The entire cryptocurrency industry has been gaining a tonne of value lately — so much so that it’s hard to ignore it any longer. In addition to several coins and tokens gaining in value this year, many got their introduction to the concept of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
NFTs date back to around 2012, and although they weren’t very popular, the ideas were floating around the few developers in the crypto space at the time.
However, it wasn’t until this recent revolution in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry and the rise of decentralized finance (DeFi), that NFTs became so prominent. Today, while art is the most well-known use for NFTs, there are several different and unique use cases.
And of course, like many assets in crypto, if you had invested cash in these earlier this year, you could have made a boatload of money.
How much could you make investing in NFTs? Some popular NFT collections have been out for years. One of the most prominent NFT collections is CryptoPunks.
CryptoPunks was one of the first NFTs released on the Ethereum blockchain. And due to its popularity these days and the fact that many of the significant figures in the cryptocurrency industry own a CryptoPunk, they are now some of the most valuable NFTs you can own (the cheapest is worth more than US$350,000).
CryptoPunks also started a new trend, where investors buy digitally generated images with different degrees of rarity. So, of course, the NFTs with a higher number of rare features are more valuable than the more common pieces.
More recently, the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection was released in April 2021. These NFTs have been some of the biggest gainers this year. For example, you could have bought one of the least unique BAYC NFT’s for 0.08 Ether, which was around US$300 at the time.
By July of this year, the average price for a BAYC NFT was 1.75 Ether, which at the time was about US$2,200. And that was the average price. While that might seem like a lot, today, the minimum price is now over 50 Ether, or more than US$213,000. So even if you overpaid for a more common piece back in July, you likely still made a massive profit if you held until today.
It isn’t just art that’s gaining in value, either. Play-to-earn video games are rapidly gaining in popularity, and many of the assets you own or use in-game you can sell to other players since they exist as NFTs. This is what gives the space so much potential long-term.
How to invest in NFTs right now! I’m bullish on the industry and NFTs in general. However, there is a tonne of speculative assets in the NFT space.
So if you’re going to buy NFTs, it requires a lot of research. Since there are so many possibilities, it’s certainly not as easy as just buying an NFT and watching it go up in value. With that being said, though, these continue to become more popular and offer a great opportunity.
There are also stocks you can buy that offer potential in the space. Galaxy Digital, for example, offers investors exposure to the growing potential of NFTs. Galaxy has deployed over $62 million in 22 different NFT related-companies. In addition, it just announced in its recent earnings report that it bought two highly prominent NFTs. So Galaxy is an excellent option if you’re looking to gain exposure to NFTs.
Another stock you could consider is Tokens.com. Tokens.com owns a portfolio of DeFi and NFT-related cryptocurrencies. So for investors, as NFTs naturally grow in popularity, these cryptocurrencies will see more demand, increasing the price of the coins themselves.
Recall that while BAYC has gained a tonne of value since the summer, the cryptocurrency it’s priced in, Ether, has also gained almost 75% in value since early July.
Tokens.com also owns a 50% stake in Metaverse Group, an NFT-based virtual real estate owner and developer. So if you’re looking for exposure to the high-potential world of NFTs, high-quality crypto stocks can be some of the best investments to make.
The post NFTs: Here’s How Much You Could Have Made Buying Non-Fungible Tokens This Year appeared first on The Motley Fool Canada.
Fool contributor Daniel Da Costa owns shares of Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.
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