NFT market will see "massive increase" in volume

The non-fungible token (NFT) market will see a massive increase in trading volume over the next 12 months, according to Nigel Green, CEO of financial advisory organisation deVere.

Green’s prediction follows the announcement by Visa that it has bought an NFT-based digital avatar known as a CryptoPunk for nearly $150,000 in ethereum.

An NFT is a unique digital asset designed to represent ownership of a virtual item, such as artwork, music, a video clip or tokenised tweet.

Green said the NFT market hit new highs in the second quarter of 2021, with US$2.5 billion in sales so far this year. “This is almost 20 times more than the $13.7 million in the first half of 2020,” he said.

“With soaring interest from major investors like payments giant Visa, who understand and value that the future of almost everything is geared towards digital, demand is set to explode. As the big hitters pile in, their capital, expertise and reputational pulling power will attract a growing number of other investors — both retail and institutional looking to get into the market.”

Green said as well as growing interest from major investors, demand will also be fuelled by the growing number of NFT marketplaces where you can make purchases.

He added that 2022 is looking set to be the breakout year for NFTs. “We expect there to be a massive increase in volume in the market over the next 12 months.

“Demographics are on the side of NFTs too. Millennials, and Gen Z especially, have digital lives and it’s natural to want to take digital representations of luxury brands, sport, music and art into these worlds — and now they can.”

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