NFT sales grossed $ 25 billion in 2021

The year 2021 will remain in the annals of the crypto-sphere like that of the advent of the NFTs, these certificates of authenticity which make it possible to appropriate a digital object. Almost unknown to the general public a few months ago, the sector has aroused the enthusiasm of avid digital art collectors, artists keen to regain control over their works or even speculators in search of strong returns on investment. In this context, the sales volume of NFT reached 24.9 billion dollars in 2021, against barely 94.9 million dollars a year earlier, according to figures released by DappRadar, which collects data on a dozen blockains different, with Reuters.

It was especially during the last two quarters of the year that sales soared. After two first quarters of only $ 2.5 billion in sales, sales rose to $ 10.7 billion in the third quarter, then to $ 11.6 billion in the last quarter of the past year. According to data from OpenSea, an online market dedicated to these non-fungible tokens (non-fungible tokens) to issue certificates of authenticity deemed inviolable thanks to the blockchain, sales peaked in August, before declining over the next three months, then rising again in December.

An NFT sells for an average of between $ 100 and $ 1,000

However, it should be noted that sales of NFT works of art organized by auction houses, such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s, are not taken into account. Last year, Christie’s notably saw a fully digital work by American crypto-artist Beeple auctioned off for $ 69.3 million. For its part, the NonFungible.com site, which focuses only on blockchain Ethereum, estimated NFT’s sales to be $ 15.7 billion in 2021.

Beyond the amounts, it is the number of portfolios that have exchanged NFTs during the last twelve months that is of concern. According to DappRadar, around 28.6 million wallets traded these crypto tokens last year, up from just 545,000 in 2020. If Beeple’s work was snapped at $ 69.3 million, a record in this market booming, an NFT sells for an average of between $ 100 and $ 1,000, according to NonFungible.com.

Sorare and Facebook want to take advantage of this nascent windfall

The NFT madness has allowed several players to take advantage of it to capture part of the $ 30 billion invested in cryptocurrencies in 2021 by venture capital funds around the world. Thus, Drapper Labs, the NFT platform at the origin of CryptoKitties (virtual cats to buy and resell) and NBA Top Shot (virtual cards of players or videos of a highlight of a basketball game), has first completed a round of funding of 305 million dollars in March with prestigious investors like Michael Jordan and Will Smith, before raising an additional 250 million in September with a valuation soaring beyond 7 billion dollars. In France, the start-up Sorare, which mixes fantasy football and blockchain, meanwhile signed the largest fundraiser in the history of French Tech in September with a Series B of $ 680 million.

After a year 2021 which saw NFT sales take off, they could be even more substantial in the coming years, in particular with the rise of the metaverse, which is intended to become a true digital backbone of the physical world. “The metaverses are a boon for the development of NFTs which are presented as items usable in open worlds. I see a lot of perspectives in gaming, provided that we accept to integrate the part of speculation inherent in this type of asset. Not everyone is in favor of it, but games like Sorare or Axie Infinity have shown that there is a market for it. “, estimated Grégory Raymond, journalist specializing in crypto-assets, in an interview conducted by Digital. But he cautions against Facebook’s appetite for the industry, because “A metaverse and the NFTs that make it up are valuable if they are part of a decentralized world”. Gold, “Facebook being the champion of centralization”, this is not going in the right direction.