Recently, a digital virtual asset with an NFT (non-replaceable token) inserted as a kind of art is being traded for a huge amount and is attracting attention. More and more investors are interested in asking, “What is the high price of the NFT?”, and accordingly, the related market is growing at a rapid pace.
There is strong expectation that the NFT market, which has already grown to a scale of $1 billion, will grow even further. On the other hand, criticism has also been raised that it is dangerous because it has no substance and is too speculative.
$400 million last year… ‘Suuok’ with 1 billion dollars this year
According to Nonfungible.com, an NFT analysis site on the 26th, the size of the NFT market last year reached a total of 33.8 million dollars. The NFT market is growing steeply every year, from $4.96 million in 2018 to $141.5 million in 2019 and about $400 million last year.
In particular, this year, the size of the market has rapidly increased as huge amounts of money have been poured into NFT auctions in the US and Europe.
On the 11th (local time), a 300 megabyte image file was sold for a whopping 69.3 million dollars (about 78.2 billion won) at the NFT auction. The works sold are’Everydays-The First 5000 Days’, which is a collection of works serialized by digital artist Biffle (real name Michael Winkelman) since 2007.
‘Mars House’, a digital house created by Canadian contemporary artist Christa Kim, sold for 500,000 dollars (about 564 million won). A high price was placed on a digital house provided as a 3D (three-dimensional) file that no one could buy.
Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO’s wife and singer Grimes, earned $5.8 million (about 6.5 billion won) in 20 minutes by auctioning a digital painting with NFT applied earlier this month.
It’s not just a work of art. A line of Twitter posts posted 15 years ago by Twitter co-founder Jack Doh was sold for $29,158,835 (about 3,290 million won) through an auction on the 22nd (local time).
Even American film director Alex Ramirez Marliss, a voice file created by collecting farts from himself and four friends for a year, was sold for $434 (about 490,000 won).
According to the statistics of Dapp Radar, a cryptocurrency specialist, only NFT transactions denominated in U.S. dollars between January and February this year amounted to about 413 million dollars. In the blockchain industry, it is estimated that this year’s NFT market has already expanded to $1 billion if transactions from other countries such as Europe are combined.
The enterprise value of Alchemy, a startup that provided the basis for the NFT payment system, also recently rose 54 times from its launch in 2017 to $25 billion.
Secure’only one in the world’ scarcity with NFT… Even the voice of the alert,
The reason for the high popularity of NFT is the scarcity of’there is only one in the world’. These assets are created by applying NFT to various types of digital files such as 3D, images, tweets, and voice. By using blockchain technology, information such as transaction history and ownership is stored and a separate recognition value is given to the asset.
Dae-hoon Han, a researcher at SK Securities, explained, “NFT can prevent duplication, forgery or alteration by assigning serial numbers to assets with blockchain technology.”
An official in the blockchain industry said, “It’s like a kind of’digital certificate’,” and emphasized that “as if a painter signed his work, only one scarcity and uniqueness are secured.” He added, “Thanks to it, it is treated as a kind of art in the market and is being traded for a huge amount.”
In particular, as rumors spread that NFTs are trading at high prices, and even investors who are aiming for a profit are intervening, the market size is growing rapidly as days go by.
Therefore, expectations for future growth are also high. “The NFT is the next frontier for digital assets,” said Billionaire Investor Chamas Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital.
“The NFT market will be the NBA’s top three revenue streams over the next 10 years,” said Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, a US professional basketball (NBA) club. Last month, a user using the nickname’Jes’ bought a dunk shot of NBA player LeBron James for $208,000 (about 200 million won).
On the other hand, concerns are raised that there is no substance and the speculative nature is too high. “The culture of buying things that doesn’t really exist doesn’t make sense,” said Charles Alsop, former auctioneer of Christie’s world-renowned auctioneer.
Blockchain expert David Gerrard also pointed out that “NFT sellers are scammers,” and “we are inventing assets that can be sold for money even though they are of no value.”
Billy Renekamp, chief developer of Blockchain software company Cosmos, was concerned that “the value of NFTs could plummet like virtual currency at the time,” referring to the cryptocurrency disclosure (ICO) craze in 2017.
“The NFT’s long-term outlook is skeptical,” said Kim Forrest, founder of Boke Capital.
UPI News / Reporter Jaesung Ahn [email protected]
[저작권자ⓒ UPI뉴스. 무단전재-재배포 금지]