The new wave of NFTs in 2022 and how OGs will make it

2021 saw an amazing boom in NFTs. While the month of December has shown some flattening of the hype curve, it is far from over.

The summarize NFT 2021, we saw of course possibly the greatest gold rush the space will experience. In terms of projects, profile picture projects (PFPs) dominated the market. While many offered nothing more than being part of exclusive communities, they did well because of the hype.

The typical roadmap we’ve seen are charity donations, merchandise, and event invites. At the time, these offerings were more than most of the projects that offered next to nothing. As the space matures slightly however, we are seeing more serious players adopt the technology and therefore, high effort projects are entering the space.

Many projects are now opting to produce something even before the mint as a proof of concept compared to the wait and see model of past projects. This is good for the ecosystem as a whole as the potential for rugging (releasing a project and just running with the money) is diminished when high level talent and skills are required to produce.

So what should we expect in 2022? Movement beyond simple charity and event invites. DAOs (decentralized autonomous organisation) are now the in thing which quite honestly is at risk of fading rather quickly if there is no additional indication of what the DAO’s direction is.

NFT gaming will be coming in hot with much more thought out game play, better graphics, and an expansive in game metaverse where you will be able to do much more than just play games. Quite literally becoming another universe where you can participate.

New PFPs that don’t have any substantial differentiation from past projects are likely not going to get much traction. What about the PFPs that are currently labelled as “Blue Chip Projects”? Even some of the giants may end up falling. Unless the core team pivots with new plans or is able to generate community creative creation that will then elevate the brand name, it is unlikely the roadmaps of yesteryear will pull them through the next wave of competition barring those considered high value brand names (e.g. BAYC).

2022 will see amazing innovation, high effort art pieces, potential AR integration, and interoperable metaverse NFTs. The next wave will on board more people as NFTs begin to provide more value. PFPs must not stay comfortable and begin to venture into new territory like they did this year.