As tracked by Google Trends, a tool that keeps records of the most popular search terms and phrases. Google users are looking for the term “NFT” more than before, while the term “crypto” is no longer the top widely used search term on Google’s search engine.
For someone who is unfamiliar with NFTs, they are digital artefacts stored on the blockchain platform that underpins cryptocurrencies. NFTs may be used to acquire many types of digital items, including artwork, twitter posts, songs, GIFs, and other similar digital products. The opportunities for purchasing and selling cryptos are almost limitless.
People are spending thousands of dollars to buy these treasures, and some of them are sold for millions of dollars or more. Recently published figures indicated that consumers have spent more than $9 billion on NFT sales up to this point, with total sales estimated to hit $17.7 billion by the end of this year, according to the National Federation of Teachers.
According to the findings of the study, sales of NFTs have increased from a mere $41 million in 2018 to as much as $2.5 billion in the initial half of this year, showing a 60-fold increase in 3-1/2 years’ time. The increase is astonishing when compared with the year 2020. As per statistics from NonFungible.com on NFTs, aggregate sales in 2020 hit $340 million, and yet in 2021, sales have indeed crossed $9 billion, representing over 25-fold increase.
An analysis of activities by prominent NFT categories, which is detailed in the paper, indicates that novelties including CryptoKitties and CryptoPunks have been the most popular items sold in the early stages. “Since there has been a surge of interest in NFTs, this has corresponded with an increase in the general rise in the cryptocurrency industry, indicating that NFT prices will fall if cryptocurrency prices fall,” the study concluded.
Nevertheless, not only bitcoin collectors and speculators, but even Indian Bollywood stars such as Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, and Sunny Leone, are getting on board with the cryptocurrency trend. Freshly introduced NFTs by Amitabh Bachchan, which contained signed antique pictures, a rendition of his father’s renowned poem Madhushala, and other memorabilia, were sold for around $966,000.