NFTs are the latest and greatest trend in the crypto industry, but recent sales figures show that the bubble is fast deflating. Sales dropped from a seven-day high of $176 million in early May down to a mere $8.7 million in mid-June. This significant drop in sales gives some credence to the idea that NFTs were merely a bubble that would soon be popped, just like many other crypto trends before it. Crypto is commonly distrusted because of this volatility, but could new innovations make the industry a bit more stable?
Many have wondered what exactly makes these crypto trends so volatile, but the fact is that the blockchain industry has never had a whole lot of broad appeal. A small number of enthusiasts and early adopters are ready to try any new crypto development, but ordinary folks going about their business don’t have much reason to get involved. Some experts believe that this is soon to change however, as new NFT innovations are changing the common attitudes towards crypto.
The Ever-Changing Industry
Crypto first came on the scene with Bitcoin all the way back in 2009. It used a decentralized peer-to-peer network to transfer a digital ledger without a central authority. This complicated technology is enough by itself to make some people swear off crypto for good. Blockchain is a complicated form of technology, and many people aren’t willing to invest in something that they don’t understand.
As crypto developments kept coming, this lack of understanding continued to grow, and most people just don’t have the time to learn how to get involved with crypto. Crypto wallets and other methods by which people could get crypto weren’t very intuitive, and crypto just didn’t have much of a use.
People started to take notice once NFTs came on the scene, with attention-grabbing headlines like the NFT artwork that sold for $69 million becoming increasingly common. Unfortunately, the methods by which people could acquire these NFTs are still nebulous at best, and many of the NFT collectibles that have gained steam like CryptoPunks and MeeBits have no real appeal to anyone outside of the crypto industry.
Popular trends like Decentralized Finance have come and gone with little fanfare, and it seemed like the same could very well happen to the NFT industry, but new developments are sparking some mainstream interest. Crypto companies like Flow and Animoca Brands have started working with brands and franchises with much broader appeal than other NFT dapps. Flow created NBA Top Shot, a series of NFT collectibles similar to real-world sports memorabilia, as well as MotoGP Ignition. Animoca Brands has worked with franchises like Marvel and WWE.
Previously crypto developments appealed exclusively to those who were already interested in blockchain tech, but these new NFTs draw in a much bigger crowd. Sports fans, for example, are one of the largest groups in the world, and by catering to them, NFT companies easily draw millions of new eyes to their products. NBA Top Shot for example recently broke records when an NFT collectible showcasing Lebron James sold for nearly $400,000. NFT collectibles like these are bringing a lot of new people into the NFT sphere, but there’s one more saving grace that’s changing the game in the NFT industry.
The Next Major Shift
While NFTs are drawing bigger and bigger crowds, there are still no simple ways to start using crypto immediately. Users have to download unintuitive crypto wallets, commonly in the form of browser extensions, and buy different cryptocurrencies depending on what the purveyor of the NFT accepts. Simple, cross-chain solutions like Blocto are creating a major shift in the NFT industry, as they allow ordinary people to start using crypto as easily as using any other mobile app.
Blocto was created by a cryptocurrency company called Portto as a way to give ordinary people an easy onboarding experience. They’ve billed their service as “Steam for dapps,” essentially meaning that they purvey various cryptocurrencies and crypto assets in the same way Steam sells various video games. What makes Blocto a unique force in the crypto industry is its cross-chain capabilities — it gives its users the ability to interact with multiple different blockchains without holding their native tokens, all in the same app.
Blocto is currently working with Flow and Animoca Brands to integrate more NFT collectibles and crypto games into their service, essentially providing a one-stop-shop for crypto newcomers who don’t want to deal with the hassle. This is the way to appeal to a much greater number of people.
Mobile crypto apps like Blocto are set to change the crypto industry in the same way that stock apps permanently altered the stock trading game. Before apps like Robin Hood and Acorns, the stock market was largely a tool used and manipulated by wealthy Wall Street investors. Now, anybody can start trading stocks by simply downloading an app on their smartphone, and common day traders have had a significant impact on the stock market. Everyone knows about the infamous GameStop short squeeze brought on by online stock communities like r/WallStreetBets.
A similar effect may take hold as more people begin to use crypto apps like Blocto. The NFT industry may have lost steam recently, but with the simplicity of smartphone apps along with the greater interest drawn by more interesting NFT products, we are bound to see another rise in the market very soon. Buying and trading NFTs could very well become as ubiquitous as trading stocks on the stock market.
So what comes next for the NFT industry? As deeply tied to the internet as it is, it’s impossible to accurately predict what the next big trend is going to be, but as more people jump in using the tools available to them, even greater innovation will undoubtedly take place. Increased demand always spurs more development, and the next step in the evolution of blockchain could be something entirely new, and completely unexpected.
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