Looking back on what 'NFT' was after all, which died in 2023

The American scientific magazine New Scientist looked back at the general situation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in 2023 and reported that ``The NFT market appears to have collapsed.''

NFTs died a slow, painful death in 2023 as most are now worthless | New Scientist
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2406198-nfts-died-a-slow-painful-death-in-2023-as-most-are-now-worthless/

NFT is a digital identifier based on the blockchain technology that supports virtual currencies such as Bitcoin. Because of their unique value, that is, the property of guaranteeing unique value that cannot be replaced by anything else, NFTs were expected to fundamentally overturn the concept of ownership and, by extension, the nature of the global economy. It reached the peak of its popularity, with a value of 7.5 billion yen being attached to the website , and an NFT linked to a post on X (formerly Twitter) being traded for 270 million yen.

According to New Scientist, NFTs became popular because they can be traded like virtual currencies. The massive influx of speculative money into the NFT market has led to many investors rushing to buy up NFT art collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).

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In May 2022, when its popularity was at its peak, the average price of BAYC reached $400,000 (about 57 million yen), but by January 2023 it rose to $100,000 (about 14.25 million yen). It fell back and forth. After dropping below $70,000 (about 10 million yen) around June, it was only $60,000 (about 8.5 million yen) in November. It's not cheap, but those who buy it for investment purposes will be faced with a huge loss.

BAYC is still on the good side among NFTs, and according to a report released by dappGambl, an NFT trading market research company, in September 2023, ``95% of NFTs held by investors are worthless.'' thing. 'Worthless' is not a metaphor; 69,796 of the 73,257 NFT collections tracked by dappGambl had a price of 0 ETH (ether), literally zero.

It is pointed out that NFTs are dead and most of them are worthless - GIGAZINE

This happened because there was a classic ' boom and bust ' situation, or the expansion and bursting of a bubble. Some NFT proponents have previously argued that the underlying economic system behind NFTs and cryptocurrencies prevents this from happening.

At the same time, NFTs have always been surrounded by suspicions of ` `wash trading,' ' which is self-purchasing with the purpose of inflating the value. Increased interest from regulators, including tax authorities, has also made NFTs less attractive to investors and traders.

A further blow to NFT was a scandal involving virtual currency, which is the basis for buying and selling. New Scientist says, ` `The collapse of FTX , a major virtual currency exchange led by Sam Bankman-Fried, has caused a loss of trust in virtual currencies, and the virtual currency, which was supposed to bring about changes in the financial system, has been used by a handful of people instead of society. 'It has raised concerns that the money is being used to line people's pockets.'