Mainstream adoption here we come?
The digital collectibles world got a very welcome booster this week as three major platforms announced their entry into the NFT market. Social platforms Reddit and Twitter have both dropped NFT collections whilst major US-based news channel CNN has made moments from history available for purchase as NFTs on the Flow blockchain.
Leading social media network Twitter launched their non-fungible token giveaway ‘The 140 Collection’ on Wednesday. The NFT campaign put the spotlight firmly on the evolution of the social media network itself. The social media behemoth, which now has over 190 million users, announced on Wednesday that it was giving away 140 free NFTs to 140 of its followers. The tweet, which had already received thousands of likes at the time, contained several follow-up messages revealing the first NFT drops and their creators.
The first NFT drop was for “Reply Guy,” or “The man behind the mansplaining.” In a follow-up post, Twitter offered its “Vitamin T” NFT, which consists of a prescription medicine bottle filled with blue pills sporting the Twitter logo. Then an NFT called “First Born” featured Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey’s first-ever tweet from 2006, where he famously declared, “Just setting up my twittr.”
Looking at the top NFT sales according to DappRadar we see these NFTs are already being sold on the secondary market. A move that was expected as some people, perhaps with little interest in NFTs received the freebie.
In 5th and 10th place in the last 24 hours, we see that Reply Guy and Furry Twitter have been sold on for staggering amounts. Importantly 20 copies of each have been minted. Reply guy sold for 105 WETH or $107,480 and Furry Twitter for 25 WETH or $54,640. Using the DappRadar Portfolio tracker we can see that the buyer of Reply Guy has also got a copy of Furry Twitter and the most coveted Reddit NFT – Original Block. Quite a collection already!
NFTs on Reddit
At the time of writing the Reddit NFTs occupy first, second and third positions with a combined sale value of almost $900,000. Original Block commanded the highest amount selling for 175 WETH or almost $400,000 while Snooprematic went for 115 WETH or just over $260,000. Helium meanwhile went for 105 WETH or around $238,000.
The collection known as CryptoSnoo is built on the Ethereum blockchain and gives people the chance to own a piece of Reddit history. To claim a Reddit NFT users must first visit the NFT section of Reddit’s avatar builder, and click Get Ready for Auction to connect MetaMask to a Reddit account. CryptoSnoo auctions take place in OpenSea and once the auction starts, users simply place a bid. Auction winners can claim a CryptoSnoo to become the official owner and show it off on their Reddit profile as a glowing avatar.
Importantly, If you purchase a CryptoSnoo NFT it belongs to you, it’s your decision what to do with it. You can apply it to your Reddit account, you can hold onto it forever, or you can sell it. This isn’t the first attempt by Reddit to plant an entire foot into the cryptocurrency space. In mid-2020 the platform introduced crypto rewards for Reddit users in the shape of Brick and Moon rewards for members of the FortniteBR and CryptoCurrency groups respectively. You can see how that played out here.
CNN NFTs Launch on Flow
CNN announced the launch of Vault by CNN: Moments That Changed Us on the 16th of June then shadily dropped them on the 1st July. For 41 years, CNN has gone to extraordinary lengths to document and broadcast global news stories. Now, the news network opened its archives for the first time to offer collectors the opportunity to own a piece of history as an NFT.
The initial launch will include six weekly drops of Moments. Offerings will include key historical moments organized around specific themes including early CNN exclusives, world history, and Presidential elections. Users can expect future drops to include an even wider range of digital collectible topics and formats as Vault by CNN grows and adapts to its community of collectors. Interestingly, payments will be collected through Stripe, and no cryptocurrency is required to buy an NFT from CNN.
More interesting perhaps is that CNN chose to partner with the Flow blockchain to deliver these NFT collections. Flow is also home to leading NFT dapp NBA Top Shot. This marks another win for the Flow blockchain as it also recently announced that the leading Ethereum NFT marketplace Rarible will set up shop on their platform.
CNN’s NFT collection is one of many recent attempts by well-known companies, including luxury car manufacturer McLaren and toy company Mattel, to enter the crowded NFT market. The collection is also noteworthy for being one in a series of recent NFT experiments by television networks, like Fox Entertainment’s $100 million investment in an NFT project with Dan Harmon, creator of the “Rick and Morty” sitcom.
NFTs Go Big
NFTs have emerged as one of the biggest growth stories of 2021, with artists like Beeple raising millions of dollars for their digital collectibles. While NFT sales have slipped amid the latest cryptocurrency price dip the overall performance is seriously impressive. In 2020 the total amount of volume generated by the NFT collections tracked by DappRadar equaled a staggering $94,862,807. Even more impressive is that by the end of Q2 2021 that figure stands at almost 2.5 billion dollars. Time for NFTs to go mainstream? It certainly looks that way.
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The above does not constitute investment advice. The information given here is purely for informational purposes only. Please exercise due diligence and do your own research. The writer holds positions in ETH, BTC, ADA, NIOX, AGI, SDAO, SAFEMOON, PANTHER, JAGUAR, CAKE, LINK, GRT, CRO, SHIBA INU, AND OCEAN.
