Hottest NFT Projects in 2021

Published in

The Capital

4 min readDec 22, 2021

NFT cryptocurrency ventures are all the rage now, but for those who aren’t familiar with digital assets, the market can be a little perplexing (and overly technical). In this article, we’ll look at some of the most promising NFT crypto projects for 2021, as well as describe how non-fungible tokens function.

NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, have grown in popularity to the point that they could not be ignored as a fad. NFTs have become a major entrance point into widespread blockchain use, thanks to purchases like Stephen Curry’s $206,000 Bored Ape, Visa’s $150,000 CryptoPunk, and an auction of 101 NFTs for a stunning $24 million.

An NFT is a digital token that can represent real-world assets such as music, real estate, art, and even virtual ones like in-game items like currency. No two NFTs are the same, unlike other digital commodities like Bitcoin and Ethereum. “NFTs are bringing art possession to the public,” says FanVestor founder and CEO Michael Golomb. “Historically, art ownership was restricted for the privileged.”

NFTs’ rising popularity has led to an explosion in the number of collections available. For rookie traders, navigating the cosmos can be a difficult task. To put things in perspective, CoinMarketCap now lists 500 different NFT token projects.

The Hottest NFT Projects right now

Crypto NFT projects are multiplying like mushrooms right now, and many well-known companies have begun experimenting in this area. According to sales numbers, these are the top NFT crypto projects you should be following.

Axie Infinity

The greatest NFT project ever is Axie Infinity. It sold $2.4bn (£1.75bn) worth of goods as of October 13, 2021.

Axie Infinity offers ‘Axies’: creatures that can be fought and used to gain cryptocurrency in an immersive game instead of other non-fungible tokens that can only be admired.

The format is comparable to the popular Pokémon game and is available on PCs, Android, and iPhone devices.

‘Play-to-earn’ games have grown in popularity recently. Implementing NFTs in these games allows for skill-based incentives and ensures that in-game assets belong to the players. Additionally, they can be traded across games and resold on secondary markets for a profit.

The model utilized by companies like Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo is radically different. Still, these titans of the entertainment industry have one significant advantage: their games are supposed to be more usable, have needless technical knowledge, and don’t have hefty transaction costs attached to them.

CryptoPunks

CryptoPunks is one of the first non-fungible token ventures, trading before non-fungible tokens became hip. CryptoPunks were created by Larva Labs in June 2017 and comprised exactly 10,000 characters styled in a throwback aesthetic. Some CryptoPunks have rosy cheeks & pigtails, while others have piercings & beanie hats. Only one CryptoPunk has all seven qualities.

Earlier NFTs have a lower mint number. In April 2021, Christie’s stated that it would sell off 9 CryptoPunks in such a single lot. When they went up for auction in May, the collection was expected to fetch between $7m and $9m, but a frenetic market drove the price up to $16.9m.

NonFungible.com data demonstrates that transaction volumes of NFT cryptocurrency can be volatile. Seven-day sales topped $190 million on August 6 and $357 million on August 29. But by October, sales of NFT cryptocurrency had fallen to $18.9m.

Dapper Labs

Dapper Labs is the next project on our list of NFT crypto projects. This is the business behind several desired non-fungible token brands. CryptoKitties was perhaps the first successful crypto initiative, allowing users to breed and acquire digital cats. Some sold for millions of dollars, and the platform was blamed for clogging the Ethereum blockchain.

Now one of the finest NFT crypto projects around, Dapper’s NBA Top Shot shows the full potential of non-fungible tokens in modernizing card gaming. These legally sanctioned NFTs allow players to collect iconic ‘moments’ from their favorite players — giving themselves a part of the sport’s history.

Dapper Labs raised another $250m in mid-September, valuing the firm at $7.6bn. Among the investors were Will Smith, Ashton Kutcher, and several NBA players. Gleichzeitig, LaLiga, Spain’s top-flight football league, announced plans to tokenize notable moments from matches via the platform.

Bored Ape Yacht Club

Many new projects have sprung up in the wake of the CryptoPunks movement. (Bored Ape Yacht Club) BAYC is one of the options available to you. Only 10,000 gormless-looking apes are in place of punk rockers in the format. The lowest price for these NFTs will be $128,990 on October 13, 2021. Christie’s auctioned off a group of 101 non-fungible tokens from such a set for a whopping $24.4 million last month in September.

A bored ape as a Twitter profile image has rapidly become a status symbol for those who own one of these avatars. As a result, Facebook has announced that it will begin validating ownership shortly.