Quick Take:
- NFT sales could exceed $17 billion in 2021.
- Cointelegraph research forecasts $17.7 billion in a report titled, “Non-fungible Tokens: A New Frontier”.
- The report details the growing popularity of NFTs beyond the blockchain space.
The Cointelegraph Research team has published a report forecasting non-fungible token sales to exceed $17 billion. The report titled “Non-fungible Tokens: A New Frontier” estimates NFTs turnover in the region of $17.7 billion after a significant surge in interest.
According to the report, NFT sales grew from $41 million to a whopping $2.5 billion through the first half of 2021. Therefore, the current end-of-year forecast of approximately $17.7 billion suggests the market witnessed more than $15.2 million during the second half of the year.
Another report by analytics platform DappRadar estimated that NFT sales reached $10.67 billion in October, a massive increase from last year’s figure of about $340 million.
Analysts attribute the rapid growth to a resurgence in interest in NFTs from the rich and famous, who began launching their own tokens this year.
As a result, NFTs averaged monthly sales of about $360 million by May. And although a crypto euphoria resulted in a 90% decline in NFT trading volume, it soon bounced back, surging to top $2.6 billion in total volume by August on the Ethereum network alone.
The network holds approximately 80% of all NFT sales in 2021, but more platforms, including Binance Smart Chain, Cosmos EOS, Solana and Polkadot, are also gaining traction.
According to the DappRadar report, daily trading volume on the OpenSea NFT marketplace surpassed $49 million in August. The report points to the increasing popularity of blockchain gaming as a major driver of growth with celebrities also boosting adoption.
What’s the Future of NFTs?
Although the May-July crypto crash resulted in a significant decline in NFT trading volume, the industry has since bounced back demonstrating its resilience. Therefore, investors are more optimistic now, in the event of another crash. They would probably see it as an opportunity to invest rather than take their money and run.
Moreover, the NFT market is attracting interest from far and beyond the realms of blockchain technology. For instance, art and music have nothing to do with blockchain, yet developers have found a way to make them part of the network.
In addition, with Facebook and several other mainstream technology companies popularising the metaverse concept, blockchain-based video games could gain more traction, thus giving developers more opportunities to launch non-fungible tokens.
Conclusion
In summary, the NFT market seems to be here to stay after surging above $10 billion in October despite a topsy-turvy crypto market.
The industry has several tailwinds that will drive growth for the foreseeable future.
