NFTs have been all the rage over the last couple of years. They have attracted the attention of retail investors, celebrities and even some of the biggest brands. Many of these digital assets come with dizzying price tags; some even sell for millions.
However, not all NFT projects achieve the same success. While most projects find ample takers, a handful of these digital assets fail to take off after their launch, and others struggle with secondary sales. Tag along as we unpack some noteworthy NFT projects that have seen a below-par performance this year.
Jack Dorsey’s first tweet NFT
Topping the list of NFT flops this year is Jack Dorsey’s first tweet NFT. The image famously sold for nearly $3 million in March 2021, causing several raised eyebrows. The NFT is simply a screengrab-styled image of Jack Dorsey’s first tweet, which reads, “just setting up my twttr.” It was purchased by Iranian-born crypto entrepreneur Sina Estavi, who called it the “Mona Lisa of the digital world.”
In April this year, Estavi decided to put the NFT up for resale. He listed the NFT with an expected price of $48 million and promised that 50 percent of the proceeds would be donated to charity. However, to his dismay, the auction ended with the highest bid of $14,000, a 99 percent drop from its initial price. Estavi decided to scrap the auction and said he might never sell the NFT.
Ellen DeGeneres NFT
In the same month, popular talk show host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres also released an NFT collection called “Woman With Stick Cat.” It was built around a selfie of the TV star posing with a stick figure drawing of a cat. The collection was further divided into gold and silver editions and also consisted of a video monologue of DeGeneres announcing her NFT endeavour.
However, only five of the 10 gold edition NFTs were sold, fetching $2,500 each. The silver edition didn’t see much success either, with only 64 buyers who purchased the NFT for $100 each. The video monologue was the highest-selling piece from the collection, which sold for $14,555.
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The sales revenue was relatively low, especially considering that anything peddled by a celebrity usually demands reasonable prices. Moreover, Ellen DeGeneres also promoted the NFT collection on her nationwide talk show and to her 79 million followers on Twitter. And finally, the sales proceeds were going to be donated to charity, which gave investors all the more reason to purchase the NFT. However, despite these factors, the collection only managed to rake in $33,455 in sales.
Beeple and Madonna NFT
Renowned NFT artist Beeple teamed up with world-famous popstar Madonna to release a racy NFT collection called “Material Girl.” It consisted of 3 motion graphic NFTs depicting a woman giving birth to a tree, a centipede, and butterflies. The NFTs sold for $135,000, $346,000 and $146,000, respectively.
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While this may seem like a lot of money, the collection was a failure considering Beeple previous success. His first NFT, Everydays —The First 5,000 Days, sold for a whopping $69 million, putting him among the “top three most valuable living artists,” according to Christie’s, the auction house where the NFT was sold. Therefore, even the combined value of the sale — $627,000— pales in comparison to the sales figure from Beeple’s first NFT.
Conclusion
These flops are a sign that the NFT bubble might be on the verge of a collapse. Data from DappRadar shows that NFT trading volume has been steadily declining throughout this year. It dropped from $12 billion in Q1 to $8 billion in Q2 and plummeted to $2 billion in Q3. These are worrying signs for the nascent NFT industry.
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