NFTs are interesting for people to explore, as they are growing in prominence. But with there being so many choices for NFTs, it can be challenging to find something worthwhile of an investment.
I talked with Ryan Hoggan, a leading Venture Capitalist, about some of the top NFTs and asked about his takes on these groups. Hoggan has been one of the most prominent cryptocurrency and real estate investors over the years, and he’s entered the NFT industry as of late.
The CryptoPunks group is by far the most popular NFT collective out there. What makes CryptoPunks so popular?
I see you’ve been looking at the top NFTs on OpenSea as of late. Yes, they are dominant on that chart, but there’s a good reason for this point.
CryptoPunks is one of the oldest NFT groups around, as they’ve been working since 2017. They helped inspire the main open standard that is used to produce NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.
I expect CryptoPunks to continue to grow in popularity, especially as so many people are spending immense amounts of money on some of the NFTs the group offers. The fact that people are spending millions of dollars on some of them is interesting to see.
I noticed that the Zed Run virtual horse racing game has been growing in popularity. What do you think about this, and is it a sign that more developers will start using NFTs in their work?
Zed Run has been selling millions of dollars of NFTs to get it to work. People can buy, sell, and breed virtual horses and keep them as NFTs. They can buy and sell those horses too, with the most successful ones being worth more money. I think this is an interesting move that makes people more invested in a game.
I think more games and other online activities will start using NFTs to make them more immersive and to give the users more control over their activities. People want control over what they do, and I think NFTs will make it easier for them to do more.
The Bored Apes series has been growing in popularity lately. What is your opinion about this point?
It’s a sign that people are collecting and sharing NFTs as status symbols. Some of the avatars in the Bored Apes system are more unique than others. I expect others to copy the success of Bored Apes and start producing collectible NFTs.
It’s easy to create things that you can make as NFTs. Do you expect people to keep hopping on the bandwagon?
I feel you’re going to see lots of people produce more items for NFTs, especially since so many groups are open to new members who want to create things for NFTs. Look at Art Blocks Factory, and you’ll see the artists there have been creating a vast assortment of digital art pieces for a while.
These NFTs, just like the NFTs that I have been eyeing on Opensea, are often cheap and easy to purchase and you can expect their values to increase as people become more interested in some of these artists.
So, more people would probably want to join in on the fun.
Precisely. I think people will create new things themselves because they want to make themselves visible. The ability to earn a profit is a plus.
Like with cryptocurrencies, many NFT groups have limits over how many NFTs they will produce. Do you think this will boost their values?
It might, but I don’t know. Cool Cats has 9,999 NFTs on its chain, for example. The group ensures this scarcity will keep their values up, but don’t be surprised if some groups add new NFTs after a while.
