A year ago, NFT auctions were breaking new records, with art, memorabilia, and other digital collectibles reaching eye-watering sums at auction. A prolonged bear market gripped digital assets not long after, NFTs included. Even Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is down 57% this year. Nonetheless, the NFT market is still relevant, as big companies are making moves in the space.
The valuations of most NFTs have dropped significantly since their issuance, while NFT trading volume has shrunk by as much as 97% since its all-time highs reached back in January. According to figures collected by Galaxy Digital, venture capital investment has also cooled to $5.5 billion in the third quarter from more than $8.0 billion a quarter earlier.
However, NFTs, along with Web3, the metaverse, DAO, and gaming, grew their collective share of the funding total to 22% during the third quarter and experienced the highest pace of deal flow across crypto segments. Additionally, the NFT development pipeline remains open as the industry advances new projects, awareness, integrations, data, and better usability.
Unswayed by the NFT bear market, Crypto.com and Visa (NYSE: V) are offering 2022 FIFA World Cup fans a hybrid NFT engagement experience called the Visa Masters of Movement. The event includes a now-running NFT auction and an immersive NFT minting activity in Doha, Qatar.
The auction, hosted on Crypto.com, features digital art inspired by memorable goals scored by five legendary footballers in FIFA history. In addition to the auction, an “interactive digital pitch” at the Qatar FIFA Fan Festival will enable fans to mint their own NFTs by stepping onto a digital LED platform fitted to capture and transform real-time movements into digital art.
Crypto.com and Visa have a history of promoting cryptocurrency visibility. The collaboration will soon roll out self-issuance Visa cards in Singapore, granting cardholders the ability to spend cryptocurrency across more than 80 million merchant outlets and stores.
Besides NFT awareness and real-world applications, the crypto industry is focusing on bringing more value to NFT infrastructure. One advancing area is pricing, where market dynamics and limited data harm users’ efforts to evaluate the worth of their NFTs. NFTBank addresses this shortcoming with a machine-learning algorithm that monitors the entire market to provide NFT price estimates.
Now, NFTBank is joining forces with MetaMask to offer a portfolio-tracking solution to MetaMask wallet users. A new integration ensures more than 21 million MetaMask wallets gain access to in-depth pricing information for over 5,000 NFT collections. At a glance, wallet users can review their portfolio balance estimate supplied by NFTBank through this new decision-making tool.
Even Ripple (XRP-USD) is stepping into the conversation with its recent move to support NFTs on its XRP Ledger (XRPL). Besides hosting NFTs, it will allow creators to integrate royalties from NFT sales. Long before this latest move, Ripple opened the $250 million Creators Fund to spur its NFT ecosystem’s growth, underscoring its long-term investment in NFTs.
Although NFTs may not command the same attention they did at the beginning of 2022 after prices fell sharply, the crypto industry is making strides in the space, recognizing the long-term opportunity. Whether via attention-grabbing events or technical advances, the outlook for NFTs remains compelling enough that development continues apace, even if prices move in a different direction.
