Where NFTs go from here. 🧵

Where NFTs go from here. 🧵

The value of NFTs has been expressed primarily in speculative short-term gains. The resulting collapse of the market and its dependence on milking IP through derivatives and airdrops is not shocking. But what comes next is more inspired and creative than anything we have seen.

Tokenized Hobbyism Every pastime—from cooking, to sports, to wellness, to woodworking—will establish high-value tokenized networks. The token value will not be derived by how much one can flip it for, airdrops, or staking, but through engagement, learning, and networking.

Professional Networks You can pay member dues to join your local chapter of builders, OR you can buy NFTs granting access to seminars and 24/7 global chats with people exploring web3. Plus, you OWN your membership. Tokenized networks will be key to building in a bear market.

Minimum Viable Communities Many projects forged promising utility, but struggled to create sustainable models. Rather than call it quits, they will decentralize, minimizing expenditure and passing off operations to contributors in an effort to create minimum viable communities.

M&A As NFT project funding and resources dry up—whether due to crypto winter, mismanagement, or failure to compete—communities will strategically unite to pool capital, access, and tooling to combine resources and member benefits. From PFP mergers to holding DAOs.

Retail Retailers from 7-11 to Gamestop will use NFTs to incentivize IRL transactions, leveraging creators to drive traffic to storefronts. For example, Yeezy NFTs that airdrop with purchases from Gap stores, or NFTs that unlock exclusive features for Tesla vehicles.

R&D Brands and creators will exchange NFTs for insights on product development: pain points, marketing claims, roadmap and more. The NFTs will unlock early access to product releases and potential profit sharing. Brands will track and maintain these key relationships.

Loyalty Exchanges As brands and creators seek to reinforce loyalty, community behavior will be rewarded with NFTs. Did the member contribute content? NFT. Complete surveys? NFT. Make a purchase? NFT. Tokens are more liquid and bragworthy than traditional discount codes.

Multiplayer NFTs will create hive activity by incentivizing group behavior. MMORPGs that unlock levels once 10k users have aped in. Airdrops of rare NFTs to collector cohorts that have signed contracts to merge their base-layer NFTs. Collecting is going to become a team sport.

Content Submission Users will submit content like short form videos, reviews, and tutorials in exchange for loyalty NFTs. It’s a marketing flywheel. Rights can be programmed into contracts so that the use of the contributor’s content in advertising could yield future profits.

Services NFTs will unlock access to services and hobbyist communities. Q&As and tutorials with influencer chefs, photographers, doctors, and niche enthusiastic communities will boom. This will also extend into IRL services like transportation, hotels, and spas.

Customer Cohort NFTs Imagine receiving an NFT for being one of the first Air Jordan customers, and how valuable that would be today. How Nike might reward you years later with special access and product. Cohort NFTs prove that you took a certain action, at a certain time.

Education and Customer Support Upon demonstrating exceptional knowledge of a brand’s product, users can receive NFTs in exchange for onboarding newbies into the community, or providing support. This can be exponentially more impactful than a brand employee doing the same.

NFT Indexes Getting exposure to hundreds of NFTs via indexes will boom as market movers tap collectors for funds. Imagine a Christie’s NFT ETF. They have the influence to get assets to liquidity—investors will ape into that. It will also broaden support for NFT communities.

Social Investing Web3 streamlines investing by reducing manual processes like spreadsheet mgmt + signature collection. It also acts as a social record—startups like @PartyRound will build networks around such activity, and reinforce them with NFTs.

Leaderboards NFT communities will gamify by highlighting the performance and participation of top holders. Top contributors will receive rewards and clout, thereby incentivizing communities to hold and participate in order to secure better returns on their investments.

Activism Communities where NFT ownership supports political causes will gain traction as millions flow into community wallets. NFT collectives where sales are directed towards lobbying efforts, with efforts coordinated by a community DAO.

“Soulbound” NFTs NFTs are lauded for their transferability, but there are many use cases for non-transferable tokens: driver’s licenses, diplomas, certifications, proof of attendance, etc. Soulbound NFTs lock in provenance, and can not be sold.

Vertical Marketplaces NFT projects will shift towards DTC marketplaces like @larvalabs and @SolanaMBS. Managing user experience is critical for retention, and eliminating 3rd parties doesn’t hurt.

Chris Cantino@chriscantino · Feb 20, 2022

NFT projects launching their own vertical marketplaces will be huge in 2022. Provide your community with a curated DTC experience vs asking them to shop wholesale at OpenSea. -Customize the user journey -Improve retention -Increase profit margins -Minimize exploits Go direct.

Legal The benefits of block security and its ability to trigger transactions via oracles will accelerate the adoption of web3 legal services + contract development. A DocuSign killer (or acquisition target) will be built in 2022, and it will deliver NFTs to contract executors.

Social Feed Marketplaces Social feeds based on NFT collections will emerge, providing insight into the strategy of top collectors, and a platform for collectors to interact. These feeds will evolve into social commerce marketplaces, featuring reviews, analytics, and more.

Fractionalization Splitting up NFTs into individual shares with tools like @prysm_xyz gives more exposure to blue-chip assets, like owning a piece of a CryptoPunk. The result? More liquidity for holders, and more appreciation of blue chip assets as money enters the markets.

Collateralization To date, lenders have been averse to NFT holders borrowing against their assets. But as institutional $$$ flows in, and assets become better stores of value, collateral markets will promise flexibility and liquidity for all NFT holders, not just whales.

Borrowing Platforms Because NFTs can unlock temporary access—like entry to conferences—markets for short-term lending are emerging. For example, I’ve personally leant friends $FWB so that they could attend local events. Imagine this as a marketplace: StubHub, but for NFTs.

Whatever more is in store, I can promise it will break paradigms and transform whatever it touches. ✌️