While still far from the kind of dizzying bull run that characterized 2021, NFTs have been enjoying an optimistic start to the year. There’s no froth, at the moment, and the atmosphere is relaxed, but there’s plenty of development, trades are happening, and some collections have seen their prices buoyant and rising.
Underlying all this, there are a couple of prevalent sentiments. First, is that creativity is flowing cleanly, as developers build, artists provide color, and founders seek out more efficient ways of utilizing the tools at hand to produce lasting value. Second, there is a sense that because so much is in motion (in terms of developer and artistic activity), any spark in the wider crypto markets can quickly ignite the NFT space, setting off renewed surges in speculation.
Rewind a couple of years, and NFTs were in a simpler state than they are now, but here in 2023, distinct categories have emerged. Let’s consider how some of those brackets might develop from here.
PFPs
If any category captures NFTs as they have appeared in the public consciousness up to now, then it’s profile pictures (PFPs). These are the generative collections of matching characters, usually facing to one side, but each with its own features and variations, which are utilized as identity markers on social media.
The most famous collections seem capable now of consistently maintaining status as prized assets. CryptoPunks (the original 10,000 item PFP collection) are art objects in their own right. Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has become the foundation of a budding web3 empire. And several other collections, such as Doodles, which recently acquired the animation studio Golden Wolf, and Azuki, which this month launched its own metaverse space, appear intent, like BAYC, on expanding beyond the parameters of static PFPs.
There are other projects strongly in the running too (one could point to Cool Cats, Renga, and the Nike-affiliated CloneX as realistic contenders), but it appears now that any new PFP collection that wants to stick around long-term needs to have expansion plans ready to go and be meticulously executed.
It was PFPs that brought NFTs to mainstream awareness, but NFTs, it seems, are ready to move past PFPs.
Works of Art
The art section of the NFT space increasingly feels like a market of its own, with its own distinct dynamics, and it has an atmosphere in common with traditional art markets. That said, trade in NFT art is tangibly enhanced by the…
