NFT: The future is divided in the rise (1)previous articleprevious article, continue to explore the differentiation of NFT.

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(1) The different trading volumes of NFT trading platforms indicate the differentiation of NFT projects

The differentiation of NFT projects has already appeared, which can be seen from the performance of NFT trading platforms.

There are many trading platforms for NFT, and the most popular trading platforms include: OpenSea, Rarible, SuperRare, Foundation, AtomicMarket, KnownOrigin, Enjin Market, BakerySwap, Portion, VIV3, Async Art, etc. Each trading platform has its own characteristics.

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After entering August, there is still a big gap between Opensea and Rarible. According to DappRadar's statistics, as of September 3, the 30-day trading volume of the OpenSea platform was 3.72 billion US dollars, and more than 329,000 wallets had interacted. The transaction amount on the Rarible platform during the same period was 21 million US dollars, and about 10,000 wallets have interacted.

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(2) Transaction ranking of NFT projects

The popularity of the NFT market is mainly driven by some popular projects. Top-ranked projects include Axie Infinity, CryptoPunks, Art Blocks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Intertial Moment, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Loot (for Adventurers), 0N1 Force, Meebits, Pudgy Penguins, and more.

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(3) Development of different NFT tracks

According to the analysis of Bochun Chien and Jingcheng Li of FBG Capital, from the perspective of development speed, different types of NFT have different growth rates. Collectible NFTs occupy more than 2/3 of the market share, and the game NFT market has also grown significantly, surpassing the encrypted art sector.

From the perspective of market distribution, the main factors are the growing popularity of the CryptoPunks market and the high growth of Meebits. Representative projects in the collection NFT category include CryptoPunks, Meebits, Sorare, Avastars, CryptoKitties, Bored Ape Yacht Club, NBA top shot, Bored Ape Kennel Club, Zed Run, Vee Friend, etc.

The proportion of games has also increased significantly, surpassing the art sector to come to the second place. The NFT game track began to explode in the second quarter. The growth rate of the number of users and transaction volume was higher than that of other NFT tracks, and it stepped out of its own independent market. The highest single-day trading volume even exceeded 4 billion US dollars. In addition to Axie Infinity, the number of users of the NFT game track increased by 1500% from early February to August, with about 440,000 daily active users, and the transaction volume increased by 5000%. Representative projects include Axie Infinity, Alien World, CryptoBlades, My Defi Pet, Mobox, Aavegotchi, TT Guess, etc.

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2. Analysis of the reasons why some NFT projects became popular

NFT can be digital art collections, avatar collections, collection cards, game props or value-added tools. The categories and connotations of NFT are already extremely rich.

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(1) Axie Infinity: "Play-to-Earn" + Economic System + Game Guild + Metaverse + High Performance

Axie Infinity is currently the #1 NFT game and one of the most trafficked apps on Ethereum. The project fire is the result of Play-to-Earn, economic system, game guild, community, and Metaverse.

Play-to-Earn is a new model that rewards players for their time and effort in playing games and growing the gaming ecosystem. The core of Axie's economic system is fighting and breeding, and forms a closed loop consisting of players, Axies (NFTs), and AXS/SLP (native tokens). And Axie's economic system is the basis of Play-to-Earn.

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Chart source: JX Twitter @jx_block

Gaming guild Yield Guild Games is the key reason behind Axie Infinity's explosion

Yield Guild Games is a game guild established in the Philippines. The impact of the yi epidemic has caused the local unemployment rate in the Philippines to soar. Yield Guild Games sees the opportunity of Play-to-Earn in Axie Infinity.

On the one hand, the guild helps Axie Infinity recruit and train players. On the other hand, Yield Guild Games rents in-game characters to players who cannot afford the early start-up costs, and then takes a cut of the players' revenue.

This move formed a "triple win" result. Yield Guild Games can help the game quickly attract traffic and reduce the entry cost of players. The guild itself also benefits from this positive model, quickly becoming the largest game guild in Axie Infinity.

Axie Infinity is also a metaverse game. Immersive experience, as well as virtual land buying and selling operations have also attracted more players.

In the game Axie Infinity, land is a scarce resource called the continent of Lunacia. The land on the continent of Lunacia can be used for elf Axies to live, and they can give priority to collecting AXS tokens and other resources and equipment props, and can also be used to operate such as hosting stores/markets, renting out, placing beacons for summoning Chimera monsters, and being used as a base for dungeons Access the entrance (that is, the Chimera battle entrance), and even allow third parties to develop their own games on it, and earn income through these operations.

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(2) CryptoPunks: scarcity + punk culture + narrative + new business value + community role + innovative gameplay + financial tools

CryptoPunks are among the first digital artworks on Ethereum to have a built-in method of verifying ownership. In June 2017, software company Larva Labs launched CryptoPunks. Scarcity + punk culture + narrative + community + representative of new business value + innovative gameplay are the factors that make CryptoPunks continue to be popular.

Scarcity:CryptoPunks is a collection of artistic images composed of irregular pixels in 24x24, 8bit style. Only 10,000 were released, each with its own randomly generated unique appearance and characteristics.

The look of CryptoPunks is a representation of punk culture

For Larva Labs founders Matt Hall and John Watkinson, there was a raucous, anti-establishment ethos in the early days of the blockchain movement, which they mirrored in Punk's exterior design, which says "they Need to be a bunch of misfits and nonconformists." Cyberpunk dystopian grit, exemplified by the films Blade Runner and William Gibson's novel Neuromancer, also had an impact.

Industry expert Ben Roy believes that CryptoPunks is a narrative reflexive asset (reflexive asset)

Reflexive assets mean that once the expectation of upward price is formed, the behavior of investors to purchase can push up the price of the asset, which in turn strengthens the expectation of upward price.

CryptoPunks has a very good narrative, the project is issued fairly, and anyone can receive it for free on the day; the founder behind the project is very good, and he is a rookie in NFT, etc., giving a good expectation for its price increase.

CryptoPunks are representatives of new business value

In new business value, community influence is particularly important. CryptoPunks avatars are used by prominent figures as their social media profile pictures, enhancing their presence in the community and industry.

On August 23, the American credit card company VISA announced that it officially entered the NFT field and purchased a CryptoPunks NFT numbered 7610 at a price of about 150,000 US dollars. VISA believes that CryptoPunks has created a wave of NFT technology and NFT business, so VISA wants to own a Punk.

CryptoPunks are a symbol of community influence. Owning a Punk is not only a symbol of the status of a veteran in the encryption market, but also a passport for high-end investors. CryptoPunks has gradually become a representative of the cultural level of Ethereum, and has become a community with a tighter and high internal identity. High prices are not a limit to the development of collectible NFT projects, but a threshold to join this elite community.

The blessing of value-added gameplay

Cryptopunks development team Larva Labs launched the 3D virtual world game Meebits. Cryptopunks holders will be able to get Meebits for free, making up for their own gap in the game field.

Financial instruments help increase the liquidity and accessibility of CryptoPunks, making it easy for small and medium investors or collectors to purchase.

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(3) Art Blocks: generative art + artist influence + community role

Art Blocks is a platform for on-demand programmatic generation and storage of works on Ethereum. The content of works includes static images, 3D models, and interactive experiences. Art Blocks was launched by Erick Snowfro in November 2020, and has been widely welcomed in the market. After entering August, multiple NFT transactions have each exceeded $1 million worth of ETH. According to DappRadar data, as of September 3, the 30-day transaction amount of Art Blocks has exceeded 527 million US dollars.

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Art Blocks：Ringers#879

The reasons for the fire of Art Blocks can be roughly summarized as: generative art + artist influence + community

Generative art has the unique charm of encryption and art

Generative art itself is not a new phenomenon, it started in the 1960s. Generative art was first recognized by the Museum of Modern Art in 1984, and in 2018, 18-year-old artist and Stanford student Robbie Barat used GAN to cast the first piece of generative art "AI Generated Nude Portrait #1" on Ethereum.

On the Art Blocks platform, artists create an algorithm or script and deploy it to Ethereum, before locking the code, trying to combine elements to develop the unique style of the project. During creation, the final image is generated from a script through a hashed string or "seed" provided by Token. Each final image was created on-site, hidden from buyers, but has consistent elements and recurring themes that connect them into a coherent project.

It’s a combination of traditional art aesthetics and blockchain data, resulting in something undeniably crypto-native.

William M. Peaster, a well-known expert in the NFT field, believes that Dapps like Art Blocks are ushering in a "golden age" of generative art on Ethereum.

artist influence

The Art Blocks platform consists of three internal platforms:

1. Curated：The main platform, where each candidate is thoroughly vetted by the Art Blocks team

2. Artist Playground：A secondary platform for artists who have previously launched a portfolio on Curated and wish to launch a follow-up

3. Factory：A more open platform with less stringent censorship and admission requirements.

Art Blocks is led by some of the most talented minds in the NFT space, such as Snowfro and Jeff Davis. The platform also features some of the most iconic generative artists, including Dmitri Cherniak and Tyler Hobbs, among others.

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(3) Bored Ape Yacht Club: Ingenious narrative + community (social) + celebrity effect + identity attribution + copyright attribution

Bored Ape Yacht Club, or BAYC for short, is a collection of 10,000 ape NFTs, including 170 attributes of different rarities such as hats, eyes, demeanor, clothing, and backgrounds. 10,000 unique apes have been randomly combined through programming, and each ape has a different expression and dress. Bored Ape Yacht Club ranked fourth in the 30-day NFT project transactions. NFT Labs concluded that ingenious narrative + community (social) + celebrity effect + identity attribution + copyright attribution have built the special value of BAYC.

Clever narrative:BAYC’s first sale of each ape is priced at 0.08 ETH, and the entry cost is low, making all users stand on the same starting line. The fair and just distribution method has attracted many investors.

Community Atmosphere + Social Capital:Since its release in April, the BAYC community has rapidly grown into a large community in a short period of time. For players holding BAYC, this is not only a collectible, but also a club.

Celebrity effect:Many celebrities, including NBA player LaMelo ball, NBA chairman Daryl Morey, DJ duo Bassjackers, DJ 3lau and Chen Bolin, Vanness Wu, and Shawn Yue, have used BAYC's works as social media avatars, arousing public interest in NFT and BAYC interest.

Identity attribution:BYAC's NFT is more like an identity card when socializing. When users use NFT as a social avatar, it helps the holder to obtain additional social capital and resonate with members who are also BAYC.

Community benefits:Owning a Bored Ape NFT will enjoy benefits exclusive to club members. For example, users who own Bored Ape NFT can enter the "bathroom" function of the collaborative graffiti board on BAYC's official website, which is a place where you can draw or create at will. Every club member can adopt a Club Dog NFT from Bored Ape Kennel Club. The adoption is free and only need to pay the Gas fee. BAYC also purchased a piece of land in The Sandbox game, on which the project party will build venues only for club members, etc.

Copyright attribution:Generally speaking, the copyright of NFT does not belong to the buyer. The ownership and commercial use rights of BAYC will be granted to the buyer when the transaction occurs. BAYC grants Bored Ape NFT holders full commercial rights to use, reproduce and display purchased collectibles, as well as use it to create creative derivative works.

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epilogue

The rapid rise of the NFT market may not only grow into a giant with a market volume of trillions of dollars, but also demonstrate a very individual culture, identity and community.

Disclaimer: This article is the author's independent opinion, does not represent the position of the Blockchain Institute (public account), and does not constitute any investment opinion or suggestion.

Disclaimer: This article is the author's independent opinion, does not represent the position of the Blockchain Institute (public account), and does not constitute any investment opinion or suggestion.

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