What’s in Store for NFTs in 2023?

There were multiple opportunities to profit from NFTs in 2022, and the year was not lacking in creativity and artistic experimentation.

However, that doesn’t alter the fact that 2022 was one of the most brutal on record for crypto as a whole, and a chaotic period that pretty much everyone will be glad to see the back of.

Standing here at the start of a brand new year, then, what’s in store in the world of NFTs, and what projects and products should we keep an eye on as 2023 unfolds?

AI on Blockchains

There’s a huge amount of excitement around ChatGPT and AI, which, it appears, is going to take over the internet, and then, eventually, hijack control of the entire world.

Ok, that might be an exaggeration, but ChatGPT is impressive tech, and AI will attract investment, developers and users, and may disrupt the web (and many other areas) in unpredictable ways.

And as web3 is the other highly attractive tech concept of the moment, it’s also entirely possible that AI becomes tied in with crypto and NFTs.

Exactly how that might work remains to be seen, but some projects already working on a crossover include Altered State Machine and Alethea, while SingularityNET and DeepBrain Chain are not directly related to NFTs, but connect blockchains with AI.

Loyalty Programs and Ticketing

Big brands have been displaying growing interest in web3, and may implement their own utility-focused NFTs. One immediately viable use case is rewards programs that make use of blockchain-based assets.

These items can be tradable, programable, collectible, and may be used in flexible ways to build interactive, rewards-earning communities. This is still a novel area of development, but Starbucks is pushing forward, and BMW is active in this field.

NFTs can also be used for event ticketing, again opening up a world of flexibility and advanced utility when compared to regular ticketing approaches. The Rolling Loud festival has taken this route, and there is speculation (but nothing concrete) that the 2024 Olympics may use NFTs.

There are many other brands exploring NFTs more generally, and it may become commonplace for companies to have a web3 strategy. This means there’s opportunity for platforms that can provide corporate web3 services, and a leading competitor in this niche is Mojito.

Blockchain Games Step Up

Hype around blockchain gaming comes and goes, but development is real, and the crypto space needs a genuinely excellent product to prove its point. That probably means a game that is primarily appealing simply for its playability, with crypto, NFTs or play-to-earn elements integrated carefully.

A good product, that isn’t centered solely on profiting from tokens, may also begin to dispel the intense skepticism towards NFTs that is sometimes found among gamers.

2023 could be the year that developers make strides in this direction, and there are some notable contenders in the likes of DigiDaigaku, Momoguro, Azra Games, web3 gaming studio Midnight, Metapixel on Aptos, and promising newcomer Oh Baby Games (along with many others).

A longer-term possibility, where things might get really interesting, is when gaming, the metaverse, social media, crypto, NFTs and AI all come together in some kind of out-of-control web3/cyberpunk/AI-inhabited mega-platform. Although, that’s maybe for a little later in the decade.

Ledger Stax Drips Style

NFTs are still sometimes seen as inaccessible for newcomers. While setting up a wallet and buying some tokens isn’t actually so demanding, it’s true that crypto wallets can be lacking on the UI front, and hardware wallet design doesn’t match up favorably to what we’re used to when we buy new smartphones.

All of which is why there’s a lot of anticipation around the upcoming Ledger Stax hardware wallet, with speculation that it might become the iPhone of crypto. This comparison makes sense, because it’s designed by Tony Fadell, who previously designed the Apple iPod.

The Ledger Stax is compact, stylish, displays NFTs on a curved E Ink touchscreen, and if it’s as intuitive and instantly usable as it is sleek and attractive, then it could be the kind of hardware leap that assists in mainstreaming crypto and NFTs.

Writing NFTs

NFTs up to now have been focused on art and collectibles, while incoming major brands are moving towards utility. However, another use that might pick up traction this year is in relation to writing and publishing.

There are several platforms working on this utility, including, most famously, Mirror, which could be thought of–in a way–as a web3 Substack, and which allows writers to mint their work as NFTs.

If you’re interested in poetry, there’s theVERSEverse, while over on Cardano, there’s the very aptly named Book, and on Solana, there’s Alexandria Labs.

Projects to Watch

Just to state the obvious for a moment, you should follow the big hitters: Yuga Labs, CryptoPunks, Azuki, PROOF Collective and Moonbirds, Art Blocks.

Beyond them, though, there are plenty of other projects and creators that can potentially make a lasting mark in 2023.

Sartoshi, the much-loved creator of the MFers collection (a low key landmark in the 2021 NFT timeline) is back from the dead as sartoshi_rip, and his plans will certainly generate interest.

Valhalla is a big project, Ether has yet to drop, but could be huge, Memeland makes waves with every mint, and 10KTF is highly regarded, connected with Beeple, and tied in with several big-name NFT collections.

Keep tabs on Frank DeGods, the creator of DeGods and y00ts, as he migrates those two collections over from Solana to Ethereum and Polygon, respectively, and check in also on The Memes by 6529.