Beyond Art Collectibles Breaking Through — What Other NFT Areas Are Worth Watching?
AXS +4. 28%
In March this year, Christie's, a globally top-tier auction house, sold a record-breaking artwork for $69 million — a digital collage titled "Everydays: The First 5000 Days" by digital artist Beeple. The $69 million price tag ranks as the third-highest ever achieved by a living artist and set a new auction record for digital artwork. Fuelled by this milestone, crypto art made a breakthrough into the mainstream, NFT swept the globe, and artists of all kinds began making their moves.
Just days after Christie's set the $69 million NFT record, its longtime rival Sotheby's announced a partnership with digital artist Pak to release NFT works. Takashi Murakami, Japan's renowned contemporary artist, was not about to be left behind, announcing plans to launch his own NFT artwork featuring the iconic sunflower motif. However, after factoring in preparation requirements, Murakami ultimately cancelled the auction — while reaffirming his firm belief in NFT's enormous potential and his excitement to re-engage with NFT art creation.
On-Chain NFT Game Revenue Surpasses King of Glory in a Single Day
If you've been following the crypto market, you've almost certainly been flooded with updates about "Axie Infinity," the NFT game that's taken the space by storm. On August 6 alone, it generated $17.5 million in revenue — nearly double King of Glory's average daily revenue of $9.23 million. This decentralized turn-based strategy game, inspired by Pokémon, lets players take on the role of "breeders," purchasing, selling, Trading , and breeding adorable digital pets called Axies. Like Pokémon, players can use their Axies to battle other players, earning game tokens by winning battles and completing required missions. These game tokens can be Trading on the secondary market.
Axies are in-game digital pets as well as NFT Assets. Each Axie has its own unique traits and attributes, which determine their capabilities in battle. Currently, the cheapest Axie costs 0.073 ETH — roughly $235 — and players must own a minimum of 3 Axies to start playing.
As mentioned above, Axie Infinity has issued a game token called SLP (Small Love Potion), which serves two purposes: players earn SLP by playing, and SLP is spent on breeding the next generation. In addition, Axie Infinity has launched an ERC-20 utility token called AXS , which can be used for governance (AXS token holders are permitted to stake tokens to participate in platform governance voting), token 质押 (holders can stake AXS tokens to earn weekly rewards), and payment (holders can use AXS tokens for in-game purchases).
OKX has listed AXS . From listing to its peak, AXS rose from $32.01 to a high of $77.39, delivering a maximum gain of 142% — an impressive performance. Beyond the red-hot Axie Infinity, other blockchain games in the space — including Decentraland (MANA ), Sandbox (SAND), and Zed Run — are also experiencing a development boom. OKX real-time market data shows MANA token is up 15.44% over the past week.
An NFT Avatar Selling for $7.58 Million?
Beyond blockchain gaming, the NFT market has recently seen an avatar craze take hold. The veteran NFT avatar project Crypto Punks has seen its volume and prices surge in tandem. According to Nonfungible data, 3 of the top 5 projects by sales volume over the past 7 days belong to the NFT avatar sector. Crypto Punks generated $55.8965 million in sales over the past 7 days, with 274 units sold and an average price of $204,000 per avatar — truly luxury items of the crypto world.
On the Crypto Punks official website, the most expensive Crypto Punk ever sold went for 4,200 ETH (approximately $7.58 million). Checking its transaction history reveals that on July 6, 2017, this very avatar sold for just 8 ETH. In just 4 years, its price appreciated by a staggering 524x.
After the NFT avatar boom took off, many community users started swapping their social media profile pictures to purchased NFTs. Owning a cool avatar like this has become a social credential in the crypto industry. Reports suggest the avatar frenzy may have been boosted by the metaverse narrative, as well as Ethereum's successful London upgrade and investors' bullish outlook on Ethereum's broader ecosystem.
Blockchain gaming and avatar NFTs are not new phenomena this year. Both sectors have been developing on-chain since 2017, having weathered multiple cycles and accumulated a degree of consensus and maturity. Their continuous progress throughout this period is a key reason for their explosive breakout.
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