The non-fungible tokens (NFTs) craze is here to stay. After rebounding after a slump in volume in September, the NFT market has continued to expand with several artists launching their own NFTs. Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk or Gary Vee as he’s known, has become the latest to make large gains by selling NFTs. Gary Vaynerchuk’s VeeFriends NFT collection was recently sold for over $1.2 million at Christie’s auction house.
Vaynerchuck expressed surprise at such massive sales likening it to an “out-of-body experience.” He felt that in as much as he considered himself a creative artist, the result was way more than expected.
The VeeFriends collection that sold at the Christie’s Auction house is made of 10,255 characters available for purchase on the Ethereum platform. Every token comes with metadata linked with a smart contract that allows Vaynerchuk to interact with the buyers. The token buyers will also gain access to an annual virtual business event called VeeCon for the next three years following the NFT purchase.
Vaynerchuck launched the series earlier in the year with the lowest token fetching $50,000. One of the highest-priced tokens was the “Emphatic Elephant” which sold for $412,500. He also sold “Diamond Hands” for $162,500.
The current state of the NFT market
Ever since the start of the year, the NFT market has been on an upward trajectory. The sale of a collection by Vaynerchuk for $1.2million while high joins a list of other expensive NFTs sold so far. For example, in March, Christie’s Auction house sold an NFT created by the artist Beeple for more than $69.3 million.
NFTs draw their value from making it possible to own various digital assets. For example, gamers get to own their avatar, clothes, and in some cases land. Sports franchises like the NFL and NBA have also joined the NFT movement to increase fan engagement. By tokenising some of the most memorable sports moments, fans can own that moment and .
Another thing that works best for the NFTs market is the approval from celebrities and other notable individuals. Personalities like boxing great Floyd Mayweather have their own NFTs collection. Even the social media giant, Tiktok has recently created an NFT collection to improve content creators incentives.
The future of the NFT market is quite positive. In the earlier days, it seemed reserved for the tech-savvy who could understand blockchain. However, with the launch of the NFT market on eBay and adoption by other mainstream platforms, NFTs are now more understood and more accessible.
As the NFT market continues to grow, more creators will end up joining Vaynerchuk as high-value NFT sellers. We will likely see even grander NFT prices in the future.