Best NFT Utility Trends and Data for the Next 6 Months

What will the best NFT utility look like in the next 6 months? This is one question that every crypto investor and NFT enthusiast is desperately seeking to know, especially as the year winds up to a close.

After careful evaluation, we have been able to come up with the best NFT utility trends and data you may see in the next six months.

Best NFT Utility Ideas that are Trending

To start with, there has been a huge shift in the focus for NFTs and Defi in the past year. The utility of NFTs and DEFI is now majorly focused on the following:

• Price speculation based on FOMO, FUD, attention, and influencers

• Memes + CC0

• Technology infrastructure + shortcomings

• Products that didn’t need to leverage web3 technology

1. PRICE SPECULATION

Price speculation is a big deal when it comes to crypto and NFTs.

This is because, unlike the fiat which is backed by a governmental entity or the stocks which are backed by some business fundamentals, the crypto and NFTs are completely dependent on market sentiments. This is the reason why crypto is one of the most volatile assets in the world.

NFT marketplaces such as OpenSea, LooksRare and NFT space have acted as digital casinos giving people the idea that they can make as much as 10x or 100x trade within a week.

Speculative tweets from influencers have not helped either as they have the power to 2-3x the value of NFTs. NFTs are very much an attention economy where a select few “influencers” wield incredible power because every one of their tweets can have tens of thousands of impressions.

The downside to this is that some of these “influencers” might not use their power responsibly. To keep the price action healthy, DeFi teams have attempted novel tokenomics. However, this has failed to yield the desired effects, as the tokens have ended up being backed up by a much smaller treasury or were only inflated in the short term with “high APY.”

2. MEMES + CC0

Memes are an embodiment of culture. Something intangible, yet everyone understands it, making it perfect for NFTs. What does the future hold for memes?

Memes will continue to exist but individual memes may not last forever. Most meme projects are CC0, from cryptoadz and mfers to goblins. The value is in the meme or the vibe that it gives. You don’t even own the artwork.

Meme Founders can walk away with a quick buck and ongoing royalties. They will always continue to exist as NFTs and you can benefit by simply understanding meme culture.

The monetization of memes has been in existence even before 10k collections became popular. It can be traced to the collectability of NFTs. This means that you get to be the owner of a major cultural moment.

3. TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE

As regards technology infrastructure, there have been some major changes in the past six months. Some of these changes in technology infrastructure include:

• a “stablecoin” de-pegged from $1 (Terra)

• a major blockchain shut down 7x (Solana)

• a major blockchain burned > $100M in a day (Ethereum)

• many discussions around L1/L2 vs multi-chain

These events show us how much focus is on technology versus actual use cases. This is similar to debating UDP versus TCP or asking about SQL versus NoSQL databases.

In web2, the focus is on actual products built on top of the internet that happen to require data storage. Just like how we have evolved from 56k modems to 5G in our pockets today, the technology will definitely get better.

We can expect that the blockchains will scale and the gas prices will skyrocket as well. Scams will also become harder to pull off. We will get to see some more use cases as we go on.

4. PRODUCTS THAT DIDN’T NEED WEB3

Surprisingly, this might be the most controversial point. A lot of NFT projects would have been better off as an email list or paid subscription service for “alpha”.

Most P2E games should have just been games first and then NFTs second. However, by putting technology first, these projects became highly dependent on royalties and hype to become successful businesses.

Most of these NFT projects that have only raised 5 figures or low 6 figures are in a tricky situation for how to navigate their roadmap promises with very little capital. It is always very easy for lots of NFT projects to claim that they would “build the next Disney”. They fail to understand that it took many decades and even more than 200K employees for Disney to get to this point.

Vision is necessary but it has to be accompanied by clear planning and execution. Otherwise, it will be difficult for you to successfully move from A to Z. The intermediate milestones have to be realistic.

It is also imperative for you to keep in mind that NFT projects are equivalent to Startups. You might have a target customer demographic, a marketing channel, or a product to sell. NFTs should only accelerate your growth. It should not be your sole business model.

Best NFT Utility Ideas

Now that you understand the current state of NFTs. We can now proceed to the outlook of the best NFT utility in the next six months:

• Intellectual Property Licensing (IP Licensing)

• Community and memberships

• Hyperspeed growth for real products

1.  Intellectual Property Licensing (IP LICENSING)

When you buy an NFT that gives you full commercial rights, especially one within a 10K collection, you are buying IP to create all kinds of merchandise such as coffee beans, wine, hats, board games, etc. with an existing community which is excited about your IP.

Here, you are no longer betting on the price of the NFT but rather leveraging the NFT as if you would leverage a piece of commercial real estate to grow your business. It is the opportunity to “invest in yourself” and control the financial outcomes of your NFT investment.

A new niche of branding agencies will also pop up. Agencies have the skills and network to create the necessary branding assets and stories around the NFT IP.  Investors holding money assets will simply need to sign the dotted lines to make passive income on their IP.

2. COMMUNITY and MEMBERSHIPS

Community management plays a very important role in the success of any NFT project. Having a strong community guarantees liquidity and also the formation of a strong brand.

We already see pre-NFT examples of exclusive communities in many different industries. For instance, Ferrari only allows current Ferrari owners to buy their next line of models. What if that turned into an NFT that could be transferable?

There is also Disney Club 33 which gets members into exclusive restaurants and many free park tickets. Could that membership be rented out as an NFT?

The membership also known as the mint fee allows the teams to bring a variety of utilities to its members. And with a well-curated community, the network is priceless. This goes beyond “business networks” too.

Charity fundraisers via NFT mints create a community of donors who all support the cause. HS club memberships as NFTs help authenticate participation in college admissions. There are several other interesting use cases.

3. HYPERSPEED GROWTH

Today, lots of NFTs are being launched alongside the actual software or merchandise product. But NFTs can be used for existing products too.

This can be achieved by launching NFTs to access premium features, you find your power users and then raising capital. NFTs are hacks for getting user feedback, capital and marketing all in one.

A good example of this is the Ex. Netflix can sell 100-lifetime passes to raise some additional capital, generate marketing excitement and figure out what power users want. We also have the IMO. When the IMO is used in this manner, the NFTs would sacrifice long-term profit for a short-term marketing catalyst and capital raise.

People paying $X for your NFT should receive more than $X of value. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have bought the NFT in the first place.

What is the best utility of NFTs in the future?

In conclusion, we need to ask ourselves, “what am I actually selling and buying with this NFT?”. What do you think about the short-term and medium-term utility of NFTs?

The sellers, usually create the best NFTs to generate buzz, raise capital and curate a community that cares about their product. While buyers often buy the best NFTs to access exclusive networks and premium product utilities.