The Solsea NFT Marketplace Explained (Read Before Using)

More blockchain platforms are coming into existence, continuously evolving the Web3 world. Of course, each claims to be the best of its kind. But, unlike some, Solana’s blockchain network has much to boast about—particularly its NFT marketplace, Solsea. 

Solana addresses common Web3 challenges, making the blockchain’s secondary marketplace all the more appealing. For example, Ethereum faces high gas fees due to the prices of gas fluctuating concerning network congestion. Contrastingly, Solana is arguably the fastest moving blockchain. It has the tech to roll out more than 20,000 transactions per second (TPS) at peak load, eliminating congestion issues entirely. 

Thus, purchasing Solana NFTs on its very own marketplace is the way forward for cheaper mints and purchases. 

But what other perks does Solsea have, and how can the secondary marketplace benefit you? 

What is Solsea? NFT and Secondary Marketplace Perks 

To better understand Solsea, grasping the concepts behind NFT marketplaces is vital. Like an art exhibition in the physical world, NFT marketplaces are galleries in the digital world. But instead, each marketplace is a hub for people to auction or buy their favourite digitized content. 

Thus, creators can make money directly from their work, and collectors can own a rare piece of content that they solely own.

Think of it like an art gallery that doubles as a 24/7/365 marketplace for art. 

The use cases of NFTs showcased on the marketplace are endless. Some include crypto domain name ownership, real estate, identification and documentation, and even real-world assets. You can find anything you want in a digital asset on such marketplaces at contrasting prices. Your most-loved celebrity may even own the NFT collection you have your eye on. 

But what makes Solsea unique compared to others?

In contrast to OpenSea, which accepts the cryptocurrencies Ethereum (ETH), Klatyn (KLAY), Polygon (MATIC), and Solana (SOL), Solsea only accepts SOL and a few FIAT currencies (USDC and USDT) for transactions. 

Minting costs also change depending on which marketplace you use. As you may have experienced firsthand, an ETH-based marketplace like OpenSea charges an arm and a leg to mint NFTs.

Solsea is hailed for its cheap experience, but again, the only NFTs available here are based on SOL. 

On top of fees during the minting process, OpenSea also takes a 2.5% profit once an NFT sells, whereas Solsea charges a 2% fee after each successful purchase. 

Other advantages of Solsea include: 

  • Airdrops for upcoming projects
  • Participants can schedule NFT drops ahead of time to avoid missing project launches
  • The first-ever NFT marketplace that enables curators to select and incorporate their licenses while minting NFTs
  • Ahead of the chain for embedding copyright-licenses into NFTs during the minting process
  • A straightforward and easy-to-use interface for uploading NFT collections 
  • Each fully verified and minted Solsea NFT highlights trait statistics and rarity ranks
  • Curators can list their NFTs for sale to the public or privately for more exclusive or more comprehensive purchases

Another plus is that Solsea handles creators’ royalties. When minting an NFT on Solsea, curators can set the percentage of royalties they want to receive (e.g., 10%). Therefore, each time an NFT sells on the secondary marketplace, you can receive a percentage of the royalties set by the current owner. 

How to Join Solsea 

If the above perks appeal to you, take a look through Solsea for yourself.

First, create a Solana wallet on Phantom–buying, storing, or trading NFTs on Solsea is impossible unless creating one. 

Upon following the straightforward guidelines shown on the site to create your wallet, you can deposit your Solana tokens. Make sure you have at least 0.2 worth of SOL in your account; otherwise your wallet will show as being invalid. 

Whether you want to be an NFT curator or to join the marketplace for buying and selling purposes, you must create a Solsea account using a valid email address and private password. 

Write down your login information and tuck it away out of reach of hackers.   

Solsea Minting Tips

Hurrah, you now know the basics for creating a Solsea account. Now it’s time to create your own personal NFT collection held on the Solana blockchain

Solsea can be a bit challenging for crypto novices and first-time curators; but don’t get overwhelmed by the buzzwords or confusing features. Here is some advice and potential hurdles you may face while minting your NFT collection: 

  • Be prepared to connect your Phantom wallet to your Solsea account due to being locked on for security purposes. Keep your login information within reach to save time
  • Describe your collection of NFTs as thoroughly as possible while using few words due to the description section having a tight word limit 
  • Be aware of no bulk option if wanting to create multiple NFTs in one collection. Mint each NFT individually if wishing to switch up the artwork
  • Patience while minting your NFT is necessary. The process takes a hot second, especially if your computer power and Wi-Fi signal isn’t the speediest
  • Be prepared to lose a little bit of SOL if uploads fail. But fear not, each transaction roughly costs around $0.075
  • Free up some time over the platform requiring 3 transactions—2 for minting (approve, wait, approve), and 1 for setting the price. Each transaction is nonsensical regarding Phantom’s approval system. You will also be unsure how much the transaction fee will be until the minting process is complete. Although, don’t let this put you off—minting charges are never too steep 
  • You cannot set the price during the minting process. Instead, once successfully minting your NFT, go to your Phantom wallet, click the second tab not in focus by default that shows your NFTs, then click the list button
  • The combination of the three transactions costs approximately $2 total per NFT. Reasonable prices compared to Ethereum, which typically charges around $70-$100 when minting for the first time 

As you can see, Solsea has a few kinks that need ironing out. However, now that you have the know-how to mint your very own collection and overcome potential issues, the process should be relatively straightforward. 

Buying and Trading Advice—Happy NFT Hunting

So, let’s figure out how to use the secondary marketplace wisely to get the most bang for your buck.

On the main page of the Solsea platform, you can see important information about the platform and featured collections. You can easily filter out projects to find a collection that best suits you. You can find it all when looking for music, art, photography, gaming, virtual, or utility NFTs. Other filters include price, rank, likes, views, categories, licenses, and rarity ranks.

With that said, once finding an NFT you desire, you can check out the history of the digital assets, including its sales history and price, before deciding whether or not it is a good investment or a reasonable sale. 

Once reviewing all information, click “Buy NFT” and confirm the transaction in your Phantom wallet. You will now own an NFT, which is viewable in your profile and the “Collections” section of your wallet. Although, it’s critical to note that Solsea is not 100% clear of imposter collections. It’s wise to join project community channels on Discord, Twitter, and Telegram to help notice suspicious activities. You can also voice concerns to other community members and project management on such sites.

 The 10 Best-Selling NFT Artists Ever

NFT sales have come a long way since the first-ever mint in 2014. The digital assets mostly began taking the Internet by storm in the midst of the pandemic; people had more time to see what this Web3 malarkey is all about, and more NFT artists began flooding the space. 

Digital artists like Beeple, Pak and Tyler Hobbs regularly sell their NFT artwork for more than six figures. 

What makes their NFT projects stand out compared to others? Check out these top 10 historic NFT artists and what they brought to the blockchain: 

Pak (Murat Pak)

The anonymous NFT curator Pak, known as Murat Pak, is top of the NFT ladder. One of his Merge NFTs sold for a whopping $91.8 million, making it the most expensive sale to date. Buyers with the most significant stakes can trade and buy shares in other markets for higher prices. 

Pak is also well-known for creating NFTs with unique use cases. For example, his Clock Censored* collection consists of a timer that counts the number of days Assange has spent in prison. The former WikiLeaks publisher faces 175 years in jail over extradition to the US. 

Interestingly, a DAO fighting for Assange’s rights—AssangeDAO—won the NFT bid for approximately $52.7 million. The cypherpunks gave 100% of the proceeds to the Wau Holland Foundation, which supports Assange’s defense. 

It’s challenging to know precisely how much Pak is worth, seeing as the anon artist is a mystery in the sphere. However, between February 2020 and April 2022, the curator sold more than 180,300 NFTs. The total NFT market cap for the digital assets currently stands at around $430 million. 

Murat Pak’s works typically sell for $6.5k on average. 

Beeple

Mike Winkelmann, “Beeple”, shocked the world when his NFT collection Everydays: The First 5000 Days was sold for $69.3 million (38535 ETH). The event created an NFT hype and hit the headlines in mainstream media in 2021. 

Beeple’s digital work comes down to other valuable factors: he accumulated a vast fan base, with more than 2.5 million followers across social channels. His projects are often described as prolific. For example, his “Everydays” art piece is a collage of his digital artwork of the first 5000 days he began creating digital art from start to finish. Although not only does the digital art present a glimpse into Beeple’s artistic journey, but also a timeline of the United States history in real-time. 

Beeple has sold 1,351 NFTs in total that cost an entire value of $176,201,356. 

His average sale price for an NFT is $130,422.91.

Tyler Hobbs (Art Blocks)

Since joining Art Blocks in June 2021, computer scientist and generative artist, Tyler Hobbs, has caused a storm among NFTs. His most famous collection, Fidenza, made more than $177 million in secondary sales, turning him into a crypto multi-millionaire. 

Fidenza #946

Like other Art Blocks curators, he creates his now-viral art entirely from raw lines of code rather than using Photoshop and other popular photo editing tools. Although, differently, Hobbs is most famous for incorporating different hues and creating unique textures through algorithms, making his work one of the most versatile generative art styles to date. 

Tyler Hobbs has sold 1012 NFT masterpieces, making his total NFT value stand at nearly $120 million. 

On average, one of his NFTs costs around $115k. 

Dmitri Cherniak 

Dmitri Cherniak has been a long-time crypto aficionado but didn’t mint his own NFTs until 2019. 

Since then, Cherniak joined Art Blocks, creating his own generative art pieces through algorithms, similar to Hobbs. Despite only selling 875 NFTs in total, he stays ahead of the game over his Ringers collection, accumulating enough financial gain. 

Cherniak’s artwork focuses on geometric shapes and vibrant colors. Although, some of his artwork is in black and white. 

Ringers #463

Thanks to his Ringers collection, his current NFT value is close to the billion mark, standing at around $99 million. 

Cherniak’s highest sale for one Ringers NFTs is $2,682,000. 

Although, these digital assets usually sell for $112,365.58.

XCopy 

Hitting the top five is the anonymous artist XCopy, who also showcases his collection on Art Blocks.

Unlike the above Art Blocks artists mentioned, XCopy’s artwork is not generative. Instead, the anonymous NFT creator mints various collections on multiple platforms, including SuperRare, KnownOrigin, NiftyGateway and Async. 

The digital artist’s work typically consists of spooky-looking themes, featuring skulls and dramatic lighting that explore “death, dystopia and apathy through distorted visual loops”. However, like all art, collectors can perceive his work however they wish. 

XCOPY – “All Time High in the City”

XCopy has sold 9,543 NFTs, with his highest sale being $6.2 million—thanks to his All Time High in the City collection. 

His total NFT value is around $90 million, with his most famous ones typically selling for more than $9k each.

Matt DesLauriers

Like Tyler Hobbs and Dmitri Cherniak, Matt DesLauriers is another creative coder representing some of the most famous generative art on the Art Blocks platform.

Unlike other abstract pieces found on the platform, DesLauriers’ artwork is representational at first glance. His NFTs similarly showcase contrasting strokes of colour, giving an abstract effect. But, differently, you can notice 2D and 3D landscapes of high peak mountains. 

Matt DesLauriers has sold 2,070 NFTs. 

Meridian #327

DesLauriers’ most expensive digital asset, Meridian #327, sold for $36,963.58. In total, his digital assets are worth $55 million. 

Hackatao

The name Hackatao is fitting for this NFT project. “Hack” means discovering hidden meanings, whereas “Tao” is Yin and Yang for representing a dynamic balance. 

Hackatao is famous for both his NFT work as for physical pieces. Both styles showcase vibrant and expressive illustrations of female characters. 

Although, the most soared after NFTs created by Hackatao represent everyday issues regarding humanity, the environment and society. 

A well-known project created by Hackatao is Queen of Silence #3/5. The tattoo-styled, quirky piece of art features a woman with skulls, animals and dreams embedded into her body—representing her inner thoughts and demands. 

So far, Hackatao has sold 9184 NFTs, making a total market cap of $42,079,970.32. 

The NFTs typically sell for nearly $5K, although one sold for approximately $940k. 

Snowfro (Erick Calderon) 

Erick Calderon—who goes by the name Snowfro—is an iconic Web3 enthusiast who’s had an incredible journey. Not only is he renowned for being the founder of the Art Blocks generative NFT platform, but his iconic “Chromie Squiggles” generative NFT took the Web3 world by surprise.

Despite the generative art not looking like much at first glance, each Chromie Squiggle “embodies the soul of the Art Blocks platform”. Thus, collectors consider it as a personal signature from Snowfro himself. 

There are six contrasting types of Chromie Squiggles—fuzzy, ribbed, bold, standard, slinky, and pipe. He makes all styles from code that displays different characteristics and varies in rarity.

Chromie Squiggle #4697

Mystery also plays a big part in the project. Interestingly, collectors don’t know which squiggle they will acquire until after purchase.  

To date, the most expensive Chromie Squiggle is Chromie Squiggle #2227, with one selling for $26k. 

The average sale price for these digital assets is around $12K, boosting the project’s total market cap to approximately $38K. 

Richard Lord 

Richard Lord is yet another NFT curator reaping the benefits of being an artist on the Art Blocks platform. 

Lord’s most talked about NFT collection is Geometry Runners. The artwork represents animated geometric shapes “walking” across tiles. The collection’s colours vary from being mutable to bright. 

Geometry Runners has a total value of more than $30 million, with collectors purchasing 1,423 in total.  The highest bid for a Geometry Runner NFT is $28k. However, most sell for around $21k. 

Monica Rizzolli 

Last but not least, Monica Rizzolli joins the list of the top ten NFT artists. And, guess what, she’s another Art Blocks curator—who would’ve thought it? 

Being lucky enough to live in the Brazilian countryside, Rizzoli shows off her surroundings through digital art. And gosh, is it stunning. Her NFT collection consists of generative, abstract art. Although, she also highlights natural world forms, like flowers and leaves. 

Despite being bottom of the list, she still has six figures to be proud of. Her most famous collection is Fragments of an Infinite Field #570, assisting towards a total market cap of $30 million. 

The highest and average sale price for one of her NFTs is $29k. 

Final Thoughts: The Evolving Popularity of NFT Artists

The top 10 Web3 millionaires mentioned above bring something unique to the blockchain. Nevertheless, many other noteworthy NFT artists are floating around the space—all of which also show off six figures. 

There are a few trends we’ve gathered:

  1. Many of the top-selling NFT artists are anon. Collectors find the mystery appealing, as evidenced by the high-flying collections from Pak, XCopy and Hackatoa.
  2. The Art Blocks platform is a powerhouse. Buyers purchasing generative art on the platform do not fully know which digital assets they will receive until after forking out crypto to acquire one. 
  3. The personal allure and branding of the creator adds to the mystique. Beeple, for instance, has built his following by creating daily pieces over a decade. 

Of course, this list likely will change in time, as new generations of famous Web3 artists regularly appear on secondary marketplaces like OpenSea.

Pastel Network & Polygon Studios Collaborate to Bring NFT Permanent Storage and Copymint Security to the Polygon NFT Ecosystem

Pastel Network is excited to announce its collaboration with Polygon Studios, the home of NFT, Gaming, and Metaverse projects built on Polygon. Polygon will collaborate with Pastel with the goal of providing Pastel’s Sense and Cascade protocols to its NFT ecosystem. This collaboration signifies the continued successes of both Pastel and Polygon, and is a massive step forward for the overall NFT ecosystem. It is a testament to the growing need for NFT reliability, security and verifiability, solved via Pastel’s advanced infrastructure.

What is Polygon?

Polygon is a decentralized layer-2 scaling solution for public blockchains such as Ethereum, enabling developers to build scalable dApps with faster transactions & lower fees. It utilizes sidechains for off-chain computation and a decentralized network of PoS validators.

Polygon solves the scalability and usability issues while not compromising on decentralization and leveraging the existing developer community and ecosystem. As a result, Polygon enables platforms to achieve superior user experience to DApps and user functionalities.

Polygon Studios and the Polygon NFT Ecosystem

Polygon Studios is a new and essential initiative focused on growing the global NFT, Gaming, and Metaverse ecosystem built on the Polygon protocol. Through investment, marketing, and developer support, Polygon Studios is bridging the gab between Web2 and Web3.

And, the Polygon ecosystem is MASSIVE.

Here is just a taste of this vast and rapid growing community:

  1. Opensea
  2. Rarible
  3. Decentraland
  4. Sandbox
  5. Animoca Brands
  6. NFTically
  7. PlaydApp
  8. Aavegotchi
  9. MegaCryptoPolis 3D
  10. NFTTrade

What does a Pastel Collaboration mean for the Polygon ecosystem?

In the immediate term, we are excited to collaborate with Polygon Studios to bring our mission-critical Web3 protocols to the Polygon Ecosystem, which can be integrated seamlessly across all native layer-1s and layer-2 dApps. We will specifically work with various market-leading marketplaces, NFT projects, gaming and Metaverse platforms on Polygon to integrate Pastel’s:

  • Near-Duplicate NFT Detection (Sense) → Deep-learning technology that assesses the relative rareness between NFTs to detect counterfeits, scams, or copyright infringement and provide a certification of authenticity.
  • NFT Data & Metadata Storage (Cascade) → Fully distributed, permanent and entirely redundant storage protocol. Pay once and store forever. Prevent centralized points of failure, monthly subscription maintenance, IPFS pinning & 404 errors.

Given the lightweight nature of these protocols and their interoperability as Web3 Open APIs, any Polygon Studios ecosystem member will be able to directly access Pastel’s near-duplicate NFT detection and store NFT metadata in a cryptographically secure, redundant, and distributed manner.

In the longer term, we will work directly with Polygon to integrate Sense and Cascade at the Polygon Protocol level to dramatically enhance Polygon’s ecosystem. Users will have the ability to directly access Sense’s relative rareness scoring when minting NFTs via Polygon RPC URL. They will also have the option to obtain permanent storage directly on Cascade via Polygon’s NFT.Storage function, serving as a redundant back-up or alternative to IPFS.

With this type of standard level integration, Pastel and Polygon can bring decentralized NFT permanence and security to the entire ecosystem.

How does the integration work?

Pastel Network has not only worked relentlessly to develop incredible infrastructure for the NFT ecosystem, but to also deliver it to network partners in a lightweight, seamless manner. Partners of the Pastel Network such as Polygon Studios and along with other native blockchains or dApps communicate directly with Pastel via open Web3 APIs.

During NFT minting on Polygon (such as via the ERC721 or other related standards), secure and authenticated REST API calls pass the hash of the candidate NFT to Pastel Network. The return responses — 1) a JSON file with the relative rareness score in the case of Sense and 2) the SHA3–256 hash for the JSON file stored in Kademlia which itself contains the SHA3–256 hashes of the set of redundant copies of the JSON files in Kademlia — are signed by randomly selected SuperNodes operating on the Pastel Network. Smart tickets write and store the outputs to the Pastel blockchain, which is returned to Polygon and included as additional Response fields in its NFT standard.

We are very excited to embark on this relationship and look forward to sharing more great news with the entire community.

If interested in learning more about Pastel and these revolutionary protocols, please see below:

Pastel Overviewhttps://pastel.network/

Sense Protocolhttps://sense.pastel.network/

Cascade Protocolhttps://cascade.pastel.network/

About Pastel Network

Pastel Network is a fully decentralized, developer-friendly layer-1 blockchain serving as the preeminent protocol standard for non-fungible tokens (“NFTs”) and Web3 technology.

Pastel allows for the development of third-party decentralized-applications (“DApps”) to sit on top of its Network, enabling developers to enjoy the scalable registration features, storage processes, and security of the broader ecosystem. Lightweight protocols such as Sense — which was built to assess the relative rareness of a given NFT against near-duplicate metadata — and Cascade — which conducts permanent, distributed storage of underlying NFT data — can be integrated cross-chain across various layer-1 blockchains, layer-2 protocols, or other third-party apps.

Pastel is managed by world-class developers, cryptographers, and technologists, supported alongside an experienced and extensive network of marketers, influencers, and third-party agencies. Pastel is backed by key stakeholders including Innovating Capital, a prominent venture fund.

For more information on Pastel Network, visit https://pastel.network/.

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This article was first published by our team here.

What Is a PFP NFT? Tokenized Profile Pictures Explained

Punk and ape avatars are replacing duck faces and beach bodies on social media sites. But what do they stand for? 

Such avatars randomly popping up on Twitter and other social channels are PFP NFTs—an abbreviation for profile picture non-fungible tokens. To understand the concept behind the bizarre-looking characters used for social status, delving into the meanings behind PFP NFTs is vital. 

Here’s everything you need to know about PFP NFTs and more: 

PFP NFTs – What? 

PFP NFTs are digital artwork on the blockchain acquired in exchange for cryptocurrency. 

Collectors of PFP NFTs can change their social profile pictures from posey images of themselves (or furry friends) to these digital assets.

More social platforms are integrating NFT PFPs into their ecosystems to make the change of profile possible. If you encounter an avatar in a hexagon on someone’s Twitter profile, they’ve switched their selfie to an NFT. Meta’s Instagram also showcases PFP NFT collections, alongside other notable and recognizable names dabbling in the space. 

The BAYC collection, on OpenSea

The likelihood of those skeptical of crypto hacks sneering at the profile change is high. Still, there is much more to this digital art than what meets the eye. 

The Perks of PFP NFTs

PFP NFTs can boost and strengthen social status while acting as supportive environments for all beings. Check out the World of Women, for example. The PFP NFT project funds 15% of sales proceeds to support female artists’ projects and gives an additional 7.5% to relevant charities. Consequently, collectors can express themselves and what they stand for by displaying their most favoured NFT on their chosen social channels—replacing vain selfies most likely found cringe-worthy years later. 

Some of the most high-flying PFP NFTs cost six figures alone:

  • CryptoPunk #7523 ($11.7 million)
  • Doge #1355 ($4 million)
  • Meebit #10761 ($2.78 million)
  • SMB #1355 ($2.1 million)
  • Cool Cat #1490 ($1.41 million)

Thus, it is no surprise that collectors may want to show off their quirky (and ridiculously expensive) purchases. 

The Rise of PFP NFTs: When did PFP Become the “In” Thing?

The widespread use of PFP NFTs followed CryptoPunks releasing the first collection of PFP NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain in 2017. 

And boy, are they glad they did.

Lava Labs – the curators of CryptoPunks – initially minted their collection of pixelated punks for free, but the prices of the digital assets soon rose alongside the demand for NFTs. The most expensive CryptoPunk, Punk #7523, sold for $11.7 million alone, alongside someone purchasing a bundle of nine for $17 million a few months later. Considering the collection includes 10,000 NFTs, the team behind Lava Labs are laughing. Even so, it took a hot second for other NFT projects to latch onto the initiative. CryptoPunks remained the only PFP project available on secondary marketplaces six months after the leading launch (a long time for a market continuously evolving). 

Other PFP projects began to crop up half a year later, including the ever-so-famous Bored Ape Yacht Club and World of Women. 

To further put the power of PFP NFTs into perspective, the Bored Ape Yacht Club’s collection stands at more than $1 billion. CryptoPunks also has an outstanding market cap of $300 million, alongside the World of Women, with a total sales volume of $55 million. 

The Pros and Cons of NFT Profile Pictures

Unfortunately, industry concerns and issues follow most successful projects. So, let’s dig into the good, the bad, and the ugly of PFP NFTs.

The benefits of these types of NFTs boil down to numerous advantages. The digital assets showcase valuable content viewable on social sites while creating a bonding community with similar owners. Like a digital classic car club, the movement becomes more significant than the art itself. Look at Bored Ape Yacht, for instance. BAYC holders are one of the most active crypto-oriented communities on Twitter and in real life. Weed, apparel, trading cards, P2E games, and tickets to live events all have a part to play in the project’s popularity—influencing similar crypto projects to think outside the box.

Other notable pros of PFP NFTs include:

  • Ownership of state-of-the-art digital assets
  • A record of authenticity and ownership verifiable on-chain (smart contracts)
  • Being a part of a decentralized market with high growth and wealth potential 
  • Weeding out the middlemen—supporting creatives by allowing them to solely sell to collectors while keeping all profits and royalties made
  • Access to community platforms, like Discord, and voting power on upcoming project plans (depending on the project)

Unfortunately, like most good things, there is usually a catch. As NFTs became the in-thing, hackers latched on to the movement—doing anything and everything to get their hands on the digital goods. When considering likely occurrences of real-life hacks, you will soon realise crypto is no different. For example, if you attach your image to a piece of artwork that costs $500k, you will undoubtedly become an instant target for savvy hackers who will do whatever they can to get at it. Hence, many people on-chain are anon. 

Scams aren’t the only reason people turn their noses up at NFTs. Other causes are:

  • Uncertainty in value regarding the current bear market
  • Use of significant amounts of energy
  • Steep gas fees depending on the demand of the project 
  • Ownership does not mean complete control—although buyers own the NFT, they do not control its duplication or distribution across platforms (unless purchasing the crypto domain)

But are these downfalls enough to clear out PFP NFTs for good? 

Final Thoughts: Are PFP NFTs Still Hot?

Although the crypto market is going through a tough time and bearly standing (har, har), the PFP NFT market is far from dead. 

Positive steps towards the future of the blockchain are in the works. Many crypto firms are doing their utmost to make buying and trading on-chain more scalable, secure, and sustainable. The underlying blockchain network, Ethereum, is no different. 

Developers behind Ethereum are working toward eliminating its current consensus mechanism from Proof-of-Work (POW) to Proof-of-Stake (POS). Reasons include the network using less energy and decreasing the risks of centralization and attacks for happier, decentralized purchases. Let’s hope technical issues stop interrupting the update shortly so we can enjoy the perks. 

It’s important to note that getting in early on a successful project is usually adequate for those wanting to use PFP NFTs to trade for financial gain and reap benefits down the line. Although, if launch dates slip your mind, fear not. Plenty of profile picture-worthy NFTs are circling the space—most of which vary in price and supply appealing benefits. 

Whether music, sports, fashion, gaming, or real estate is your thing, there is a project with your name on it. Your favourite celebrity may even own the collection you desire. 

Some of the hottest, most recent PFP NFT drops include Otherdeed for Otherside, Moonrunners, MrFoxReligion, Dooplicator, Doodles, and goblintown.wtf—check them out on OpenSea.