Who’s been making money out of NFTs?

This year, a new phrase entered the vocabulary of many investors: “non-fungible token” or NFT.

NFTs are lines of code that prove ownership of a particular piece of digital art. Like traditional pieces of art, NFTs can be bought, sold and traded and wildly fluctuate in value.

This year, an NFT became the most expensive piece of art ever sold, but at the same time celebrity speculators lost millions of dollars investing the highly volatile asset.

NFTs aimed to solve the problem of plagiarism in the digital world. Any person could copy an image from the internet, but only someone with an NFT could prove they owned the rights to that image.

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Some in New Zealand saw NFTs as a chance to make money, some saw them as a chance to change the world of art and empower artists.

One year on, here is how locally produced NFTs’ value has changed.

Pixelmon

These NFTs, developed by 20-year-old Hamilton resident Martin Stephen Van Blerk​ aimed to make images of cartoon monsters that were the “highest-quality game the NFT space has ever seen”.

But the business suffered widespread criticism after it raised US$70 million (NZ$103m), and delivered several NFTs buyers called “amateurish” and “comically bad”.

Van Blerk​ apologised and stated the images were “unacceptable” and had “let many people down”.

Following this apology, Van Blerk committed to investment in the NFT product design. As a result of this investment, Pixelmon NFTs have begun to slowly rise in value.

One Pixelmon NFT of a green monster was listed for 2.5 Ethereum (NZ $1999) in February this year. By December the same NFT, with a serious facelift, was now valued at $52,000.

Kiwis and Kangaroos

This NFT project made headlines after it offered a prize of a free Lamborghini Huracan for a person that made an NFT on the platform.

The project was fronted by social media star Jimi Jackson and sold NFTs of cartoon images of muscular Kiwis and Kangaroos, smoking and drinking.

It aimed to sell 6666 NFTs for $1600 each. But as of Friday it had sold 950 images for a range of prices, many far below the listed price.

An NFT of a muscular Kiwi wearing sunglasses, a builder’s hardhat, and smoking a cigar, was listed eight months ago for 0.174 ETH (NZ $340), but was now trading at $147.

Glorious digital

This local NFT project made waves when it launched with celebrity investors such as All Black Dan Carter, and former Australian cricket captain Steve Smith.

It aimed to buy up the exclusive rights for high-profile New Zealand artists, and to sell NFTs of their art. Glorious has signed up Dick Frizzell, Neil Finn, and the estate of Rita Angus to its platform.

In February, rich-lister Craig Heatley invested in the company, and said he wanted Glorious to become “the Louvre of NFTs”.

Glorious Digital artworks are not traded on Opensea, the standard NFT marketplace, but on the company’s own trading platform.

One of Glorious Digital’s highest-profile NFTs were digital reproductions of Rita Angus’s portrait Cass. These 10 NFTs are currently valued at 8 ETH (NZ $16,021), according to the Glorious website.

NF Labs

Founded last year, Auckland based NFT studio NF Labs have been one of the most successful NFT companies.

Co-founded by former Target presenter Brooke Howard-Smith​, NF Labs created a series of NFTs of cartoon rabbits called Fluf World (sic).

Some of the images of rabbits became very expensive and sought after by digital collectors.

NF Labs made headlines after it partnered with American rapper Snoop Dogg to make seven special edition Snoop Dogg-themed rabbits. The sale of these NFTs netted over $1m for the Auckland City Mission.

The most expensive Fluf World NFT currently on offer is an image of an undead Zombie rabbit with a wreath of flowers around its head, currently selling for $80,100 (400 ETH).

But Fluf World NFTs vary greatly in price, the cheapest rabbit on offer can be purchased for $5600 (2.8 ETH).