Jan 2022 - June 2022 NFTGo Research

©2022 NFTGo. All rights reserved.

Disclaimer

Note

This research report is for informational purposes only. Investing in digital assets such as NFTs and
cryptocurrencies comes with it a high degree of risk.

Please consult with a financial advisor before making any investment decisions. NFTGo does not provide financial
advice and is not responsible for any losses incurred as a result of investing in digital assets.
Foreword

NFTs have been through multiple explosion periods like 2014 -
2017, 2018 - 2020, and 2020 - 2022. And now, we have just
witnessed the end of the 2021 - 2022 explosion. Emerging from
media discourse, growing in community consensus, and
transitioning to pan-branding and cultural communication,
NFTs have become an emerging class of financial asset, not to
mention the expansion of usage from URL to IRL, and the
multifunctional JPG. The effort every Web3er has contributed
through NFTs, DAO, P2E, SocialFi, etc. are the building blocks of
our future.
Understanding the trends and the panorama of the NFT
market is critical to identify new opportunities. Not only is
this applicable for NFT buyers and investors, but also for
companies and institutions who intend to innovate their
brands through NFTs.
NFTGo Research specializes in NFT industry research and is
dedicated to providing cutting-edge insights into NFT
market partakers around the world and uncovering the
trends behind the data.

In the first half of 2022, NFTs have become known to the public
through conferences such as NFT.NYC and the evolution of new
blue chips. Currently, the NFT market boasts a market cap of
$22.56B, which accounts for 18% of the entire crypto industry.
What awaits us in the future? Which whales are already in the
arena? What are the best blue chips to hold? What industry
opportunities can we identify from the data?
NFTGo Research Team
Contents Macro Trends in NFT Six Top Trends and Insights in NFTs
What are the trends for "NFTs" in different regions? And why What's the next hotspot?
have they happened?

The Correlation between NFTs and the Crypto PRO How Do Whales Flip the Market? ��
Market What trends can we see from whale activities?
What's the relationship between NFTs and crypto market? Whale Capital inflow and outflow in the NFT Market
Which assets are the most favored by whales?
Besides blue-chip NFTs, what other assets are
2022 Half-yearly Awards valued by whales?
Top NFTs and collections we've shortlisted according to
on-chain data and rankings.
PRO BAYC Analysis and Trends in 2022 ��
What's the attitude of BAYC Holders?
Five Interesting Facts The trends for diamond hand and paper hand
What are the hype cycles for NFTs? holders
What strategies do whales employ when buying
2022 key events

and selling BAYC?

Category Trends in NFT What does the PnL distribution look like?
Which category is the mainstream?

How Are NFT Holders Engaging With Market How to Acquire the PRO version
What are the key factors in Decision Making? Next page ->
How to Acquire the PRO Version
🔗 The PRO Version link
 NFTGo Research

Macro
Trends
in NFTs Are we entering into a bear market or the
beginning phase of a potential bull cycle?

Bringing NFT Index, Insight and Inspiration to All.

Google Trends for “NFT” Peaked in Jan 2022
NFT popularity rose as the overall trading volume of the NFT market flourished. The period between July and September of 2021 was
when the NFT phenomenon began to take root. Fluctuations during this period were small and laid a strong foundation for the boom.
January through February of 2022 saw the second market boom and lasted even longer.

Data Source: Google Search

Growing Interests in Asian Markets
Data Source: Google Search
As seen from the chart, the Asian market is very sensitive to the ecological
changes in NFTs. Hong Kong has the most searches for NFTs, followed by
China. North America and Europe share a similar level of NFT popularity but
are still slightly behind Asia.

Data Source: Google Search

More Celebrities are Using NFTs
as Their SocMed Profiles in 2022

Data Source: Twitter/Instagram

Airdrops Are Popular Among Blue-Chip Collections

Beanz Dooplicator RTFKT MNLTH WoW Galaxy Cool Pets Moonbirds Oddity

Azuki FP doodles FP RTFKT FP World of Women FP Cool Cats FP Moonbirds FP

11.49 ETH 13.59 ETH 21 ETH 4.48 ETH 4.2 ETH 25.99 ETH

beanz FP dooplicator FP RTFKT MNLTH FP WoW Galaxy FP Cool pets FP Moonbirds Oddity FP

1.18 ETH 1.54 ETH 4.5 ETH 0.58 ETH 0.29 ETH 3.27 ETH

Note: the FP is updated in June

 NFTGo Research

The Correlation
between NFTs
and the Crypto
Market Key insights into NFTs, ETH and BTC
market correlation.

Bringing NFT Index, Insight and Inspiration to All.

NFTs Are Less Second Half Of 2021

Correlated With the

ETH Market
At present, the NFT market is built based on the
crypto market, so it is natural to be affected by
the general market even though the response
is usually "sluggish."

As seen from the figure below, when the

market value of Ethereum declined, the value First Half Of 2022
of the NFT market did not drop simultaneously.
The NFT Market Is Small
When Compared to the
ETH Market NFT
14.3%
It’s worth considering that NFTs are a very small and
niche subset of speculative markets. NFTs merge culture
and art with finance and trading to provide a
decentralized way of connecting creators with fans.

Ethereum is much more mainstream than NFTs. There

are also huge funds with high leverage in the crypto
market that have been drastically liquidated over the
past few weeks. ETH
85.7%
All of these dynamics play together and caused a
significant decrease in ETH's market cap.
The NFT market is tiny in comparison with ETH's.

The chart below illustrates their market sizes.

NFTs Are Heading For Independency
This chart illustrates how volatile the correlations between two speculative assets can be. The negative correlation between the two
assets is a signal of their unique value propositions in the market. The ETH/BTC correlation has been close to 1 more often than the
ETH/NFT correlation. Using BTC's association with ETH as our reference, we can observe the independent movements of the NFT
market relative to ETH.
 NFTGo Research

2022
Half-yearly
Awards Here are the top NFTs and top collections
we’ve shortlisted according to on-chain
data and rankings.

Bringing NFT Index, Insight and Inspiration to All.

1・Best New NFT Award
Nomination criteria: innovation, excellent statistical performance, popularity
Nominated projects: Azuki, Moonbirds, goblintown.wtf

Azuki
�� In less than 6 days since its launch, Azuki emerged to the top 3 in OpenSea's
7 day volume ranking with over $38.6 million in trading volume.

�� The project created the new ERC721A standard, an innovative whitelist

mechanism, and a new way of selling NFTs. Furthermore, it introduced NFT
fragmentation, online and offline integration, and led a new wave of NFT
aesthetics.
1・Best New NFT Award
Nomination criteria: NFT method innovation, excellent statistical performance, popularity
Nominated projects: Azuki, Moonbirds, goblintown.wtf

Moonbirds
�� Within 3 days of its launch, the project's market cap exceeded $500 million
and the volume of trade was almost $300 million, setting a single-day
record.
It makes up for a weakness of the content community which is the difficulty
of secondary dissemination and brings PASS empowerment to people's
attention.
1・Best New NFT Award
Nomination criteria: NFT method innovation, excellent statistical performance, popularity
Nominated projects: Azuki, Moonbirds, goblintown.wtf

goblintown.wtf

�� The project's volume exceeded $20 million within 7 days of launch,

bucking the bear market.
Not only did it introduce a new marketing model and spark the free mint
wave, but it also triggered people's pursuit of “ugly” NFTs.
2・Best Project Award
Nomination criteria: Leaders of NFT trends, groundbreaking approaches
Nominated developers: Yuga Labs, Dapper Labs

��
Yuga Labs

Yuga Labs acquired a series of IPs such as CryptoPunks in the first half of this
year, and the volume of its NFTs occupies half of the total market volume.
Simultaneously, the company has issued ApeCoin and Otherside to gain ground
in the field of Web3 and has achieved the leap from NFT to MetaRGP. As for online
traffic, the company constantly breaks records and has led the most people into
the world of NFTs.
3・Most “Powerful” Tweets
ZAGABOND.ETH, the founder of Azuki, wrote an article titled "A Builder's Journey" on May 10, revealing for the first time that he had
created three other NFT projects in the past: CryptoPhunks, Tendies, and CryptoZunks. The article was intended to share his career
history and growth journey in the NFT field. However, it evoked doubts among community members as they deemed it an admission
by the founder that he had created and abandoned three projects in the past year.

The moment the article was tweeted, Azuki's floor price fell from 18.69 ETH all the way to 7.39 ETH, a drop of nearly 60%, and the
market value of Azuki alone (excluding BEANZ and Bobu) evaporated by over $200 million.
4・Most Expensive Avatar
CryptoPunks #5822 was purchased by Deepak
Thapliyal (Deepak.eth), CEO of Chain, in February
of this year for 8,000 ETH (about $23.7 million).
Breaking the record sale of CryptoPunks #7523 in
June 2021 by Sotheby's, it is now the most
expensive CryptoPunks avatar of all time.
5・Best NFT Marketplace
OpenSea: The daily volume of OpenSea ranked
mostly first in the first half of the year and was
only ranked second twice (to LooksRare in
January and Magic Eden in May), making it the
best NFT marketplace in the first half of the year.
6・Most Widely Applicable NFT

ENS : Ethereum Name Service, with a current total of 1.5M

NFTs, has 444.7K owners after experiencing remarkable
transaction volume in the first half of the year.
 NFTGo Research

Interesting
Facts

Bringing NFT Index, Insight and Inspiration to All.

Most Profitable Blue Chip NFTs in 2022
The Short Half-life of Hype Cycles
Among all blue chip collections, those launched in 2022 went through price fluctuations that were more volatile and extreme. It’s also
worth noting that most of the blue chip collections listed here saw equal up days and down days over the last couple of months.

*Up days means that the floor price goes up in a specific day.
The Meme Culture Bubble
Some of the most successful NFT collections were launched after April of 2022. Among these collections, GoblinTown had the biggest
bubble of 2022. Following that, many free-to-mint projects like We Are All Going to Die began to emerge.
Blue Chips Are Standing Strong
While new collections experienced price surges and plunges, there was little to no volatility for blue chip collections. Most of these
projects were able to remain stable. However, the top 3 collections, BAYC, CryptoPunks, Azuki on the ranking saw more up days
than down days, especially from January to March.
More Players, More Competitions
Over 62% of qualified collections were launched in the first half of 2022.

NFT Launched
in 2021
37.2%

NFT Launched
in 2022
62.8% NOTE
Qualified collections means it meets the
requirements of listing criteria of nftgo.io

Date as of: 06.2022

Less Collections Are Going to Zero Trading Volume
Some art NFT collections have low to zero volume. 15% of the collections launched in 2021 have had zero trading volume for more
than 30 days. On the other hand, only 6% of the NFT projects in 2022 have zero volume for this period.

2021 2022

Zero Volume
Zero Volume 6.8%
15.8%

Non-Zero Volume Non-Zero Volume

84.2% 93.2%

Date as of: 06.2022

Less Collections Are Going to Zero FP
Compared with collections launched in the second half of 2021, collections that were launched in the first half of 2022 comprise
a smaller portion of those that went to zero floor price.

2022 H1
38.7%

2021 H2
61.3%

Date as of: 06.2022

20% of NFT Collections Have a Floor Price Below 0.01 ETH
20% of the NFT collections that were launched in 2022 have a floor below 0.01 ETH. Compared to
collections that have launched in 2021, this number has decreased significantly.

Floor < 0.01 ETH

19.9%

Floor > 0.01 ETH

80.1%

Date as of: 06.2022

Most NFTs Were Bought Higher Than their Current FP
As seen in the chart above, most blue chip NFTs were purchased above the
current floor price. Some people purchased due to FOMO and are forced to HODL
(both willingly and unwillingly) at the FUD stage due to market conditions. But it’s
worth noting that CryptoPunks, BAYC, PROOF Collective, and other blue chip NFTs
are purchased below the current floor price, indicating that despite the current
plunge, most investors didn't suffer too much from their losses. When the
proportion of addresses above the current floor price and the holding costs get
higher, the harder it will be for the project to rise.
(Data as of: 06.2022)
Take Azuki as an example, higher percentage of holders bought NFTs at the high
price earlier. The general holding cost of PROOF Collective is lower compared to
the current floor price, with only 14.7% of addresses purchased above the current
floor price. One of the reasons could be the PROOF Collective PASS category
does not contain traits that make rare NFTs expensive. Both indicators for The
Sandbox LAND and Nouns are less than 20%, indicating that these collections
have less NFTs being sold after mint and have more diamond hands.
BAYC and CryptoPunks Dominate Blue Chip Profits
PnL (USD)
Among all of the blue chip collections that we have analyzed, BAYC and
CryptoPunks sellers made the highest profits. The average PnL for these
blue-chip NFTs ranges from $1M in profits to $500,000 in losses. The
profit made by Doodles is significantly smaller than that of BAYC and
CryptoPunks. However, Doodles' volatility is much lower compared to
the two.
In mid-April, Moonbirds' launch produced a massive bubble which
resulted in exponential gains by many. However, towards the end of
2022 H1, losses were seen in Moonbirds' trades. The days with more
losses in the first three months were less than next three months. This
shows that blue chip sellers are losing profits.
 NFTGo Research

Market & Category

Trends in NFT

Bringing NFT Index, Insight and Inspiration to All.

PFP Dominates the Market

The chart reflects the proportion of the market value of each NFT category. PFP ranks first and has been occupying more than 50%
of the market value. This is followed by the Collectibles and Game that have significantly decreased their proportion in May. A
possible reason behind this rise is the launch of Otherdeed which brought about a rise in its category. PFP will continue to take up
the largest share in the foreseeable future, leaving the rest a battleground for other categories.
Collectible and Art Volume Hyped in Early 2022

Data Source: NFTGo.io

X2Y2 & LooksRare Are Gaining Popularity But
OpenSea Remains The Leader

Data Source: NFTGo.io Note: Only data on Ethereum is included.

 NFTGo Research

How NFT Holders

Are Engaging With
the Market
An analysis of holders’ portfolios to better
understand the strategy of diamond hands and flippers.

Bringing NFT Index, Insight and Inspiration to All.

NFT Consumption per Capita Saw FOMO but is
Now in the Cold Season
Per capita NFT consumption trend chart

The chart shows the trend of NFT consumption per capita. FOMO occurred from January to February this year, and March and April
also witnessed two small consumption surges. However, the numbers began to drop in May.
0.05% of Ethereum Addresses Own 26.68% of
NFT Assets
Which Type of NFT Trader Are You?
Key Factors In Decision Making

When you make a trade, what factor(s) do you consider? Answered : 41

Skipped : 7

100%
90%
80%
70% 63.41% 60.98% 63.41%
58.54%
60%
51.22% 48.78%
50% 43.90% 46.34%
v
40%
30%
20%
12.20%
10%
0%
Each NFT Social Community Collection Collection People who The Trading Others
price media followers holders categories suggest background -related
followers this project of the metrics
projects
60% of NFT Buyers Believe Rarity Matters

40%
34%
35%

30%
27%
25%
19%
20%
16%
15%

10%

5% 3%
0%
100% 75% 50% 25% I don’t care
about rarity
at all.
 NFTGo Research

2022 H2
Predictions
& Insights What’s on trend?
What’ll happen next?

Bringing NFT Index, Insight and Inspiration to All.

GameFi & P2E: Tech Innovation & Participation of
Traditional Companies

Last year, the concept of GameFi attracted investors to the market. Projects that received funding and technical support are still in
the development stage, this means the market has huge potential in 2022. In addition, GameStop also entered the market in the first
half of 2022, and its volume has surpassed Coinbase NFT.
Taking a closer look at Animoca Brands' investment in The Sandbox and Otherdeed, metaverse concept projects topped the list of
trading volume. Furthermore, with top game companies like Ubisoft and Nintendo jumping on the bandwagon and the funding from
a16z and Binance, we can anticipate a quicker R&D process for new technology, mechanism design, and economic model.
STEPN’s Remarkable User Growth

In the first half of 2022, x-to-earn projects like STEPN caught much attention. A good thing about the P2E industry is that despite
market behavior, games are constantly being improved to achieve a better user experience. It also means that developers can
come up with new features to enhance the engagement rate despite a bearish market.
Music NFTs: Connecting Artists and Fans

With NFTs, fans can take part in the journey of artists, get access to concerts, earn royalties, or even get profits from streaming music.
There is a long way to go for Music NFTs to become mainstream, but at the same time it has a lot of options to grow and it has the
community by its side. As people notice that they can own pieces of art by their favorite music artists, the space will start to gain
momentum and sooner or later, massive adoption will happen.
Social Media Companies Tend to Enter Web3 Through
NFT

In the first half of the year, Twitter was the first social media outlet that supported multiple crypto wallets and the use of NFTs as a
profile picture. Meta announced that it will build its own NFT ecosystem with a feature that displays NFT avatars on its main products:
Facebook and Instagram. The company also plans to use its payment infrastructure to create an NFT-inclusive marketplace. In the
first half of the year, Instagram launched a feature for NFT display; TikTok partnered with Audius to develop TikTok Sounds; Reddit
launched a new NFT avatar marketplace; and Japanese communications giant LINE launched its Profile NFT feature.

All social media giants have made some moves mainly based on their existing features to integrate NFTs with social media
businesses. In the second half of the year, the competition is expected to intensify.
People Are Now the Nodes for Information Distribution

Socializing in Web3 no longer relies on social media platforms. Instead, everyone has become their own hub of content distribution.
With a unified personal account and complete freedom of personal data, social interactions are recorded in the user's own
ecosystem. Perhaps, people can build their own social platform through SocialFi integration. Since every individual has a different
social style, users can select SocialFi plans that fit their needs.
New Art Styles Emerged in 2022

Ever since CryptoPunks introduced pixel art to the NFT

market with its launch in June of 2017, different styles
have slowly sprouted along as the has market
developed.

Recent additions to the market include anime,

mecha, demotivational culture, minimalist, etc.

The following is a partial list of NFT projects according

to drawing styles. Art style is not only the cornerstone
to jump-start every NFT project, but also the link to
connecting the development milestone of the project.
Sports: Big Sports Leagues Are
Dabbling In NFTs With a Boom in
Sight

Looking back at the many encounters between NFTs and the

sports sector in the first half of 2022, the sports industry has been
exploring the commercial value of NFTs. Examples include NBA's
brand new attempt at outsourcing + card sales (The Association
NFT) and Sorare's brand engagement + GameFi development.

The current volume of NFTs in the sports industry remains low

when compared to categories like GameFi and art. However,
when big sports leagues' venture into NFTs is coupled with
cyclical headlines like the World Cup, the market will most likely
boom.
DAO: Seizing the Niche Market

Many investors focused their attention on DAOs in the first half of the year as
its theory and practice and the integration of NFTs and DAOs gradually took
shape. Currently, the ecology of DAOs has been subdivided into Protocol
DAOs, Grant DAOs, Investment DAOs, Service DAOs, Collector DAOs, Social
DAOs, Media DAOs, etc. Among them, Bankless DAOs of "decentralized
collaboration" have caused a boom in discussions around production and
collaboration models, and attracted creators to explore Web3. On the other
hand, Investment and Collector DAOs have a wide social network, thus
making them more appealing to investors.

DAOs are trying to increase the efficiency of talent and capital utilization,
which is also a trend in Web3. The market expects to see more innovative
mechanisms and DAO governance tools as DAOs continue to segment into
niches in the second half of the year.
PFPs: The More Mature the Market
the More Novel the Method

In terms of collectibles, we saw more community forms and specialized

tools based on PFPs in the first half of 2022 in both the music and visual
arts industries. Some PFP projects tend to entrust professional platforms
for promotion. Meanwhile, celebrity participation has also become more
frequent. The practicality of collectibles continue to emerge despite
market bubble and hype, thus facilitating the formation of a complete
industry chain.

The PFP category has always topped the list of trading volume of the
market. Projects like BAYC and Doodles have once again come out with
new industry models: "NFT→FT→MetaRPG" and
"NFT→Audio/Visual→Entertainment." This might cause a wave of imitation.

At the same time, in the first half of 2022, the tendency to co-create using
IP copyrights has become prominent. It’s expected that PFP will explore
more IP business models in the future.
The NFT Market Lacks a Consistent
Valuation Pricing Model

The NFT financial derivative industry is becoming more mature, giving rise to
products such as NFTfi and NFTX that address the liquidity needs of NFT assets.
These derivatives will improve the capital utilization of NFTs, thus triggering market
activity and promoting industrial development.

The current rarity quantitative model in the market is vulnerable to a variety of

factors, including volume, the number of NFTs in a collection, and the general
market trend. More importantly, it is unable to predict future contingencies and is
vulnerable to human manipulation such as wash trading.

On the other hand, trait-based machine learning only takes into account the traits
that are of high impact on NFT prices. There is a delay in prediction, as well as the
same inability to cope with unexpected events. It is worth noting, however, that
consensus comes from two aspects: the number of officially defined rare traits and
the rarity of certain fun traits customized by the community.

NFT market capitalization can be revised based on market performance through

staking, liquidity pools, and other financial methods that artificially respond to
market movements and bids in real-time.
Hottest NFT Categories :
From PFP to Utility

Art — Sports — PFP —

(GameFi — DAO — Music — Pass-Freemint)

From the outlook of the NFT niche market, the bubble of the simple PFP
+ roadmap form has gradually burst as the volume of transactions
declined and is currently in a cooling-off period. The actual
applications of NFTs may have surprising performances and
development in the latter half of the year (PROOFS/TICKETING).
Buy the Rumor and Sell the News

Hype cycles in the NFT market are usually short-lived, yet

they are often used to pump up prices. Some holders grab
the opportunity to realize 100x profits, while others prefer to
HODL.

When a bubble forms, everything would appear to be

well-performing. However, in about three months' time,
many who bought into the NFT for the hype can lose a
upwards of $20K.
PFP – A Language to Reflect
Market Sentiment

The bear market is now witnessing the mushrooming of collections that

pride themselves on being "ugly, evil, and weird." Their sudden and
abrupt emergence has made people wonder about the consensus they
match with. It may have been caused by discontent with the market as
most NFTs are currently at a loss.

These NFTs can evoke resonance and emotional consensus in such

situations by mocking others. However, as Shit and other projects
continues to upgrade its rules while making its way to the top of the
market, will it eventually become the type of NFT it once despised? We
shall keep watching.
NFTGo.io is a leading NFT data and trading aggregation platform that enables our community to analyze NFT
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Any question or collaboration? Contact us: social@nftgo.io

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