15 Trending NFTs
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NFTs have emerged as one of the most practical applications of blockchains like Ethereum.
NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are unique pieces of art, collectibles, or really anything that’s been tokenized on a blockchain. Their value comes from being provably scarce, fully transparent, and typically paired with a dedicated community supporting it.
Projects like CryptoPunks have caught the world’s attention after collectors spent sums upwards of $10M to become part of an elite community of owners. In the 1st half of 2021 alone, approximately $2.5B was spent on NFT’s, up from a mere $13M in the same time period of 2020.
Read below for trending NFTs that are seeing a significant increase in attention.
1. CryptoPunks
5-year search growth: 2700%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year Released: 2017
Floor Price: 57.95 ETH ($178,000)
What they are: CryptoPunks are largely seen as the "gold standard" of NFTs, dating back to 2017 when they were released by renowned creator Larva Labs. In total there are only 10,000 “punks'' available, giving them a scarcity factor that makes them one of the most desirable NFTs on the market.
In fact, CryptoPunks are now among the most expensive NFTs in the world.
2. Meebits
5-year search growth: 3700%
Search growth status: Regular
Year Released: 2021
Floor Price: 6.09 ETH ($18,750)
What they are: Meebits are digital characters that were created via a custom generative algorithm (total NFT collection: 20,000.) Also created by Larva Labs, Meebits were a quick hit in the NFT world. Within 8 hours of launching, 9K Meebits were sold for a total of 22,500 ETH (approximately $75M at the time).
3. Bored Ape Yacht Club
5-year search growth: 3600%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year Released: 2021
Floor Price: 123 ETH ($380,000)
What they are: BAYC went above and beyond simply releasing a collection of 10,000 unique apes generated from a combination of 170 unique characteristics. Buying or minting a Bored Ape means getting exclusive access to the BAYC club, with plans for real life meet-ups among other benefits like a “member’s only graffiti board”.
With a current floor price of 67 ETH on OpenSea, Bored Apes are one of the biggest success stories in the NFT world so far.
4. Axies
5-year search growth: 1300%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year Released: 2018
Floor Price: N/A
What they are: What could make NFT’s more interesting than static images? A video game that revolves around them. Enter: Axie Infifinity. Users buy Pokemon-like NFT’s called Axies that can be traded, bred, and swapped with other Axies. Sky Mavis, the company behind Axie Infinity, has received a $152M funding round led by notable investors like Andreeson Horowitz and Mark Cuban.
Estimates say the average Axie player spends about $400 to play the game. Now the world’s largest NFT gaming environment, Axie Infinity once achieved $33M in daily transactions.
5. NBA Top Shot
5-year search growth: 700%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year Released: 2020
Floor Price: $8 (per pack of cards)
What they are: Instead of trading physical sports cards, the NBA sensed an opportunity to capitalize on NFT mania and release a product in partnership with Dapper Labs, creator of the CryptoKitties NFT game.
Top Shot has been wildly successful, bringing in more than $230M in revenue and igniting rabid trading of Lebron James highlights and Zion Williamson dunks. However, like the NFT market as a whole, interest in NBA Top Shots largely fell off the map in late 2021. And hasn't fully recovered since.
6. Hashmasks
5-year search growth: 400%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year Released: 2021
Floor Price: .55 ETH ($1,700)
What they are: Hashmasks is a living, breathing digital art collection where holders of the artwork get to make collaborative decisions about the name of their piece, and other layers of scarcity that are determined by the user. An ingenious “Name Change Token” or NCT system, allows users to change their piece’s name on-chain, creating another level of scarcity directly on the blockchain.
7. Decentraland
5-year search growth: 1800%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year Released: 2020
Floor Price: N/A
What they are: Digital real estate might seem like an absurd concept to many, but games like Second Life, World of Warcraft, and other online MMORPG games have proven out the model of creating an entirely new virtual world. Decentraland is a virtual world that is owned entirely by its users.
Instead of a company like Blizzard owning and running World of Warcraft servers, Decentraland’s DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) makes important decisions regarding assets, land rights, and more. Parcels of digital land are going for around $10,000 USD at the time of writing.
8. Autoglyphs
5-year search growth: 3300%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year Released: 2019
Floor Price: 170 ETH ($525,000)
What they are: Autoglyphs are a first of their kind generative NFT built on Ethereum. Defined as “on-chain generative art”, they’re created by code that runs on Ethereum’s blockchain, generating and creating the patterned art by itself. The code is not controlled by any one person and shut off automatically after 512 Autoglyphs were minted.
Autoglyphs have turned into one of the “grails” of the NFT world (crypto speak for a highly sought after, rare piece). The floor price is a stunning 299 ETH (or $1.3M). Owning an Autoglyph is akin to owning a Picasso or a famous tangible work of art.
9. Chromie Squiggle
5-year search growth: 0%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year Released: 2020
Floor Price: 6.7 ETH ($20,625)
What they are: Chromie Squiggles were released by Art Blocks, an exclusive curated platform for generative art similar to Autoglyphs. Chromie Squiggles is one of the most recognizable NFT collections, with simple, colorful designs that make them fun and easy to collect.
10. Pudgy Penguins
5-year search growth: 2600%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year Released: 2021
Floor Price: 2.7 ETH ($8,300)
What they are: Pudgy Penguins are another community-based NFT similar to Bored Apes. Holders of Pudgy Penguin NFTs receive goodies like airdrops, collectibles, and the potential for real-world events with other holders. The different attributes and rarity levels of the Pudgy Penguin collection made them a quick hit in the NFT community.
11. VeeFriends
5-year search growth: 8100%
Search growth status: Regular
Year Released: 2021
Floor Price: 9.9 ETH ($30,500)
What they are: Legendary entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk was an early adopter to the crypto and NFT space, and VeeFriends is his brainchild and creation. Instead of simply designing another funky critter, VeeFriends doodle NFTs are actually loaded with utility. By buying a VeeFriend, you can receive a FaceTime call from Gary, backstage passes to his conference, an intimate lunch or dinner, along with other experiences.
12. Adam Bomb Squad
5-year search growth: 1900%
Search growth status: Regular
Year Released: 2021
Floor Price: .4 ETH ($1,230)
What they are: Streetwear companies have seen the potential in NFTs, especially since scarcity, creativity, and community are core ethos of brands like Supreme. The Hundreds, the famous Los Angeles streetwear brand, are launching their own NFT project called The Adam Bomb Squad. Holders of Adam Bomb NFTs will get exclusive merchandise and early warnings of impending merch drops, along with the opportunity to create 1/1 merchandise.
13. Loot
5-year search growth: 400%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year Released: 2021
Floor Price: 1.33 ETH ($4,100)
What they are: Loot is one of the most unique NFT projects released to date. The common person might be boggled at why Loot is valued so highly when all it seems to be is a word doc with random RPG-style gear written down. Instead of having a specific use case for the NFTs, founder Dom Hoffman (co-founder of Vine) let the community decide how to value the items.
14. Ethereum Name Service
5-year search growth: 10%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year Released: 2017
Floor Price: .0045 ($14)
What they are: Instead of the DNS (Domain Name System) we’re used to on the traditional internet, ENS is an NFT version of the same system. ENS allows users to claim an address through a smart contract. A major difference is that someone who wins an auction for an ENS address does not own the address, but essentially “rents” it for a minimum period of a year.
The coolest part is that the entire auction process is mediated by the Ethereum blockchain, with no middlemen in between.
15. Claylings
5-year search growth: 1300%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year Released: 2021
Floor Price: .110 ETH ($340)
What they are: Clay Animation took hold when fan-favorite flicks like Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run captured imaginations with their funky animation style that appealed to kids and adults alike. Claylings are an NFT project with clay aesthetics, very different from many of the pixelated NFT art projects that are now very famous.
The Claylings NFT collection totals 4,040 pieces and a short film is even in the works.
Conclusion
NFTs and their potential use cases are just getting started. Practical uses like tokenizing real estate, ownership of physical assets, tickets for concerts and sporting events, and so much more are being seen as real possibilities in the near future.
Facebook’s recent move to becoming a “metaverse” company is seen by many as an extremely bullish indicator for the future of NFTs.
Keep track of our regularly updated list of trending NFTs to see how their communities develop, new applications emerge, and how NFTs continue to grow in importance in everyday life.
