No matter how much the crypto conversation changes, NFTs continue to dominate it, with PNGs on social media profile pictures becoming the new craze.
Lamborghinis were the main “flex” for cryptocurrency “moon-boys” a few years ago, when token prices reached astronomical levels. In the cryptocurrency industry, several high-profile cryptocurrency proponents made it a point to arrive at conferences in exotic supercars, and the phrase “when Lambo” became a common refrain.
Nowadays, nonfungible tokens (NFT) are unquestionably the most talked-about topic in the cryptocurrency space, and the possession of expensive PNGs to be used as social media profile pictures has become the new status symbol for the “cryptorati.”
In a tweet on Thursday, Chinese crypto journalist Colin Wu reported that internet moguls in the country are among those who have recently gotten on board with the NFT craziness. Cai Wensheng, the founder of Meitu, a smartphone manufacturer and photo-touch-up app, is said to have purchased CryptoPunk #8236 for 125 Ether (ETH), or approximately $387,000.
Indeed, CryptoPunks, the NFT collection that is perhaps the most well-known in the market, has been gaining in popularity even outside of the cryptosphere. A report by Cointelegraph earlier this month stated that card payments giant Visa recently purchased CryptoPunk #7610 for approximately $150,000.
Budweiser also recently purchased a $120,000 fan art piece as well as the Beer.eth domain name, demonstrating what appears to be a growing interest in non-financial technologies. Facebook, the world’s largest social media company, has also stated that it is “definitely looking” into NFTs as part of the development of its crypto wallet product, Novi.
As of mid-August, the popular NFT marketplace OpenSea had seen a year-to-date increase in trading volume of more than 76,000 percent, a result of the current NFT craziness. Play-to-earn NFT games such as Axie Infinity are experiencing explosive growth in terms of metrics such as internet traffic and the price of the governance token.
Warnings of a possible NFT bubble are also beginning to circulate, with critics claiming that the current level of hype is unsustainable. Those on the other side of the debate believe that NFTs have the potential to be what social media and e-commerce have been for Web 2.0 in terms of impact.
