According to the DappRadar report for Q1 2023, trading volumes for metaverses and NFTs have seen a significant increase. Traditional companies are showing greater interest in investing in such projects.
What's driving the growth in trading volumes?
1. Virtual land
This sector has seen a 277.12% growth (up to $311 million). The Otherside gaming metaverse has emerged as the clear leader, generating over $222 million in trading volume and selling 65,399 land plots. This is largely due to the massive interest in an event held in late March for all Otherdeed NFT owners.
In second place is the MG Land project, where users can build their own decentralized space with a unique domain name, socialize, and play. It has reached a volume of $60 million, largely due to the BLUR token airdrop on the platform where this collection is traded.
Other projects, such as Createra, The Sandbox, Axie Infinity, etc., showed more modest results. Nevertheless, this did not stop them from attracting investments or even acquiring game development studios, as The Sandbox did.
2. NFTs from luxury brands
Luxury brand customers have always sought out exclusivity and one-of-a-kind items. So, many fashion companies have started creating their own projects or partnerships to offer customers interesting digital collections. The sales for these NFTs reached $366.4 million, with the NFT collection 10KTF taking up over 74% of the trading volume. This collection was launched at the end of 2021 and has partnered with companies like Gucci and Puma.
3. Car manufacturers
Fiat and Kia have launched their showrooms in the metaverse, allowing customers to take a detailed look at cars before purchasing. Kia has partnered with Engage, a business-oriented metaverse. At the same time, Fiat Metaverse Store has integrated ChatGPT, a question-answering AI, in collaboration with Microsoft, to help users with car inquiries.
New NFT domains are on the rise
Lens Protocol showed a 92.04% growth in trading volume (up to $1.4 million) compared to the previous quarter. Meanwhile, SpaceID, which reached $948,864 in trading volume, even launched its own token. However, the established players in the market, such as ENS (Ethereum Name Service) and Unstoppable Domains, have seen a significant decline in trading volume. Despite this, ENS remains the undisputed leader with over 2.7 million active domains and 669,000 users.
Investments are pouring in
Metaverses and NFTs have been attracting huge amounts of money in recent years. In 2021, they raised $3.7 billion, and in 2022, it is expected to double. $502 million was raised in the first quarter alone, but there are doubts that this year will be significantly better than the previous one, even though a substantial amount is expected to be raised. Investors are focusing on two main areas: digital fashion, which is gaining popularity among young people, and the development of payment systems for the economy in metaverses.
Final words
Although it can be said that high trading results are related to certain events, it doesn't negate the global trend: traditional companies are increasingly using metaverses and NFTs, and investors continue to invest in these industries. Competition between brands, which strive to provide customers with the best services, also positively impacts the development of the market.
