something is a great fit for assets and membership.”

NFTs for subscription, membership-based models and loyalty programs are starting to gain traction, with examples in hospitality venues and gyms already on the market.

“In terms of asset-backed NFTs, master artworks, real estate and precious metals like gold are all good examples of assets in which people believe,” Ku said.

“NFTs would make a great proof-of-ownership for these assets as well as being extremely portable,” he added.

Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin En Route to $100K, Ripple Explodes 66% Weekly, Cardano Eyes $1: This Week’s Crypto Recap

Published

3 hours ago

November 23, 2024

This week, the total cryptocurrency market exploded above $3.4 trillion for the first time in history, adding close to $400 billion in the process. This comes on the back of considerable gains across the board, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Ripple, Cardano, and more.

Let’s start with Bitcoin – the primary cryptocurrency that has been teasing traders by breaking out to $100K for more than a day now, inching closer and closer each time. At the time of this writing, it’s trading at slightly below $99,000, less than two percent away from $100,000.

That said, Bitcoin is not the biggest start this week. This title belongs to none other than Ripple’s XRP. The cryptocurrency exploded by over 66% in a whopping rally propelled by what seems to be the biggest news of the week. Of course, I’m talking about the latest thread by the Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – Gary Gensler. Recall that when he was campaigning at the Bitcoin 2024 conference earlier this year, President-elect Donald Trump promised to fire him on his first day in office. Well, he won’t have to.

Gensler said that he would step down from his position on the same day Trump was inaugurated – January 20th, 2025. This sent the market slightly higher, but XRP benefitted the most. It’s up more than 30% in the past 24 hours following the news.

Another cryptocurrency that performed really well is Cardano’s ADA – it’s up by almost 45% in the past week and it’s currently eyeing $1.

All in all, the week has been incredibly bullish for the entire industry, and many other altcoins have also charted serious gains. For example, Solana (SOL) broke its former all-time high and increased by more than 20%. Avalanche’s AVAX is up more than 25%, and so forth.

All eyes are currently on Bitcoin and whether or not it will be able to break above $100K. This is a major psychological level that the entire industry has been waiting for a while now, and many experts seem to think that there will be a correction after that. They seem to think that it’s a major profit-taking level.

Regardless of what happens next, one thing is certain – we are in for a wild ride, so stay tuned!

Market Data

Market Cap: $3.42T | 24H Vol: $291B | BTC Dominance: 57%

BTC: $98,635 (+11.1%) | ETH: $3,309 ( +9% ) | XRP: $1.46 (+68%%)

This Week’s Crypto Headlines You Can’t Miss

MicroStrategy Announces Another Massive BTC Purchase for Over $4.5 Billion. Another week, another massive purchase from the Saylor-led business intelligence company. This time, MicroStrategy broke the record for the biggest single BTC buy as it allocated more than $4.5 billion to accumulate 51.780 BTC. Its stash has skyrocketed to over 330,000 BTC now.

Bitcoin Market Cap Approaches $2 Trillion, Targets Amazon and Alphabet. The week saw several consecutive all-time highs, as mentioned above, for bitcoin, with the latest (currently) pushing the asset to $99,500. Its market cap shot up to nearly $2 trillion, which solidified its position as the seventh-largest asset in the world.

Stablecoin Supply Hits Record $176.2B Amid Market Recovery. The record-setting week saw multiple peaks from various asset classes. The overall stablecoin supply exceeded $176 billion for the first time ever, with Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC leading the pack. The former’s market cap stands at over $130 billion now, while the latter’s is just shy of $40 billion.

Supply Shock: Bitcoin ETFs Sucked up 9,000 BTC Daily While Only 450 Were Mined. Investors continue to accumulate BTC through the US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs. On November 19 alone, 9,000 BTC was purchased via the ETFs in the States, while the amount of newly-mined BTC per day stands at around 450. This has led to numerous speculations about a supply shock.

Ripple Whales and Sharks Are Buying as Retail Are Selling: Is That Bullish for XRP? Ripple’s native token has been at the forefront of this week’s price increases, gaining more than 60% since last Friday. A recent report indicated that this rally was driven by whales and sharks purchasing XRP tokens, mostly from retail investors who are trying to take some profits off the table.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler Confirms He Will Step Down In January. Perhaps the biggest reason for XRP’s aforementioned price spike came on Thursday evening when current SEC Chair, Gary Gensler, said he will be leaving the agency in mid-January. This was regarded as a bullish development for a lot of tokens, mostly XRP, due to the SEC’s ongoing war against certain companies, such as Ripple.

Charts

This week, we have a chart analysis of Ripple, Cardano, Optimism, Solana, and Dogecoin – click here for the complete price analysis.

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Cryptocurrency charts by TradingView.

Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin Nears Historic $100K Milestone While Pepe Unchained’s $40M+ Presale Enters Final 3 Weeks

Published

3 hours ago

November 23, 2024

Bitcoin just made history – surging to almost $100,000 in a rally that has caught the attention of traders worldwide.

Meanwhile, the meme coin sector’s latest sensation, Pepe Unchained, has entered the final three weeks of its presale with over $40 million raised.

With giants and new faces racking up gains, the crypto market is buzzing right now.

Bitcoin Edges Towards $100K as Short Sellers Hold Their Breath

The OG cryptocurrency is inching closer to its biggest milestone yet.

After hitting $99,500 earlier today, BTC has pulled back slightly to $98,000 – just below the historic $100,000 mark.

Trading volumes have exploded, with the spot market recording $88 billion in activity during the past 24 hours.

This activity has pushed Bitcoin’s market cap to over $1.9 trillion, cementing its position as a financial heavyweight.

But there could be even more drama ahead.

Crypto analyst Vivek warns that if Bitcoin cracks $100,000, it may trigger a $2 billion short squeeze, potentially sending its price even higher.

However, not everyone is betting on continued upside.

With the Crypto Fear & Greed Index in “Extreme Greed” territory, some traders are bracing for a selloff once the $100,000 psychological barrier falls.

A similar thing happened when BTC broke $60,000 for the first time.

Regardless of what happens, the next few days promise to be highly volatile for Bitcoin.

Behind Bitcoin’s Rally – Retail Traders Still Dominate as ETFs Break Records

While Bitcoin’s price action is grabbing all the headlines, what’s happening behind the scenes tells an even more exciting story.

Retail investors still dominate Bitcoin ownership despite all the buzz about Wall Street jumping into crypto.

They hold 88% of all BTC in circulation.

That’s far higher than the 11% held by institutions and the 1% held by whale wallets.

However, institutional money is definitely flowing in through the proper channels.

The spot BTC ETFs have been on fire lately, pulling in over $1 billion yesterday and $2.8 billion in the past four days.

BlackRock’s IBIT leads the charts, generating $608 million in a single day.

Its total inflows since launch are now more than $30 billion.

This mix of strong retail ownership and growing institutional interest through ETFs creates the perfect conditions for Bitcoin’s price to rally.

And with the $100,000 mark within reach, there’s a solid chance the coin’s bull run may still have legs.

Is Pepe Unchained About to Explode? $40M+ Meme Coin Enters Final Stage of Viral Presale

As Bitcoin’s rally lifts the market, smaller projects – especially meme coins – are profiting from the uptick in investor interest.

History shows that during Bitcoin rallies, some of the biggest gains come from these smaller coins as traders look for the next crypto to explode.

Enter Pepe Unchained – which has become one of the year’s hottest presale stories.

With just three weeks left before launch, Pepe Unchained has raised over $40 million in presale funding.

The analysts at 99Bitcoins are calling it the “next PEPE coin” in a nod to the market’s favorite frog token.

For investors looking to get involved, the clock is ticking.

The current presale price of $0.01295 won’t last long since the developers intend to list PEPU on a top exchange in a matter of weeks.

They’re also making it easy to get involved in the presale, accepting payments in ETH, USDT, BNB, or bank card.

Best Wallet has introduced some dope features for Pepe Unchained Presale buyers.
1. You can now purchase Pepe Unchained Presale directly through @BestWalletHQ by using their Upcoming tokens features.
2. No need to connect to the Pepe Unchained website. Both crypto and Fiat… pic.twitter.com/W0ECfAzB7H
— Pepe Unchained (@pepe_unchained) November 20, 2024

All that’s required is a crypto wallet (like Best Wallet).

With a high-yield staking protocol already live and plans to launch a Layer-2 blockchain for meme coins, Pepe Unchained looks perfectly positioned to capitalize on the bullish market conditions.

If so, this could make it one of the biggest crypto launches of 2024.

Visit Pepe Unchained Presale

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Cryptocurrency

Ethereum Price Soars, Some Experts Say Cardano and Crypto All-Stars Could be Next Altcoins to Explode

Published

3 hours ago

November 23, 2024

Ethereum buyers are on a rampage, pushing ETH past $3,400 earlier today.

But all eyes are now on Cardano, with some experts spotting similar patterns in ADA’s price action.

In the middle of all this, a market newcomer – Crypto All-Stars – has just blasted through $5 million in ICO funding ahead of its upcoming DEX listing.

Ethereum Silences Critics with Sharp 12% Price Rally

It’s been a great few days for ETH holders.

The token’s surge has silenced the critics who spent weeks mocking its sluggish performance.

In the past 24 hours alone, the second-largest crypto by market cap shot up 12%, wiping out the losses from earlier this week.

But the real story lies in the market activity.

Spot trading volumes have rocketed 47% to $51.7 billion, while open interest has smashed through previous records to hit $14 billion.

Not bad for an asset many on crypto Twitter said was “dead.”

This sudden reversal has caught most traders off guard.

While Bitcoin and various altcoins (like Solana) have been posting huge gains in November, Ethereum’s price movements were relatively neutral.

Now, the tables have turned, and momentum is building behind ETH.

Some traders even believe there will be a run at 2021’s all-time high before the end of the year.

Is Cardano Next? ADA Shows Signs of Following ETH’s Breakout

With Ethereum rallying, some experts are also focusing on another top altcoin: Cardano.

ADA has quietly become one of the market’s top performers, surging 168% since the start of November.

The token now sits around $0.861.

However, some big names believe ADA could be about to soar even higher.

Dan Gambardello speculated that ADA will hit $1 soon, which would be the first time since May 2022.

But that might be thinking small.

URGENT: Cardano to $6? (Situation Explained) pic.twitter.com/lO9aD7Daor
— Max Maher (@Maxwell_Maher) November 21, 2024

Popular crypto analyst Max Meher recently tweeted a video discussing the possibility of ADA hitting $6 – a move that would mean nearly 600% gains from current levels.

Sure, ADA is still 72% below its all-time high, but that’s precisely what has experts like Gambardello and Meher excited.

While Ethereum has almost reclaimed old territory, Cardano’s recovery seems to be just starting.

The similarities to ETH’s pattern before its breakout haven’t gone unnoticed.

And ADA holders are hopeful their patience might finally pay off.

Crypto All-Stars Smashes $5M ICO Milestone as Investors Prepare for First Exchange Listing

Ethereum and Cardano aren’t the only coins posting gains.

Some investors are also keeping tabs on market newcomers, like Crypto All-Stars.

This project just passed the $5 million mark in its ICO, benefiting from all the excitement around its MemeVault platform.

Plus, the team dropped some huge news last night – the ICO will end in 28 days.

I’m Seeing Stars!
Crypto All-Stars just crossed the 5M mark and the fun’s not stopping anytime soon at the All-Star house! ✨
Don’t miss out join the party! You can grab your share of the presale here: https://t.co/8IZTKBdAp2 pic.twitter.com/iDoVXWTP6A
— Crypto All-Stars (@all_stars_coin) November 22, 2024

This means early investors have one last chance to grab STARS tokens for $0.0015997 each before the anticipated DEX listing.

According to Crypto All-Stars’ whitepaper, the team has set aside 10% of the supply for liquidity.

Another 20% will be used for ongoing marketing.

However, it’s the MemeVault that’s catching most people’s attention since it allows meme coin investors to stake their coins and earn STARS tokens in return.

Crypto YouTuber ClayBro, who has over 131,000 subscribers, is hyped about this setup.

He thinks it’s a great way to capitalize on the meme coin supercycle.

With the ICO clock now counting down and an open market debut on the horizon, investors are betting Crypto All-Stars might be about to explode.

It seems the STARS launch could be perfectly timed with the current market momentum.

Visit Crypto All-Stars ICO

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