The Metaverse and NFT Boom Is About to Go Bust
The world is already getting bored of the apes
Over a year ago, the landscape of the online world was altered forever when Beeple’s ‘Everydays — The First 5000 Days’ digital artwork sold at a first-of-its-kind auction for $69,346,250.
While digital art wasn’t a new concept, the medium had struggled to establish itself because the ease of duplication (right-click, copy) made it near-impossible to assign ownership and value. But the arrival of NFTs and blockchain technology finally enabled collectors and artists to verify the rightful owner and authenticity of digital artworks. In other words, no matter how many people choose to copy the digital item, there is only one true owner.
Beeple’s extraordinary sale was the ultimate test case — people would pay, and pay lots, for purely digital items — and it opened the floodgates to a whole new market, sparking an NFT frenzy. The biggest craze was JPEG images that could be used as social profile pictures. One of the more successful ventures was the Bored Ape Yacht Club, which tied its tokens to an exclusive membership club in an effort to make it more than just expensive pictures (some Apes have sold for over $3 million). Other projects, like Crypto Punks, have been equally successful, with the highest sale price over $20 million. The rest……
