New vs Fading Trends in NFT Utility 2022

NFTs generated billions of dollars in 2021, with individuals making millions of dollars on trades. However, the NFT alpha (as in, the incremental advantage that enables some investors to beat the average) is constantly changing. As the Web3 ecosystem continues to ramp up and propagate, this year is set to be an entirely different landscape than the previous.

As we discussed in our previous post on NFT utility, the days of merely attaching a JPEG to a token are fading away. Increasingly, investors are seeking out NFTs that have real utility, use cases, and tangible value in Web3 ecosystems.

This field is evolving quickly, and, the utility structures that were attractive 6 months ago are already falling out of favor. It can be difficult to keep up, but we’ve got you covered. Here are five changing trends in NFT utility to track in 2022.

The evolution of NFT utility

Beyond just owning tokens attached to NFTs, savvy investors are increasingly focusing on new iterations of utility. In 2021 popular categories of utility included:

tokens providing access to dividends and royalty payouts
tokens unlocking access to land in the Metaverse
tokens unlocking future airdrops of companion NFTs

Yet crypto moves quickly and these “traditional” utilities are starting to give way to more robust use cases for NFTs.

NFTs with utility provide more value to users, and this trend is only going to continue in 2022. In contrast, NFTs without utility or plans to provide utility is losing value and will continue to do so. Non-utility UTFs are no longer attractive to investors or users and will increasingly die out in 2022.

Here are 4 trends in NFT utility to watch in 2022.

Launchpad NFTs

One of the biggest problems for any NFT project is getting attention for their drop. We’ll see more launchpads with aspects like whitelists and giveaways to bring attention to new creators.

Through these launchpads, NFTs could gain the utility of supporting new NFT projects and economies.

One prime example of an NFT collection with launchpad features is the recent drop by JRNY crypto. JRNY NFT CLUB is a membership NFT that grants holders access to early access to NFT projects and future JRNY NFT sets.

NFTs Meet Defi

We expect to see advanced utility in new NFTs, including merging NFTs with some mechanics from DeFi like liquidity mining and staking in a gamified way.

To give one example, Wolf Game NFT sales exceeded $50 million in 5 days, offering the ability to stake NFTs themselves to earn tokens, with players’ in-game decisions directly impacting their staking rewards and even the fate of the NFTs.

Additionally, The Bored Ape Yacht Club will be releasing its own token this quarter, which is rumored to have staking use-cases.

Web3 Integrations

In 2022, we also expect to see far more partnerships between different applications and games. Recently, Adidas kicked off its entry into the metaverse with the purchase of a Bored Ape NFT.

As web3 integrations become more commonplace, we will see more and more brands and businesses entering the metaverse and utilizing NFTs for a variety of purposes.

DAO-focused NFTs

In a bid to buy a copy of the Constitution, ConstitutionDAO raised $47 million in 1 week, showing what kind of capital formation is possible with DAOs.

In the future, we might even see more advanced DAO-focused NFTs that see dividends passed on to DAO contributors.

Related Post

Utility NFTs: What are They?

About Blind Boxes

Blind Boxes is a gamified curation platform and launchpad for NFTs (non-fungible tokens). This highly scalable dApp enables brands and creators to diversify their revenue streams, increase the liquidity of their creative assets, and become leaders in decentralized global economies while engaging fans and buyers to discover and collect rare, limited edition NFTs.

Via the Blind Boxes Marketplace, buyers experience the thrill of time-released curated NFT collections. Collectors virtually unbox exclusive items, curated by tastemakers across art, music, sports, and entertainment. Curation is at the core of our value proposition. The platform offers a commission structure that incentivizes independent contributors to curate blind box collections that feature top-tier talent, emerging artists, and designers from around the world.

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New vs Fading Trends in NFT Utility 2022