NFT Art Sales Hit $3.5 Billion as of 2021 Q3 – Report

By Nath Cajuday

Hiscox Online Art Trade Report 2021 revealed earlier this month that Non-Fungible Token (NFT) sales of crypto art and collectibles have already hit an estimated $3.5 billion as of September, 2021.

Stating that the total online art sales already reached $6.8 billion in the first half of 2021, the report asserts that it could hit $13.5 billion by the end of this year if the same growth rate will apply.

“Rather than a bubble that is ready to burst, we see the NFT market entering an exciting new phase, moving from images generated by individual artists to more mass-participation projects, such as CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club, where feeling a part of something much bigger is as important as the art itself. The conventional art market ignores the rise of NFTs at its peril,” the report said.

The report estimated that there are about $1.7 billion total NFT sales of crypto art and collectibles in August alone – surpassing the total sales in March with $356 million, where Mike Winkelmann (also known as Beeple) sold his NFT art ‘Everydays –The First 5000 Days’ for $69 million.

However, it also stressed that the NFT market is still evidently volatile, as NFT sales dropped by 69% in September.

On the other hand, the report also found out that the recent “boom” in crypto collectibles, such as Crypto Punks and Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC), emphasizes that “collecting habits are moving towards code-generated art (algorithmic art) aimed at generating communities of followers, buyers and investors” from the first NFT boom that focused mainly on art by single artists.

“Although the art itself might be perceived by critics as trivial, the combination of uniqueness, ownership, gamification, and storytelling is fuelling sales among a new generation of collectors and investors,” it added.

Hiscox Online Art Trade Report 2021 also revealed that 14% of the online sites it surveyed are already accepting cryptocurrency payments, while 38% of the online sites said they are looking to open the possibilities to accept crypto payments as well.

The report confidently highlighted that the sudden bloom of online art market is due to the pandemic’s left and right lockdowns, quarantine, and social distancing that affected physical art markets.

An estimated $3.125 billion, or 46% of online art sales in the first half of 2021 were sold through mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.

In the Philippines, the mass adoption of blockchain technology was accepted by the large community in terms of NFT games and NFT arts.

Last October 22, the Philippines’ First Story Book NFT: The Last Moon by Yvette Tan was released at Frankfurt Book Fair (FBF), the oldest and largest book fair in the world. It is the first story book NFT that was released by a country. (Read more: https://bitpinas.com/nft/the-last-moon-opensea/)

NFT deserves the hype and attention that the world gives in these times of pandemic.

(To know and learn more about NFT, read our NFT 101 article.)

“The other big and certainly for me, totally unexpected, event that has exploded into view are NFTs. Activity has been up and downlike a yo-yo but what is undeniable is that they are attracting a new breed of collector/speculator to the market and are here to stay. It will undoubtedly create a bubble in the short term and we can expect a few to make a fortune whilst many will end up shedding a tear before the NFT market settles down and becomes part of the mainstream,” said Robert Read, Hiscox Head of Art and Private Clients, on his introduction statement on the report.

Hiscox Online Art Trade Report 2021 is an annual report and now in its 9^th year. Believing in the power of art and NFT, it concluded that:

 “Art and NFTs are here to stay.”

This article is published on BitPinas: NFT Art Sales Hit $3.5 Billion as of 2021 Q3 – Report