NFT MARKETPLACE

THE GROWTH OF THE NFT MARKETPLACE

By Lynn Pearce de Freitas

What is the allure of digital collectibles, known as NFT’s (non-fungible tokens) on the blockchain? Why are NFT’s so popular right now, is this a passing trend, or will it grow into the foreseeable future? This seems to be a hotly debated subject right now and one that interests me greatly, for several reasons, which I will unpack further in this article.Interest in NFTs have been high since the first quarter of 2021, which saw $2 billion in total sales of NFTs, most likely spurred on by the NFT artwork created by a digital artist called Beeple, which sold at $69 million at Christie’s, the highest amount to date.

The NFT market has dropped considerably in the past few weeks, however, theinterestand belief in the future of digital collectibles is still growing exponentially.

It is really hard to determine whether NFTs are a fad or future asset. From music moguls, Rollingstone, celebrities, financial institutions, investors, venture capitalists to blockchain enthusiasts, who feel like it’s the underlying technology that is more important – everyone seems to have a different opinion, with some even likening it to a punk movement! Being in the sports betting and gaming industry, it is interesting to note the surge of interest from global sports teams, with incredibly valuable intellectual property, looking to tokenize and distribute their collectibles in the form of digital trading cards.

I guess we need to understand the business model before we can determine the answers to all the questions and interest around NFTs currently running on blockchain technology.

NFTs are digital blockchain-linked assets that are unique identifiers and

not interchangeable with any other asset, from trading cards, F1 racing, programmable art, ownership records, music – even virtual plots of land! They are seemingly impossible to replicate, guaranteeing authenticity and offering a huge market of valuable digital goods that can be scaled, collected, and traded. In fact, one of the major benefits that I can see is how musicians, artists and the creative community can now be a part of the process of selling their art form and in an entirely new business model, get paid royalties for their work, in this new asset class. In some instances, the artist even retains the copyright ownershipand can continue to produce and sell copies. For example, historically, artists would sell their paintings for a pittance to survive, and years after their death these paintings would change hands and be sold for millions of dollars. Even today, artists sell their paintings for perhaps a decent sum of money and then it gets sold on for millions more and under normal circumstances, they would get nothing more out of that sale, but with the new digital assets business model conferring ownership, they are a part of the ongoing sale process and herein lies the key to the continuing popularity of NFTs, in my opinion this is one of the biggest drawcards for this emerging community-based business model.

I wrote an article previously on the emergence of the metaverse and how quickly tech companies are embracing it and are racing to be first to market with their version of the community-driven universe. NFTs will most definitely be a part of this metaverse and will most certainly also add to the gamification effects of it, particularly for the more digitally astute Gen Z and Millennials,

who are mobile-driven and tech savvy and thrive off community-driven social experiences.

In addition, looking at the current growth of the video gaming industry, currently valued around $160 million and set to grow more than $200 billion by 2023 – and taking into consideration the constant need for more interactive gamification, the popularity of NFTs will soar in this space, as players have thousands of games where they can play for points, accumulating assets and trading these with other players using NFTs.

According to Diego Geroni, in his article of non-fungible tokens on 101Blockchains:“NFTs continue to dominate a certain section of news in the crypto and blockchain space. Furthermore, NFTs are also gaining the support of celebrities. A renowned YouTube star and gamer, Pewdiepie, recently announced his collaboration with Wallem, a blockchain-based game. The game utilizes NFTs for trading skins and other in-game assets.”

The trend in NFTs have launched a number of marketplaces and below are a few, based on my personal preferences.

OpenSea declare themselves the world’s largest digital marketplace for crypto collectibles and NFTs, offering trading cards, sports, domain names and digital assets like CryptoKitties, Decentraland, and allows creators to sell for a fixed fee, declining price or auction listing.

Rarible is another great communityowned marketplace, focused on art assets. It allows creators to mint new NFTs of artworks, books, musicor movies – and the platform allows you to give your purchaser a “sneak peek”! KnownOrigin is a marketplace for rare digital artwork. Creators can use the platform to showcase and sell their work to collectors who truly care about authenticity.

Async Art is truly fascinating to me. With Async Art, you can create, collect, and trade programmable art. You can either buy the individual layers– or the Master image. Layers have special abilities decided by the artist. So, when you change something on the Layer, the Master image will reflect this change irrespective of who owns it.

Read more from Lynn Pearce de Freitas every month exclusively in the Infinity Gaming Magazine.

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Japanese Integrated Resort Dream Falters

Twenty years of discussions and debates and when finally the Japanese government allowed into law the development of integrated casino resorts in 2018 the gambling world got very excited.

Fast forward just three years and most of that euphoria has gone along with many of the leading casino operators in developing a resort in the country. With the vote for an ant-casino resort mayor in Yokohama spelling the end of a resort there for both Melco Resorts and Genting that just leaves three locations all in western Japan.

That in itself goes against the government hope that casino resorts would be a tourist draw with locations around the country, but with Yokohama the city closest to Tokyo now on the verge of pulling out what is left?

The largest remaining city is Osaka which behind Tokyo and Yokohama is the most populous, then comes Wakayama and Nagasaki, given that the government indicated three licenses would be given out that said all three will now gain those casino resort approvals.

MGM Resorts International is the sole contender in Osaka with its local partner Orix, Toronto-based Clairvest Group is up for the Wakayama license and Casino Austria for the Nagasaki resort.

Not what many had thought would happen in Japan and there is still much debate if these will pass with public sentiment growing that they do not want casino resorts anymore.

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Maltese Billionaire Casino Owner To Stand Trial On Murder

Yorgen Fenech should spend the rest of his life in prison says Malta’s attorney general after the businessman was finally indicted on complicity to murder Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia back in October 2017.

Victoria Buttigieg the attorney general has laid formal charges to Fenech over the murder after almost four years after the leading businessman in Malta who through his company the Tumas Group own among other interests the largest tower in Malta and also operates the Hilton Hotel and the Portomaso Casino and Marina. arrested for trying to escape justice by trying to leave Malta on his yacht and ever since then legal arguments and delays have complicated and slowed the process until now.

But now the indictment means he will stand trial for conspiracy to plan murder against who was the leading criminal investigating journalist in Malta, that of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Galizia had investigated the Tumas Group and Fenech and had identified him as the owner of the named 17 Black, a shadowy company that had links to high powered political leaders in Malta through payments made. At the time of her death she was investigating the controversial deal regarding a new power station that Fenech was one of the main shareholders in, but during that time a car bomb was placed under her vehicle and she was murdered in October 2017.

Her death sent shockwaves through Malta and even European leaders were concerned that Malta was descending into a rogue state.

It is not known when Fenech will actually stand trial for his alleged crimes but it is at last a move to redeem Malta from what was a very dark time.