After a short slump in September, the NFT hype train is accelerating again. OpenSea, the leading NFT marketplace, registered its three highest days of trading volume since early September.
Cool Catz and CrypToadz driving growth
NFTs have been the story of the year in crypto. Some of the most expensive NFTs have sold for eight-figure valuations and even sports and entertainment stars have started changing their Twitter profile pictures to apes, punks, and cats. Although the wider crypto market experienced a correction in early September that slowed the NFT craze somewhat, the hype seems to be far from over.
What other conclusions could you draw from OpenSea logging its three highest days of trading volume since early September? Growth mainly seemed to come from two projects: Cool Catz and CrypToadz. Both hit major milestones, with each project registering its first sale worth $1 million worth of Ethereum. Cool Cats are a collection of 10,000 unique cats in comic book style, with each cat having its set of accessories like hats, clothes, jewelry, and even different skin color. CrypToadz are pixelated frogs in different shapes and forms and are reminiscent of Crypto Punks’ style, the most popular and valuable NFT project.
What are NFTs good for?
While outsiders might just shake their heads at the absurdity of paying millions for a profile picture, NFT bulls beg to differ. They see NFTs, unique digital tokens that prove ownership, as the next big evolution of crypto with a real-world use case. The growth of art-based projects like Crypto Punks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and Degenerate Ape Academy is partially driven by the assumption that these projects will be seen as collectibles once NFTs have become mass-adopted.
Besides social media clout and cute pictures, NFTs can also function as entry tickets to events and gated communities. NFT advocates hope the technology will eventually be adopted for trading real-world assets like physical art, real estate, and other illiquid assets that could benefit from a smoother trading process. In that case, the physical item would be represented by an NFT on the blockchain, which would replace registries as proof of ownership.
What’s next for Crypto Cats and CrypToadz?
While all that sounds promising, it won’t happen in the immediate future. However, that’s likely not going to stop the surge of projects like Cats and Toadz. Cool Cats only launched in July and already collected over $140 million in trading volume, with the top cat having sold for 320 ETH, up from an initial minting price of 0.04 ETH. The seller plans to use the profits to open an animal shelter.
CrypToadz have been even more impressive in their growth, having racked up over $100 million in trading volume since their launch in September. Even rapper Snoop Dogg is in on the project via his Cozomo de Medici alias, although he did not buy the top-selling 300 ETH toad.
With Bitcoin gearing up for new highs, we can likely expect more records from top-class NFT projects like Cool Cats and CrypToadz soon.