Top NFT trends that will dominate the market in 2022

With the volume of non-fungible token (NFT) sales climbing year on year, the hype around this innovation is not going to stop. Representing unique intangible items (images, memes, GIFs, 3D models, songs, videos, etc.), NFTs provide digital content authors with excellent opportunities to make profit while protecting intellectual property. As a result, the number of NFT creators and their customers is increasing at a rapid pace.

Many world-famous brands are striving to gain an advantage by designing their own NFTs. For instance, in December 2022, Adidas introduced a collection of 30,000 NFTs. Well-known companies, such as Nike, Ubisoft, Axie Infinity, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Clinique, and Gucci have already released their own NFTs.

Since the popularity of NFTs is growing, investment in respective startups and initiatives is also surging. Here at Arateg, we received a lot of requests for building NFT marketplaces last year and continue to receive them now. To help you generate revenue with non-fungible token platforms, our software experts have described the top NFT trends that will drive the market in 2022 and years to come.

If you want to launch an NFT marketplace or invest in this niche, read the article to find out the latest NFT trends and get ideas for earning income.

The recent NFT market statistics

At the end of 2021, the NFT token market accounted for $41 billion, according to Chainalysis, a blockchain data company. Statista informs that the market capitalization of NFT transactions experienced almost a tenfold increase between 2018 and 2020, climbing from $40.96 million to slightly over $338 million during the indicated period. In 2019, the market capitalization accounted for $141.56 million.

In December 2021, the volume of non-fungible token sales rose beyond the $4 billion mark, as reported by Yahoo Finance. As of February 2022, the number of daily NFT sales is 28,421.

It is worth noting that prior to a big boom in the second part of 2017, there were just 100 sales per week. Additionally, the number of active electronic wallets through which NFTs were sold or purchased reached over 1.976 million last year.

Examples of the leading online NFT marketplace platforms are OpenSea, Rarible, Axie Infinity, SuperRare, Foundation, NBA Top Shot Marketplace, and CryptoPunks.

Top NFT trends for 2022 and beyond

1. Tokenization in gaming

The tokenization of gaming is among the main NFT market trends for 2022. In the new digital environment powered by blockchain, gamers can buy assets like virtual land, characters, access to rare communities, clothes and weapons for avatars in the form of NFTs. This year, we expect to see an increasing number of gaming projects that will introduce NFTs to promote their services, attract the audience, and improve user engagement.

Concerning real-life stories, let’s have a look at Axie Infinity, a metaverse-style online video game released by Vietnamese company Sky Mavis. Axie Infinity enables players to collect, train, raise, and combat digital creatures named Axies that are tokenized as NFTs and are stored on the Ethereum blockchain. To start playing, customers have to purchase three Axie NFTs through the in-house marketplace app.

Axie Infinity allows NFT owners to earn in-game currency and turn it into real money by winning battles or selling Axies to other users. Since players can earn a profit when playing the game, the popularity of Axie Infinity significantly increased during an economic crisis triggered by COVID-19 pandemic.

CNBC reports that during coronavirus lockdowns in June 2021, the game became the main revenue source for some people in the Philippines. As of February 2022, Axie Infinity has 2.8 million active players while the volume of sales generated via the in-house NFT marketplace accounts for $3.6 billion. By now, Axie Infinity has raised a capital of $9 million over 4 rounds.

2. The evolution of music

The evolution of music influenced by non-fungible tokens is one of the top NFT trends for this and coming years. Delivering transformative experiences, music NFTs are poised to experience a surge in 2022. With the new technology, it is possible to release songs, soundbites, and lyrics as NFTs. Furthermore, NFT creators can combine music with digital art in various formats (GIF, PDF, JPG, etc.) to design unique pieces of artwork with music embedded.

NFT marketplaces address intellectual property issues. Currently, content makers often have to waive their rights to companies or audio streaming platforms. Additionally, it is generally challenging to track the sequential distribution of artworks.

Containing a record of ownership in their metadata, NFTs allow musicians to save their intellectual property rights. When a customer buys an NFT and then decides to resell it, the original creator can receive royalties from secondary and subsequent purchases. This way, NFTs can provide artists with more fair compensation.

Aiming to gain a competitive advantage, many celebrities are likely to join the trend and use NFT music platforms based on blockchain. In 2021, for example, Kings of Leon became the first band to introduce an album in the form of a non-fungible token.

To date, a few notable projects have been released and gained recognition. Established in 2018, Audius is the decentralized service for music streaming and sharing that contains social media features. Representing an analog to apps like SoundCloud and Spotify, Audius has its own cryptocurrency token, called AUDIO.

The system is run by the community of artists, fans, and software engineers. In September 2021, Audius had 6 million monthly active users, up from 2.9 million unique users in January of that year. By now, Audius has managed to attract $13.6 million over 3 rounds.

3. Web 3.0 will gather pace

Known as the next phase of the World Wide Web, Web 3.0 is based on blockchain technology. Used by enthusiasts to describe the third, improved version of the Internet, Web 3.0 includes concepts like tokenized economics and decentralization.

Web 3.0 comprises a range of components that involve NFTs, cryptocurrencies, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and in some cases, virtual and augmented reality. With everything on the Internet stored on the blockchain distributed ledger, people will have more control over their data and intellectual property.

While Web 2.0 is about reading and watching content, Web 3.0 implies having asset ownership, monetizing assets, and receiving rewards. Powered by blockchain, non-fungible tokens perfectly fit the new, decentralized future.

4. Metaverse

Metaverse, with non-fungible tokens as the heart of it, is among the top NFT trends for 2022 and years to come. NFTs, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain are anticipated to facilitate barriers for entering the metaverse, which is a universe of interconnected virtual worlds.

NFTs, in their turn, enable people to buy or create persistent items (characters, weapons, clothes, etc.) and use them in different worlds. For instance, an avatar in the form of an NFT can be employed by a player in different games.

5. Personality NFTs

With the pandemic lockdowns and self-isolation, people became increasingly engaged with the possibility to move their lives online for social connectivity and entertainment. Celebrities and other individuals can create their own tokenized personalities as avatars in the metaverse.

NFTs introduce wild new opportunities for artists and musicians to reach the audience and gain popularity while delivering game-changing user experiences. The musician Teflon Sega, for instance, exists only in the metaverse as a digital persona. In 2022, we expect to see a lot of celebrities and other people designing their own NFT personalities to perform anonymously in the virtual world.

6. The rise of decentralized autonomous organizations

Supported by digital content creators and enthusiasts, non-fungible tokens have high investment potential. As NFT startups and assets attract huge capitals, investment DAOs will become more prominent this year. In fact, a DAO is a community that invests as a single entity. Thanks to this, DAOs can accommodate and invest more resources in comparison with other firms and individual investors.

On top of that, DAOs enable people who do not have sufficient funds to invest in high-end NFTs, facilitating access to exclusive artworks. By promoting democratization, DAOs will draw greater attention to non-fungible tokens. In this regard, the rise of decentralized autonomous organizations is among the top NFT trends of 2022.