While They've Been Around Since 2014, 2021 Was the First Year That This Novel Technology Broke Through into the Mainstream. Total Nft Sales Hit $25 Billion in...
While they've been around since 2014, 2021 was the first year that this novel technology broke through into the mainstream. Total NFT sales hit $25 billion in 2021, compared to $94.9 million the year before, according to data collected by DappRadar, an app store for decentralized applications.
When did NFT become a thing?
On May 3rd, 2014, digital artist Kevin McCoy minted the first-known NFT 'Quantum' on the Namecoin blockchain. 'Quantum' is a digital image of a pixelated octagon that hypnotically changes colour and pulsates in a manner reminiscent of an octopus.
NFTs were a hot market, but the number of accounts trading has dwindled. Almost a million accounts actively bought or sold NFTs at the start of the year, but the number has since declined to 491,000, blockhain analytics company Chainalysis found.
Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.