The trading platform Ebay is buying the crypto exchange KnownOrigin. After looking around the crypto market last year and already enabling crypto trading, Ebay is now buying a trading platform that, although rather small in terms of trading volume at around US$7.8 million compared to OpenSea at US$30.43 billion, it hopes to gain much better access to the crypto and NFT market and thus compete with OpenSea in the long term. Nevertheless, the company hopes to gain much better access to the crypto and NFT market and thus compete with OpenSea in the long run. An interesting move by the group, which now seems to want to focus even more on crypto.
Spx Aras back in Brazil – NFT project
The Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots e.V. (ACTP) is poaching Spix’s Macaws in Brazil. The special thing: The fundraising project Unextinct started on the day the parrots were released. Funds are collected for the project via NFT. The animal photographer Tim Flach created high-concept animal photos of the birds, which can be purchased securitised as NFT. Spix’s Macaws, considered the national animal of Brazil, have long been extinct in the wild. With the help of donations and now also through the fundraising project, money is being raised to enable the reintroduction of the species into Brazil’s forests. This will pay for reintroduction stations, keepers, forest plots and much more. Since 11 June 2022, there are now eight parrots in the wild again. The NFT’s income thus benefits species conservation.
Footballer wedding in metaverse
Hertha BSC footballer Kevin-Prince Boateng is getting married in the Metaverse. After the first virtual wedding last year, Boateng and his fiancée are now getting married in the metaverse. A fictitious space venue was created for this purpose. Tickets for the wedding can be bought via NFT, but access is limited. While the actual location of the wedding is not yet public, supporters will be able to watch the wedding live. In this way, the virtual and real worlds are slowly merging.
Spotify and NFT
After Instagram, Spotify also wants to integrate NFT on its platform in the future. Artists will be allowed to integrate NFT offers on the platform and advertise them. In this way, listeners of certain artists could buy NFT. Users would then be redirected to third-party platforms and could buy NFT there.
Beer via NFT
MetaBrewSociety, a Munich-based company, wants to open a hybrid brewery using NFT. The company’s goal is to buy a brewery with the help of the purchased NFT, which will then be transferred one-to-one to the metaverse. According to the company, arrangements for this are already complete. The special feature: Owners of an NFT can have a voice in certain business decisions and receive at a minimum one hundred bottles of real beer per year, which they can either drink themselves or sell to others via the NFT. They will also receive other benefits such as VIP tours of the brewery, discounts and tickets to other events. The MetaBrewSociety NFT thus enables participation in the reinvention of beer, the company says on its website.
NFT art establishes itself in the art scene
Speculation with NFT and pure profit maximisation seem to have long ceased to be a motivation to buy NFT. But what is it then? The Art + Tech Report 2022 provides information:
In the NFT sector, some prejudices still hold their ground. For example, about 40 per cent of newcomers to this field think it’s all about maximising profits. The opposite is the case. About sixty per cent of NFT collectors say they are not interested in making a profit on resale. Also, unlike in other areas of art, the name recognition of the artist is much less important. Rather, the concept and presentation of the art are in the foreground. For 88 per cent of those surveyed, the concept is the most important argument when buying. A curated exhibition can encourage 57 percent to buy, which may be due to the fact that 85 percent of the respondents are already NFT collectors or owners in the art field. Another important point is security. Although the fear of being hacked is not decisive, a trustworthy platform is still important for many (31 percent).
Another, not insignificant reason for purchase for almost 60 per cent of those surveyed is belonging to a community, and as many as 90 per cent cite gaining knowledge as their motivation. This perhaps also leads to the sums involved, with 62 percent stating that they would not spend more than $1,000 on the artworks, but the art market remains attractive and seems to be developing, with almost three quarters of buyers stating that they would want to buy the same amount of NFT art again in 2022.
Conclusion: The NFT art sector seems to be just emerging. Although most collectors and potential buyers only spend just under 1000 dollars on the artworks, awareness and speculation hardly seem to be of interest to buyers. Rather, the concept and the exhibition are convincing. A great opportunity for not too well-known NFT artists.
The report ignored so-called collectibles such as the Bored Apes.
