Most Popular NFTs That Have Great Potential [2022 Edition]

Snigdha
By Snigdha | Last Updated on April 5th, 2024 7:07 am

Unless you are living under a rock somewhere, you know what we are talking about when we say - NFT or Non-fungible Tokens. Everyone who has ever delved even a little into the digital world has at least heard of NFTs. According to the Pew Research Center, 16% of Americans say they have already invested, exchanged, or used virtual currencies. Have you ever thought of creating one? Don’t worry! You don’t need to learn to code if you want to generate NFTs. Appy Pie’s no code NFT generator lets you create NFTs in just a few clicks. No need to take my word for it. Try it out yourself!

We keep hearing about NFTs like Everydays: the First 5000 Days, The Human One, The Merge, and many more that have brought in billions of dollars for the NFT creators. However, an artist, Kimberly Parker, recently conducted research with an anonymous data scientist to discover that 53.6% of NFTs sold on OpenSea in March 2021 were bought for less than $200. Let us now discuss the NFT scenario from the perspective of an investor. Of course, there are passionate collectors who put all their energy and resources into building their NFT collection. However, a typical investor pays a lot of attention (at least they should) to the potential of an NFT project before deciding to invest.

What to look for in a good NFT project?

So, how do you know which NFT project has the right potential and which ones not so much. Of course, you can’t know for sure, but there are some clear positive signs you should look for when you are wondering what makes an excellent nft project. So, how do you know which NFT is good? Let’s discuss. Think of the NFT projects as startups and look at them like investors.
  1. NFT roadmapThe roadmap generally contains the goals and strategies of the NFT project you are looking into. It might be in the form of a white paper or a document that includes (at least) the following:
    • Key milestones

    • Goals (Short term and long term)

    • Marketing plans

    • Growth strategy

    The bottom line is that the project must have a clear vision and mission. The idea is to look at how it is built and how much effort has gone into creating it. Do their goals make sense? Follow your instincts when judging them for feasibility.

  2. Founder(s)When you are looking at an NFT to invest in, remember that there is a person behind it. It is this human that you are going to invest in. There needs to be a certain amount of transparency regarding the founders of these projects. This transparency helps them gain the trust of investors like yourself. Transparency tells the investors what the project is actually about and how the founders plan to achieve it. It makes sense for you to invest in something for which the founders have a long-term vision.

  3. Social media presenceSocial presence is more than just the number of followers and likes their posts get. Pay attention to the tone of their content, activity levels, and engagement. See if the followers are interacting with the social content and whether the founders are engaging with them and making an effort to build their brand up.

  4. CommunityThe nature of the NFT marketplace is such that it is driven primarily by the community. A good NFT project will automatically build a strong community following. The projects with highly engaged communities around them are usually a good bet for the investors. NFTs are more than just digital assets. Owning an NFT means belonging to a community and following its unique culture. For example, the Bored Ape Yacht Club has developed a cult following, where the NFTs have made it into wearables that passionate members of the community proudly flaunt. A community as passionate as this is an excellent sign of the NFT’s potential to reach great success.

  5. ReachThe last on this list is the project’s reach. Check the number of followers the project has acquired. A sparse following clearly indicates that the project may not be a serious one and that you must steer clear of it. If, however, there is a big following, it indicates that the project owners or founders are happy to put themselves out there in front of the audience.

Here are the 11 best NFTs to invest in this year

  1. Flyfish ClubAnother one of Gary Vaynerchuck’s successful projects, Flyfish club, is the world’s first dining club only for NFT members. With impressive stats like that, Flyfish Club is geared up to be one of the most promising NFTs. FFC membership is bought on the blockchain in the form of an NFT, and the token-holder uses it to gain access to their restaurant and various cultural, culinary, and social experiences. Additionally, the FFC members will also have access to a private dining room spanning more than 10,000 square feet in NYC! The NFT comes from the VCR group consisting of Gary Vaynerchuk, David Rodolitz, Josh Capon, and Conor Hanlon. The team is almost a veteran when it comes to unique and enjoyable culinary experiences. There are two levels of FFC memberships - Flyfish (FF) for 2.5 ETH and Flyfish Omakase (FFO) for 4.5 ETH.The dining room is slated to open in early 2023 in an ‘iconic’ but undisclosed location in NYC. The NFT puts a new spin on the age-old idea of a members-only dining room by making the membership exclusive to the token-holders. To start with, 1,501 tokens were made available for the public to buy, and 1,534 tokens were reserved for the company. The exciting thing about this unique membership is that, like any other NFT, this membership NFT can be sold on leading NFT marketplaces like OpenSea or Rarible. The token owners can visit as many times as they want to, provided they make a reservation. The token-holders will have to call 14 days ahead to make a reservation, and the number of guests they can bring is according to the size of the table they booked. For example, if they book a table for 6, they can get five guests. When you buy the membership, you only gain access to enter the club. You still need to pay for anything you order while in the dining room. Did you know that Flyfish raised $14 million within a week of its release?Yet another fun thing about this NFT is that members can lease their tokens to others on a monthly basis and turn their NFTs into a revenue channel.

  2. Bored Ape Yacht ClubAlmost a veteran, Bored Ape Yacht Club is a character punk-based NFT that has found great success and has almost turned into a household name. There are only 10,000 apes, and each of them is unique in its traits and rarity. The top-selling NFT in this project went close to $3 million. The collection is sold out and has even led to the spinoff under the name Mutant Ape Yacht Club (which will appear down in the list).Though BAYC was second to CryptoPunks for almost a year in the list of most successful NFT collections, as soon as we entered 2022, the price of BAYC NFT soared high. Today, each BAYC NFT sells for about $200, which means if we were to sell off all the NFTs, we would make billions of dollars. There are two types of NFT. One where a piece of art is converted into NFT and sold as 1/1 NFT like Beeples ‘Everydays’ NFT. The second one is ‘editions’ like BAYC or Bored Apes. The second kind is a whole lot of fun because you get to collect and trade these NFT collections and relive your childhood! These editions may contain any number of NFTs. To populate large collections, creators or artists leverage generative art. Here, new NFT variations are created through the use of apt algorithms on computers. NFT creators make a template and create variations by creating permutations and combinations of different traits. Some traits come up more frequently, while others are rarer. As the team behind BAYC started working on the art for their NFT project, they realized it belonged in a bar, an exclusive, members-only bar. This is what led to the birth of the Yacht Club. This led to the idea of a bar inhabited by the apes of the future who decided to jump into the NFT crypto space. They further foresaw the apes, years from now, sitting around with their friends in the bar and bored. This premise was enough to get things going for BAYC. Today the BAYC is a lot more than just an NFT. Today, the Bored Ape Yacht Club is actually a club with their preferred hangout spot at The Bored Ape Discord. As a BAYC token-holder or member, you are entitled to the following ‘perks’.
    • Commercial usage rights to their apes, which allows them to print their NFT art on custom merchandise like mugs, t-shirts, caps, badges, etc., and sell them

    • Exclusive access to BAYC merch, and members would have to sign in through their ETH wallet to verify their ownership before making a purchase.

    • When a new project called Bored Ape Kennel Club was launched, the entire collection went to the Bored Ape owners. Each member got one dog for one ape.

    • Even the Mutant Ape Yacht Club collection was originally launched exclusively for members and only opened up to the public after a considerable wait.

    • The members can weigh in on where the BAYC funds go. In fact, the community has donated millions of dollars to the charity.

    Information about how often people from around the world were searching for the keyword "NFT" was compiled through Google Trends. It was discovered that consumers from Asia and Oceania were more interested in NFTs than consumers from Europe and Latin America. (Statista, 2022) The creators of Bored Apes Yacht Club acquired CryptoPunks and Meebits in March 2022. They also launched a new coin, ApeCoin - $APE in the same month. BAYC describes ApeCoin as a “token for culture, gaming, and commerce used to empower a decentralized community building at the forefront of web3.” Most importantly, ApeCoin will also let the token holders hold a voice in shaping the future of the Bored Ape community. Here are a few more highlights that will help you understand how things are going for the Bored Ape community.
    • Ape #8817, the highest-selling Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT, was sold for $3,408,000 at a Sotheby’s Metaverse auction in October 2021.

    • In March 2022, Yuga Lab, the creators of BAYC, completed their $450 million funding round.

    • Though enrolment to the club started out low, the ape floor today is usually a little above 100 ETH.

  3. AutographA specialized marketplace, Autograph.io is focused on sportspersons, entertainment, culture, and digital experiences. The NFT is currently focused on athletes and athletic memorabilia like the professionals’ signatures, access to exclusive drops, and private Discord channel entry. This NFT is extremely promising because of the support and backing of big names in the industry.Let’s list out the names on the list of partners who make Autograph what it is.
    • Tom Brady

    • Tiger Woods

    • Derek Jeter

    • Wayne Gretzky

    • Tony Hawk

    • Naomi Osaka

    • Simone Biles

    • Usain Bolt

    • Rob Gronkowski

    • The Weeknd

    • Slam

    • Saw

    • Dale Earnhardt Jr.

    It’s perfectly fine if you need a minute to recover from this amazing lineup of stars on Autograph! The Autographs NFTs are currently sold on the DraftKings Marketplace and are minted on the Polygon blockchain. Polygon is a layer 2 solution that is compatible with Ethereum. This means that Polygon leverages Ethereum’s infrastructure but uses significantly less energy. If you are planning to buy an Autograph NFT, you first need to create an account on the DraftKings marketplace. Once you have done that, there are two ways to buy an Autograph NFT.
    • Primary Autograph NFT dropA drop is a predetermined date and time when the NFT collection is first introduced in the marketplace. So once the drop time comes, you can go to the DraftKings marketplace to join the queue of buyers. You’ll be able to see how many people are ahead of you in a queue. You will then have to wait till you reach the end of the queue before you can buy the NFT you want.

    • Secondary MarketplaceAny time of the day, you can visit the DraftKings marketplace and check what NFTs are currently being sold by the current owners.

    The one critical thing to know is that you can only buy Autograph NFTs in US Dollars. So, no crypto for NFTs here! Though most Autograph NFTs are exactly that - autographs, some of them come with unlockable content or redeemable experiences. Hence, it is a good idea to go through the description to know what other perks it includes. LA-based Autograph helps athletes and entertainers launch and promote their NFTs. While fellow NFT Dapper Labs got into partnerships with some of the top American sports league players associations like NFL’s player associations and NBA’s player associations, Autograph, on the other hand, is more focused on individual athletes and the cult around them, independent of their team or league. In April 2022, ESPN entered a multi-year deal with Autograph to mint NFTs for the network’s first NFT collection. Technology has opened up new ways for fans to engage with their stars. The fan memorabilia has outgrown the shelf and found a more evolved space online. Autograph NFT has given fans an avenue to owning a piece of history while establishing a connection to it that brings returns.

  4. CryptopunksOne of the most unique NFT projects when it was launched, Cryptopunks popularized “punks” as a monetizable concept in the NFT space. The NFTs gained instant fame as soon as they were launched in 2017, as more than 10,000 unique punks were launched with human, alien, or even zombie traits. This project was single-handedly responsible for inspiring the modern crypto art movement. CryptoPunks is one of the first NFTs launched on Ethereum and was the inspiration for the ERC-721 standard that powers most digital art and collectibles. When the CryptoPunks NFT collection was launched, all 10,000 could be claimed for free by anyone with an Ethereum wallet. Of course, each of these 10,000 punks was claimed in no time. These punks are 24x24 pixel art images that mostly show humans. However, there are many other, more rare punks like aliens, zombies, and apes with a much higher value. The punks can still be bought on the NFT marketplace from token holders who list them for sale or auction. The CryptoPunks can also possess a combination of 87 attributes or ‘traits’ like hats, eyepatches, earrings, necklaces, pipes, and more! The maximum number of traits that a punk can have is seven. The only punk to have seven traits is #Punk 8348.
    • A cigarette,

    • An earring,

    • A mole,

    • Buck teeth,

    • Classic shades,

    • A top hat, and

    • A big beard

    It is possible to create punks with zero traits, but most of them have two or three. Here’s a little visual aid to help you understand the relationship between the number of traits and the price of the punk.Since its launch in 2017, CryptoPunks has evolved from a humble niche internet fad into one of the world’s most expansive and well-known NFT projects. CryptoPunks was not the first NFT project on Ethereum, but it definitely is the most influential one, even today. The early claimants who held on to their Punks all this while have become multi-millionaires today, and those who bought in just before 2021 are considered the most fortunate NFT investors. In July 2017, Alien Punk #3100 was sold for 8 ETH, which was impressive. However, the same Alien Punk #3100 sold for 4,200 ETH in March 2021. Here are the top-selling punks Apart from buying the punks from listings on the NFT marketplaces like OpenSea, reputable auction houses like Christie’s have opened up to selling Punks as well. We all know about the Beeple’s sale worth $69 million in March 2021, but did you know that Christie’s put up a collection of nine Punks for auction and raked in $16.9 million for it. The CryptoPunk phenomenon has such significance in the NFT community that the CryptoPunk owners are considered visionaries for getting into the NFT space ahead of the curve. Hence, they enjoy a position of trust. This NFT is more valuable due to its historical significance and representation of a strong belief in Ethereum. In March of 2022, CryptoPunks NFT was bought by Yuga Labs, the creators of Bored App Yacht Club, for $2.2 billion.

  5. Mutant Ape Yacht ClubA sort of a spinoff of the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, was an affordable option for the BAYC fans who were unable to break the bank for their favorite NFT art. That the project was such a hit was no surprise. There are currently 20,000 mutant apes in existence. There are two ways to procure a Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFT. One is to go the traditional way and mint a Mutant Ape in a public sale. The second and more popular way is to expose an existing Bored Ape to a vial of MUTANT SERUM. The MAYC world runs on ApeCoins, and Mutant Ape owners are allocated 2,042 APE tokens for every NFT they own. MAYC was Yuga Labs’ strategy for rewarding Bored Ape holders with an entirely new NFT. These Mutant Apes created an opportunity for newbies to join the BAYC system. The Mutant Apes mark the end of their Roadmap 1.0. Hereon, BAYC intends to bring utility to Bored Apes first, and then Mutant Apes. The Bored Ape holders received 10,000 Mutant Serums. Token holders then could expose their apes to the mutant serum to turn them into a Mutant Ape using gas. The Mutant Serum vials were made available in three sizes - M1, M2, and M3 or Mega Mutant. M1 or M2 serum turns the Bored Ape into a Mutant that resembles the original ape. The M3 serum, however, creates something entirely different but adds more rare and significant traits. This was a brilliant deal for the BYAC token holders because it let them retain their original NFT while printing a new one. After the airdrop, the BAYC owners were not allowed to use it until after the public sale of the MAYC NFT was completed. The entire MAYC NFT collection was auctioned for $96 million in under an hour. BAYC and MAYC are currently topping the charts on many blockchain research platforms.

  6. DippiesWith the intent to bring the hippie movement into the metaverse, Dippies co-founders Salman Shawaf and Johnathan Taylor are introducing a unique psychedelic aesthetic with flowers and other 60s hippie movement elements. Hippies are not just Woodstock, psychedelic, and flowers. The modern-day hippies have evolved and have brought in a new era of hippie - the digital hippie or the Dippie. Dippies are not living in communes off the grid, and they are building online communities to connect globally over common causes and goals. The primary goal of this NFT is to adopt a community-first approach while offering a safe space for the members. Peace, love, and kindness towards others are a big part of this community.Phase one of this NFT involves putting a bounty on the King/Queen bounty. So, if you mint the King or Queen Dippie, you get 3 ETH directly in your wallet. Phase two is called Dippie Stash, which will be formed by 5% of primary mint and 25% of all the second market royalty. Dippie NFT owners get the privilege to vote on how the funds are utilized and the opportunity to apply for paid positions within the community. These funds can be directed to multiple hippie-related causes, fund the artist community, and even create a virtual Woodstock in the Metaverse, etc. Phase three involves creating merch for the community where everyone gets to vote. The Dippie owners get discounts on all items in the store. In phase four, each Dippie will get to claim a free van, and the owner would only have to pay for Gas. these vans will come with critical utilities. Finally, in phase five, the community will work on Roadmap 2.0.

  7. Property’sA unique and innovative real estate collecting game, Property’s combines the best of all the wildly popular games in the world. The game is promising, not only for the unique structure but also because it is a part of the quickly forming, user-generated world - Sandbox.A collecting card game focused on the Metaverse, Property’s NFT collection displays diversity while showcasing the elegance of both modern and historical architecture. They claim to be making a social network of metaverses that will serve as a hub for the most popular NFT communities. The Property’s NFT offers limitless digital experiences that can broadly be categorized into -
    • Social & Adventures

    • Gaming & Content

    • Music & Events

    • Art & Shopping

    Property’s is the first NFT trading & collecting game, where holders get rent mechanics as rewards.

    8. Property’s NFT was launched with the following salient features:

    • 6000 properties

    • 7 cities, 28 districts, and 84 streets

    Property’s metaverse is being built on the Sandbox and intends to bring in different types of NFT projects into their clubhouses.
  8. AzukiA collection of 10,000 avatars, the Azuki NFT collection, offers a membership that comes with access to “The Garden” - a digital intellectual space for discussions. The Garden is a corner where artists, builders, and web 3.0 enthusiasts get together to discuss the creation of a decentralized future.The Azuki token holders get access to exclusive drops, experiences, etc. The skaters of the internet, Azuki, claim that they are skating between the blurring lines of the physical and the virtual world as they are blending now. Azuki’s core vision is to make the largest decentralized brand for the metaverse that is created and owned by the community. The second-rarest member of the Azuki NFT metaverse sold for 420.7 ETH on OpenSea in March 2022. Azuki has quickly shot into popularity and has almost risen to the level of BAYC. One of the reasons for this quick rise to fame is that Azuki is one of the first anime-themed projects to go mainstream. Azuki NFTs have crossed $500 million in sales volume on OpenSea. Azuki’s sales volume was $85 million in March 2022, which was higher than the $76 million made by CryptoPunks in the same month. At the time of the launch, the Azuki NFTs were available for $3,400 per unit. Only a month and a half later, the most expensive Azuki NFT raked in about half a million. Today, even the lower end of the Azuki spectrum brings in about $40,000Azukis have brought in about $350 million in transactions across multiple popular NFT marketplaces.

  9. Axie InfinityMuch like the viral game - Pokemon, Axie Infinity lets you use the unique abilities of your Axies to fight and win battles with other players within the community.Inspired by Nintendo’s viral Pokemon series, Axie Infinity NFT lets you collect and pit adorable monsters against each other. To make money through Axie Infinity, you can sell your Axie or get into the Play-to-Earn mode and get rewards in the form of cryptos which can then be exchanged for money. You can trade Axies on the game’s marketplace for real-world money.Another interesting aspect of the game is that you can breed Axies to make more powerful teams and generate additional NFTs to sell on the marketplace. There are some Axie NFTs that have been sold on the market for more than 300 ETH.One thing that you must know about Axies is that you must first build a team of three Axie NFTs (at least) before you can start playing the game. Though the game is often compared with Pokemon, there is one critical difference. Here, you have the ownership of your Axies. Not only do these Axies belong to you, but they also yield rewards in the form of SLP crypto tokens which can be exchanged for money.

  10. VeeFriendsVeeFriends, the wildly successful flagship NFT from Gary Vaynerchuck, is essentially a ticket to Gary V’s multi-day super conference - VeeCon, organized exclusively for VeeFriends token holders.VeeFriends is a medium for Gary Vaynerchuck to bring to reality his vision of building a meaningful community around his creative and business passions through NFT technology and the ability to use smart contracts. VeeFriends NFTs are all about offering various levels of access and utilities, and they will all be defined in the smart contracts. VeeFriends started as a collection of characters with fun and alliterative names like Courageous Cockatoo, Independent Inchworm, etc. The positive attributes added in the names are not random. These are actual traits that the creator, Gary, values in himself and others. There are 268 characters in the metaverse and a total of 10,255 tokens divided into three categories - 9,400 Admission tokens, 300 Access tokens, and 555 Gift Goat tokens. Each of these tokens is also a ticket to VeeCon - a yearly multi-day conference thrown for three consecutive years starting in the year 2022. VeeFriends is about Intellectual Property, community, and legacy.

  11. Women RiseWomen Rise is a 10,000-character strong collection by the internationally acclaimed visual artist Maliha Abidi. The primary goal of this NFT collection is to make the space more inclusive and diverse by adding more women to the NFT space and donating some funds to organizations that work towards attaining gender equality, girls’ education, and mental health in marginalized societies.Men have primarily dominated the NFT space, but in the past couple of years, more women are getting into the space and launching their collections. WomenRise NFT is one of those NFTs that are working towards increasing diversity, not only in terms of the way they look but also includes women who are activists, artists, scientists, coders, and more.A portion of the funds from NFT sales go into women’s empowerment funds. Of the total 10,000 NFTs, 200 have been reserved for company use like marketing, giveaways, etc. The characters are made with a combination of 453 hand-drawn traits or attributes. Quite like other NFTs, some are rarer than others. There are 10 NFTs that are extremely rare, which are portraits of 10 inspirational women from all over the world. Here is a breakdown of the contributions made by the organization:
    • 2.5% of the sales went to Malala Fund when the sales reached 25%

    • 7.5% of the sales went to organizations that supported gender equality, girl’s education and mental health, when the sales reached 75%

    • 5% of royalties from secondary sales go to support the Rising Women club and the Activist club (launched upon 60% sales milestone)

      • Here are some of the salient points regarding the Women Rise NFT:

      1. Upon reaching the 50% sales milestone of the entire collection, Women Rise NFT holders received 130 signed copies of Abidi’s book and 130 art prints.

      2. One of the Women Rise NFT was displayed on a screen at the NFT Paris event.

      3. In February 2022, a collection of 5 NFTs was launched to honor black women during Black History month, and 100% of the proceeds went towards a small business and three grassroot organizations working in the black community.

      4. On February 10, 2022, Women Rise donated 13 ETH to The Pad Project - a global organization that is working to eliminate period poverty across the world.

Conclusion

It may seem too soon to say this, but NFTs seem like they’re here to stay. Whether you plan to invest in it, flip it, HODL it, or become an NFT creator yourself, there is something for everyone in the NFT space. Appy Pie has an NFT generator that lets you create NFTs without coding in minutes. Try it out now!

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Snigdha

Content Head at Appy Pie

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