On August 21, NFT trading platform Ethernity Chain released a statement for the NFT collection series “Messiverse” on Medium, announcing that the collection would be on sale at 12:00 PM that day. Lionel Messi, a legendary soccer star from Argentina, also promoted the idea with a video posted on Instagram, joining a long list of celebrities to launch his own collection of non-fungible tokens.
The Messiverse series is crypto arts created with Messi’s image by the well-known Australian illustrator BossLogic, where the soccer star is portrayed as a king, superhero, and Greek titan in works entitled “The Golden One”, “The Man From Tomorrow”, “The Man Of The Past”, and “The King Piece”. At present, the hammer price for “The Golden One” alone has exceeded $1 million.
Without knowledge of an NFT, it is impossible to comprehend how an image open to everyone can sell for millions or even tens of millions of dollars. The NFT stands for “non-fungible token”. Tokens we commonly use, such as BTC and ETH, are usually fungible. With no difference between these tokens, they are replaceable with identicals and can be split into smaller units. In contrast, the NFTs have the following major features: each NFT has a unique, non-transferable identity, cannot be exchanged at equivalency, or be parceled out into multiple divisions. For example, every avatar of the recent hit CryptoPunks is unique among its sort.
Thanks to the emergence of the Internet, information such as texts, images, and videos can be instantly sent to any corner of the world, as long as the other end is connected to the Internet. It is precisely because information network transmission is so simple and rapid, online images, text, and video works can be copied into countless duplicates, making it impossible to distinguish between the original and the replica. Based on blockchain technology, NFT endows each work with unique attributes, an artificial scarcity that has created the market value of NFT collections for today.
Yet now, the marketing hype outweighs the real value of NFT works. The $1 million bidding price for the “Messiverse” art collection is credited to the popularity of the superstar and the memorable value of the artworks, which, to an extent, celebrates his career highlights. On the other hand, the recent popular CryptoPunks is not only heated by the vigorous promotion of capital. In its own right, the website is the originator of avatar NFT. Coupled with the scarcity of only 10,000 avatar releases and the digital wave, it is not surprising that each avatar can sell for more than $7 million.
One of the things that many people, especially the newly-rich crypto enthusiasts, are crazy about NFT because it helps them demonstrate their status in the digital world. For example, owners of CryptoPunks like to replace their social media avatars with the CryptoPunks they own. To them, it represents social status, just like owning a limited-edition sports car. In addition, owning an NFT avatar is an admission ticket to many on-chain activities, for certain community events or circles require participants to have NFT avatars.
In conclusion, CryptoPunks meets the needs of the newly affluent people who want to show prestige in the blockchain field, and moreover, Messiverse caters to the needs of the star chasers who are both fans of Messi and cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Where there is a demand, there is a market. NFT not only meets both the market demand and the needs of specific users, but offers a chance for investors to make a fortune. For the reasons above, NFT has certainly become one of the hottest projects. Of course, beneath the hype, NFT has its true value. Only when the bubble bursts and the market becomes more sensible, will the NFT embrace more possibilities.
