15 New and Exciting Trends in NFTs (2022)
The increasing adoptions of NFTs across different sectors has made the outstanding tech experience exponential growth.
The market size of NFTs in 2022 so far according to reports indicates a growth of about USD 3 billion.
This is projected to soar to USD 13.6 billion in the next two years due to increased adoption of NFTs.
So, here are 15 new trends and adoptions of NFTs in different industries you need to know to stay updated:
1. Destroying art, creating NFTs
In the world of NFTs, burning means destroying an NFT.
The burning of one NFT is usually used to create scarcity and raise the value of other NFTs.
Earlier this year, blockchain firm Injective Protocol took burning NFTs to a new level.
They bought a $95,000 Banksy artwork titled Morons, and literally burned it. They filmed the burning of the artwork and sold it as an NFT.
They then proceeded to sell it for nearly $400,000, double the price of the physical art piece.
In a similar way, Natasha Che, founder of the audiobook platform, MySoundWise, bought and destroyed a $5,000 worth diamond and sold its NFT for $17,600.
These take digital twin to a new level, in a sense. The physical item is destroyed, and all that’s left is the NFT.
These trends show that NFTs and digital art are not just for new, young artists, but are creeping into the traditional art world. And they may one day take over.
NFTs are quickly becoming a way to make huge money for individuals across the world, and stunts like destroying the original creation not only create hype around the NFT listing, but also bring it more media attention.
The fact that the original artwork will not be available physically is also a factor.
2. Well-Being NFTs (W-NFTs)
NFT has also disrupted the health sector creating the avenue to move digital health advancement to the next level.
Health companies are now leveraging NFTs to enhance the health of NFTs holders.
Most prominent of these companies is Health Hero, which created an NFT-powered wellness app that is actuating a new category of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) called Well-Being NFTs ("W-NFTs").
When you sign up for Health Hero for instance, you get a W-NFT that you link with tracking devices and apps like Apple Health, Google Fit and FitBit.
By exercising, meditating, and eating well, you can grow and develop your W-NFT, giving it unique new characteristics and making it increasingly rare.
These W-NFTs can be bought and sold, so the more you exercise, the rarer and more valuable your W-NFT becomes.
To incentivize users to trade their own health NFTs, Health Hero has developed creative ways to boost the overall experience.
For example, one of its plans offers users the chance to create NFTs and trading cards for virtually anyone in the world.
This means that users can create W-NFTs targeted towards specific celebrities and fitness influencers, who can then actually claim them. In turn, the NFTs become valuable and sought after.
Overall, W-NFTs provide you economic incentives as a holder while helping you to keep fit at the same time.
3. NFT Movies and TV Shows
Movie and TV show industry isn't left out of sectors that NFTs are revolutionizing.
It may sound as made-up, but a recent NFT animated series called Stoner Cats included voice acting from Mila Kunis, Chris Rock, Jane Fonda, Seth MacFarlane, and Vitalik Buterin - the creator of Ethereum.
This show is about a group of cats who become self-aware making them fascinating to watch.
However, you can’t watch the series unless you buy a Stoner Cat NFT.
The Stoner Cats are around $1,000 (0.3 ETH) and there are only 10,400 in existence.
There are almost 5,000 cat owners, and these are the only people who have access to the show.
You may be wondering why anyone would pay $1,000 to watch an animated series. But buyers get more than that.
By purchasing a Stoner Cat, you are helping to fund the future of the series.
And as a Cat owner, you get to vote on the plot structure of the show for future episodes.
You become a part of the Stoner Cat community giving you access to get involved on how things play out.
And you have an asset that could appreciate in value if the show and project grow in popularity.
Just as in the world of music streaming NFT, Stoner Cats is removing the middlemen, creating a new space in which there’s only the animators and their fans.
And this appears as just the beginning of NFTs entering the world of entertainment:
Fox Entertainment is putting $100 million behind several NFT projects including a new animated series on the blockchain.
Warner Bros released collectible NFTs along with the debut of the film, Dune.
Vuele recently released an Anthony Hopkins film as an NFT.
Steve Aoki has also secured funding for a new NFT show.
Disney is releasing digital collectible NFTs paired with subscriptions to Disney+
Jambb is letting comedians sell jokes and comedy specials as NFTs."
These and many more are new initiatives in the entertainment industry courtesy of NFTs enriching creators and fans.
4. NFT Loan/lending
NFTs suffer considerably from low liquidity and lack of cash flow generation.
Lending can however change this and create new doors in the NFT ecosystem.
Borrowing against NFTs work similarly to traditional collateralized borrowing.
Loan platforms such as NFTFi, Arcade, Drops, and Nexo provide a market in which lenders can choose to lend borrowers.
It's not all NFTs that can however be used as collateral. Lenders make sure they verify to know whether intended NFTs to be used as collaterals are blue chip NFT collections commonly accepted as collaterals.
Potentials of NFT loans lie in the fact that NFTs are illiquid investments meaning selling them might take considerable time.
Using NFTs as collaterals therefore allows borrowers to access liquidity without selling their assets.
Also, there's no third party, no credit score, neither is there any paperwork required in DeFi, making it much faster than traditional lending and borrowing from banks.
5.NFTs and Real Estate
So far, NFTs have become a huge hit in the Web3 community. Blockchain has powered its way through many sectors, swapping the old for the new, and the same is currently happening to the real estate industry.
One of the downsides of investing in real estate is the hassle of transferring property ownership. It currently takes a tremendous amount of paperwork to buy a property.
With an NFT, the transaction process is streamlined, allowing a buyer to assume ownership of a piece of real estate within minutes.
Companies like RealT are transforming real estate properties into NFTs.
With tokenization, a $600,000 property can now be split into thousands of smaller pieces on the blockchain.
For as little as $50, investors from around the globe can now invest in US real estate and collect monthly rent payments on their investment.
This splitting of traditional assets is called fractionalization – and can be enabled through NFTs.
This method of investing certainly opens up the possibility of the average person gaining exposure to the real estate market.
6. Personality NFTs
Connecting with like minds online is interestingly becoming hassle free with personality NFTs.
These are NFTs with distinct human personalities and values allowing people to instantly share their personality with others and find like-mind people online to connect with.
Imagine, you’re walking around in the Metaverse and being able to instantly know who to talk to, what you have in-common and the best way to move forward together.
By using the Personality NFT, you’ll be able to do this quicker and more effectively than you do it in real life.
The value of the NFT is in the information it contains.
The information will give you clarity on moving forward in the world.
It also gives organizations clarity on how to best structure their teams especially getting team members with same or similar personalities and values to carry out a task.
As a result, the more of people that use Personality NFTs the better. Presently, Personality NFTs are both affordable and available to anyone who wants one.
7. NFTs and Copyrights
There's an intriguing question about NFTs that some still consider debatable.
And the question is: Are NFTs protected by copyright?
NFTs are likely not protected by copyright, because they do not meet the basic criteria for copyright protection.
They basically represent data on a blockchain, which would not constitute an original work of authorship under intellectual property law.
However, the artwork that you mint may be protected by copyright. For this reason, it's advisable as a creator never to mint an artwork you didn’t create yourself (or in collaboration with other artists).
Findings reveal that in the United States and Canada, copyright protection only extends to the expression of ideas, and not ideas or concepts only.
This means NFT creators need to “fix” their idea on a medium for it to be protected.
Minting a non-original artwork or stealing art from someone else could be considered copyright infringement.
If you want to mint collaborative artwork as an artist, it's advisable to secure authorization from the other contributing artists.
In intellectual property law, there are a couple exceptions allowing creators to use other people’s art (such as: if the artwork is now in the public domain, or if it can be considered fair use).
However, it’s always better to get the written permission from the artist or, if that’s not possible, to consult a lawyer.
8. AR NFTs
AR stands for Augmented Reality. AR NFT is a mix of digital art and augmented reality technology uploaded on the NFT marketplace, where it gets its unique digital identifier.
This way, you can create and mint almost any type of augmented reality content.
AR NFT can be a simple 3D object or a complex AR experience with sound and dynamic visual effects that can be experienced anytime and anywhere via a mobile device (Mobile AR) or browser (Web AR).
Augmented reality NFTs are not just a publication of beautiful art on the marketplace.
They are solid promotional campaigns with storytelling, complex technology, and stunning visual implementation.
All these three are crucial for success since only this way does AR NFT move from hype to utility.
A good example of AR NFTs is the NFT project Charity Kiss which helps people with rare diseases.
Leading multimedia artists have reimagined The Gustav Klimt's Kiss to create AR animations and artworks that support people living with such illnesses and their families.
Brands and influencers also use AR NFTs to showcase their products interactively, create engaging advertising campaigns and reach younger consumers on social platforms.
The NFT concept creates value around the idea of ownership and belonging, while augmented reality allows for the engaging experiences to be experienced by anyone with a smartphone.
For the years to come, augmented reality NFTs are promised to go mainstream.
9. NFTs and Finance
In the third quarter of 2021, the sales volume of NFTs was an estimated $10.7 billion.
This size of money cannot be spent without capturing the attention of the financial world.
The NFT market is valued at billions of dollars, but NFTs are speculative and non-fungible assets. Like real estate, you can’t make money off NFTs just by buying and holding onto them.
They need to be sold and move around the market for the NFT economy to function and for investors to profit.
New services are allowing this by using NFTs as collateral for loans.
Like fractionalization, this allows NFT investors to gain back liquidity from their investments without sacrificing ownership.
For instance, you have a million-dollar NFT in your digital wallet, but no money in your bank.
You see an investment opportunity that you believe will result in reliable returns, but you’re not willing to part with your precious NFT.
Services like Drops and many others let you take loans by putting your NFTs up as collateral.
Think of it like a mortgage, you leverage the asset you own to create liquidity.
10. NFTs and Fundraising
NFTs create fundraising opportunities for charity organizations.
As the world is slowly understanding the benefits behind tokenization, charity organizations are also starting to explore the potential of NFTs.
NFTs can help set up charity initiatives in a decentralized, online platform with less overhead compared to classical auctions.
Applying smart contracts to NFTs creates even more charitable venues, as these algorithms can program NFTs to automatically transfer funds to a good cause with every transaction.
NFTs and smart contracts algorithms are secured by blockchain technology, which offers a transparent, publicly traceable database that guarantees the funds are reaching the predetermined charity organizations.
In addition, charity payments made with cryptocurrency offer lower transaction fees and near-instant settlements.
Applying NFTs to charitable initiatives could introduce new revenue streams to organizations.
For instance, an awareness video can be tokenized and programmed to automatically send royalty payments every time the video is played or shared.
And these are just some of the ways NFTs can be used to maximize fundraising.
11. Brand NFTs
Brand NFTs are gaining steam in web3 space because of their various marketing potentials.
Heavyweight brands have started leveraging NFTs to spotlight their products and remain relevant in the mainstream.
Many brands have minted exclusive NFTs to represent their products digitally in order to maintain their recognition and create awareness.
Brand NFTs also help companies to trademark their identities on the blockchain thereby protecting them should others try to reproduce or copy their branding.
Companies now use brand NFTs to create authentication system for their customers.
For example, luxury brands can issue individual serial numbers for their products and subsequently use NFTs to provide further authentication services.
Investing in brand NFTs allow companies and organizations to expand into new revenue channels that were unavailable until now.
A record label for an instance, may trademark their artists' branding and NFT images in order to release exclusive digital content to their fan base or followers.
Asics Sneaker, Gucci, and Coca-Cola are top companies using brand NFTs to not only stay relevant in the mainstream, but expand their revenues.
12. Music NFTs
Music makers have always had a hard time retaining control over their work and monetizing it.
However, the disruption of music industry by blockchain technology is putting a stop to this through music NFTs.
Music NFTs are changing the fortune of artists, and musicians by helping them to have total control and ownership of their creations to get full monetary rewards.
The principle behind music NFTs is the same when it comes to sales or production. The musician or band decides what content they want to offer their fans.
This could be merchandise, concert tickets, audio files, etc. Then, they choose the blockchain on which to mint their NFT. They choose which NFT platform to use.
Once they have identified their preferred platform, they notify their fans about their NFT drops and then put them up for auction at whichever price they choose.
Music NFTs just like all other NFTs cannot be duplicated.
Music producers may decide to have a one-off audio file sale.
Here, the highest bidder is the owner of the audio file but not of the copyright.
They might also decide to make a small number of NFTs from the same audio file and then sell them on a music marketplace.
Essentially, this is a new form of music distribution where the record label middlemen are eliminated.
This is one of many ways in which music NFTs are empowering musicians.
13. SocialFi and NFTs
NFTs and social media have a good relationship and are a powerful combination.
Social media platforms help NFTs reach more people and NFTs in turn help social media by keeping people’s attention on the site longer.
Both are key players in the digital marketplace, and together they can revolutionize the way we buy, sell, and enjoy art.
As more and more artists gain recognition through social media platforms, it’ll become increasingly difficult for them to get paid fairly for their work unless there’s a way to protect it from being used without their knowledge or consent.
This is where NFTs and the blockchain could be the answer in form of SocialFi.
SocialFi refers to the combination of social networking and blockchain finance.
The SocialFi space lets users earn income from contents by converting their contents into NFTs.
Unlike the Web 2.0 social networks that we’re familiar with, SocialFi projects provide higher levels of privacy and security for users' personal data, fairly distribute advertising revenues and offer a more valuable user experience.
As the SocialFi space gains more momentum, more and more social media giants are expanding the exploration of NFT integration into their platforms.
14. NFTs and PDFs
Tokenization of financial data and information is another revolutionary solution enabled with NFTs.
Financial data has long been difficult to transmit across international borders due to confidentiality, compliance, and privacy reasons.
From approvals, to processing times, and to system integration, extensive human intervention is required in order to move a PDF file from one institution to another, often taking weeks or months to process.
Leveraging the concept of tokenization, any type of data including documents, images, and 3D models, can get a cryptographically unique identity that separates it from any other batch of data even if identical.
Those tokens are then transferrable on the blockchain securely and quickly (within seconds) using a smart contract.
For instance, a smart contract designed to transfer a financial document from a US institution to a Canadian institution would include details like sender and receiver addresses, time and date of the transaction, the nature of contents in the token, etc.
By eliminating most human intermediaries from this process flow, users preserve higher integrity deliverables, mitigate counterparty risk, and reduce processing times significantly.
The benefits tokenization could present for global banking and payment processing are immense.
15. NFTs and Scalability
Scalability has been identified as the most significant barrier to establishing public blockchains in many real-world commercial situations.
The scalability issue with blockchain comes mostly when the number of nodes and transactions increases.
This problem exists in major public blockchain systems especially on Bitcoin and Ethereum since each node must store and execute a computational activity to validate each transaction.
As a result, blockchains constantly need large processing power, high-speed internet connectivity, and vast storage space.
While developers are coming up with both on-chain and off-chain solutions for scalability, NFT creators and collectors seem to still be on the lookout on how to address scalability in NFT web services optimally.
