Top 5 NFT Collections in July 2022

NFTs or Non Fungible tokens have taken the world by storm. There hasn’t been a single day in the past couple of years when NFTs have not been in news. These are essentially digital collectibles that can be owned by users. They are unique in existence. The data stored on the blockchain is what makes them unique. Read more about what are NFTs and where can they be used

NFTs are being used for all sorts of purposes such as protecting the original art form, issuing digital collectibles, and owning assets in the web3 world to name a few. New projects and collections are coming up every day. A collection is basically a group of NFTs under the same or different themes by a single owner/founder of the project. Here’s the list of the top 5 most popular NFT projects currently dominating the market -  

CryptoPunks

CryptoPunks is currently the leading NFT collection in terms of market capitalization. Punks are basically 24*24 pixels algorithmically generated art images.  It is regarded as one of the earliest NFT collections in the ecosystem. It consists of 10,000 unique collectible characters whose data is stored on the Ethereum blockchain. The first 10,000 users got the collection for free. In order to get it now, one needs to purchase it via NFT marketplaces. CryptoPunk #5822 is the most expensive collectible among the 10,000 available collectibles.

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is ranked as the 4th leading NFT collection by market capitalization. It is a collection of 10,000 Bored Ape NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. Owning a BAYC means benefits such as access to THE BATHROOM, a collaborative graffiti board. Each collectible has a rare, unique property that makes them different from others in the collection. It comes under the category of PFP (profile picture) NFTs.

NBA Top Shot

NBA launched its own NFT collection and marketplace where NBA fans can buy, sell and trade their favorite NBA moments via NFT collectibles. A moment is an NFT that’s officially licensed by the NBA and minted with a unique serial number and data, including game and player statistics. The value of the moment depends on the demand, supply, intensity, and importance of that moment in the history of the game. The marketplace runs on Drapper Lab’s Flow blockchain. A Moment of a LeBron dunk against the Houston Rockets was sold for $387,600. A user can log on to the NBA Top Shot marketplace in order to buy their favorite moments.

Meebits

Meebits, currently is the 2nd largest NFT collection by market capitalization. These are 20,000 unique 3D characters created by a custom generative algorithm and then minted on the Ethereum blockchain. The smart contract here that governs ownership is ERC-721, which is a standard on the Ethereum network. According to the official website, owners of a Meebit are given access to an additional asset pack that includes the full 3D model. All the collectibles have unique combinations of traits such as tattoos, shirt color, paint color, shoe color, etc. It is one of the few NFT collections that provide utility in the metaverse as well.

Moonbirds

Moonbirds is also one of the leading NFT collections in the market. It’s a collection of 10,000 unique PFPs with supported utility. Owning a Moonbird NFT also gives users access to private membership of the club. It also acts as a key to the private discord community. Users have the option to lock up the NFT i.e not to transfer the NFT in their own wallet, instead, stake it which is called nesting to get some additional benefits. The collectibles differ from each other in terms of background, body, eyes, eyewear, bodywear, headwear, and outerwear.

Conclusion 

Though NFTs have gained exponential adoption in the market, there are still a lot of risks associated with the same. Before investing in a collection, one should thoroughly check the founding team of the project/collection, their vision and reason for the launch, what benefits they intend to provide, how are they going to build a community around the same, and what makes them different from the existing collections in the market. Asking and answering these questions would help you eliminate dummy projects and would help you from being scammed and invest long term sustainable projects.