NFTs are still in an early phase of their existence, and remain synonymous in many people’s minds with art and design.
Taking this broad art and design categorization, we can break it down into two approximate segments, PFPs and art. Both of these categories are saturated but contain gems that are or might become valuable assets.
PFP NFTs
That initialism, PFP, means profile picture, and it refers to NFTs that can be used in place of a personal photo for a profile image, on social media or online in general.
These images are usually generated upon minting (the process of buying a newly created NFT), and so there is a random element around what buyers will receive. A PFP collection typically consists of a set number of items (10,000 was common, but there are many differently sized collections now) with a central theme, and there may be very creative storylines and concepts wrapped into such projects.
Common tropes include apes and other animals, punks, undead creatures (skulls and skeletons feature a lot), childlike pastel colors, anime and manga aesthetics, pixel art retro stylings and deliberately amateurish sketchings, although when it comes down to it, anything goes.
Huge numbers of these projects have launched over the last year or so, often derivative or outright rip-offs, and frequently operating as little more than minimal-effort cash grabs.
However, there are some very high-quality products, along with well-regarded collections that have cultural clout and meme-boosted desirability. A few collections clearly exhibit Veblen goods behavior and are probably more than just faddish passing trends.
On the whole, PFPs did particularly well during the last bull market, when online wealth-flexing (through throwing pumped-up crypto at prohibitively expensive JPEGs) was a price driver, and even unremarkable projects sold out rapidly and could be flipped for profit.
Many collections have now, temporarily in some cases, lost their sheen as volume dries up, but there remain items that get snapped up by long-term holders when prices drop beyond certain thresholds, and which are likely to hold their value and pick up again in the future.
CryptoPunks and BAYC
CryptoPunks are the original high-status collectibles and were bought up quickly when floor prices recently dropped below…
