At the end of 2021, NFTs and the metaverse were the topics of greatest interest in the cryptocurrency market. Non-fungible tokens remained the market’s last stronghold, with the OpenSea marketplace breaking its monthly transaction volume record and items from the most popular NFT collections in the space such as Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks continuing to appreciate.
The tokens of the major decentralized metaverses were already trading just below their all-time highs at the end of December. And in January, although they were already on a downward trend, they continued to outperform the shares of technology companies dedicated to developing software and hardware for these new immersive digital environments.
Currently, the level of global popular interest in both terms, according to Google Trends, is at its lowest levels since the end of October last year. A time when, not coincidentally, the metaverse and NFTs pushed the limits of the cryptocurrency community, becoming popular topics globally.
It all started on October 28, when Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of the then company Facebook, announced that the company would be renamed Meta and that a large part of its efforts from then on would be oriented towards the development of products and services focused on the metaverse. These emerging virtual environments would be the next stage of the Internet, he said.
According to Zuckerberg – and many embarked on this journey with him at the time – people would stop interacting with each other through the screens of digital devices and would have their virtual personalities transferred to the web in the form of avatars.
Facebook critics reacted negatively to the announcement, but the cryptocurrency sector was the first to benefit from the renewed intentions of the company and its leader. Immediately, the two main tokens of the decentralized metaverse -Decentraland (MANA) and The Sandbox (SAND)- began a rise towards new all-time highs driven much more by the irrationality of the market than by concrete and objective reasons. In the sequence, other protocols have also benefited from the sudden and growing interest in the topic, such as Gala Games (GALA), Iluvium (ILV) and WEMIX.
NFTs had already experienced a first surge of interest and enthusiasm in late August and September. Back then, the Bored Ape Yacht Club established itself as a cultural phenomenon beyond the borders of the cryptocurrency community with an auction at Sotheby’s that raised £130 million. At the time, the NFTs in the collection reached record prices thanks to the adherence of personalities from the sports universe and the entertainment industry to the Bored Ape club.
However, the rise of the metaverse has been accompanied by a renewal of interest in NFTs, as the essence of non-fungible tokens – in effect, digital property certificates registered on public and transparent blockchain networks – is critical to the full realization of the supposed creative and economic potential of these new digital virtual environments.
A week after Zuckerberg’s announcement, the combined interest in NFTs and the metaverse peaked, according to Google Trends. From there, NFTs continued to rise. The height of public attention occurred in the week between January 16 and 22, fueled by the renewal of Bored Apes, CryptoPunks and CloneX price records and the launch of new collections and even a market for compete with the leader OpenSea. Metaverse searches have been relatively stable since early November, but at a much lower level.
NFT and metaverse search in the last 12 months. Source: Google Trends
In the last days of January, a sharp decline in interest in NFTs is beginning to be observed, the effect of which is also noticeable in metaverse searches on Google. Today, interest in both the metaverse and NFTs is at pre-Meta levels, according to Google Trends.
In an article published in Forbes last week, the magazine’s media and entertainment expert Paul Tassi wonders what future awaits the supposed future of the Internet, given that its two main vectors seem to be falling by the wayside, at least for the general public:
“Blockchain technology and everything it spawns may not be going anywhere, but all the predictions about NFTs being part of the inevitable future and the metaverse being the birth of web 3.0 seem… overblown, to say the least.” I wouldn’t be surprised if these concepts came back later under new names to be more topical, but for now, interest in both is clearly waning, and I wonder what will happen to the millions of NFTs held when speculation in this market is no longer at its peak. If we continue down this path, we are about to find out.”
Despite the apparent decline of the NFT market and initial lackluster experiments in the metaverse – be it decentralized or centralized – tech giants continue to develop products and solutions for NFTs with a focus on Web3.
Zuckerberg made headlines again on Wednesday the 16th to announce that Instagram will integrate NFTs into the platform. And Spotify has just opened two job openings focused on emerging technologies and Web3, Cointelegraph reports.
Clarification: The information and/or opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views or editorial line of Cointelegraph. The information set forth herein should not be taken as financial advice or investment recommendation. All investment and commercial movement involve risks and it is the responsibility of each person to do their due research before making an investment decision.
Investments in crypto assets are not regulated. They may not be suitable for retail investors and the full amount invested may be lost. The services or products offered are not aimed at or accessible to investors in Spain.