BitColors and DegenData Show Us How NFTs Will Evolve in 2022

How will NFTs evolve in 2022? It’s a question I ask myself almost daily. We seem to largely be out of the weeds when it comes to 10k PFP projects, although there’s always a chance that some adjective-noun pairing will generate the hype again (maybe Tyrannical Tigers is next).

When I think about NFTs evolving, I think what we’re missing is some basic businesses that provide an overarching NFT utility, as well as increased media coverage.

Basic, Overarching NFT Utility

Most NFT projects have their own established utility features, whether that’s access to a super-secret online chat room or access to upcoming drops or merchandise. But we haven’t quite reached a point where services exist to provide a more unified utility.

For example, take the MetaSports Basketball game. One of their features is that you can import your PFP NFTs into the game, which generates a player with certain skills based on the PFP’s attributes. They essentially created a fantasy basketball game on top of the NFT market, giving a greater utility to ALL NFTs.

Undoubtedly, there are a lot of junk NFTs that exist in people’s wallets. I know I have a couple that are pretty much worthless… and will be worthless into the future. However, a game like MetaSports gives a reason for me to use those NFTs.

In 2022, we need to see more services that help us to integrate our NFTs into games, websites, entertainment, and other Internet-based activities. We need more overarching utility for the millions of NFTs that don’t provide much of a use case (and zero chance of appreciation).

NFT Media Outlets

Six years into the existence of NFTs and about one year of pop culture attention, we’re still without dedicated NFT media outlets.

While I’ve found some great coverage over the year from crypto media like Coindesk and Decrypt, most NFT coverage is one-off. There aren’t any popular, trusted outlets that cover the NFT industry daily, as a sort of “everything you need to know happening in NFTs”.

BitColors, who I admire for taking a really unique approach to their NFT collection, has actually just purchased a crypto media outlet called BTC Peers. Perhaps we’ll see them transition the publication to a more NFT-focused outlet?

Packaging NFTs with Businesses

One of the final trends I think we’ll see throughout 2022 is people packaging entire businesses or fragments of business with an NFT sale. Especially when it comes to higher-priced NFTs that are much more illiquid.

For example, the owner of CryptoPunk #5761 is packaging the sale of that Punk with an NFT data analytics business called DegenData. The 420 ETH price tag not only gives you Punk, but also a trove of over a dozen scripts that run analytics on top NFT projects, as well as the front-facing DegenData.io site.

We’ve seen IP sold via NFTs many times over. But business IP is an area that is largely untapped. As we transition more into Web3, purchasing business IP as an NFT will become more natural.