The rise of nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, has been nothing short of astounding this year. Google searches for NFT are up over 600% since mid-February, hitting initial coin offering mania levels, and the top NFT platforms are turning over millions of dollars each day.In a single 24-hour period earlier in March, sport collectibles platform NBA Top Shot saw sales of more than $7.89 million, art house OpenSea took in $4.88 million, and digital antique NFT project CryptoPunks netted $3.28 million.The mainstream media is showing more interest in NFTs than it has in crypto for years, with publications from the BBC to The New York Times running explainers and the odd hit piece. Prices certainly look frothy, with Beeples Everydays selling at Christies for almost $70 million, Jack Dorsey auctioning the first-ever tweet for $2.9 million, and an Alien Crypto Punk changing hands for $7.57 million. Established artists including Banksy and Damien Hirst have jumped onto the trend, along with musical acts Kings of Leon, 3Lau and Aphex Twin.(Alien Crypto Punk, Larva Labs)At various points, the crypto community thought that either fast, cheap payments; decentralized finance, or DeFi; or the attraction of hard money might bring in the masses it turns out the great unwashed are more interested in owning a JPG.Colin Goltra, who co-founded the NFT-based Narra Art Gallery in Decentraland, says this is a very good thing, as NFTs are bringing new demographics into crypto, outside of the usual finance and tech types.Suddenly weve got this fresh blood of people …
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