NFT market forecast 2021 in USA / Japan

In the United States, celebrities such as Edward Snowden and Eminem have reported NFT publications one after another. In the NFT marketplace, a large amount of money is flowing into the market, such as “Dapper Labs ($ 300,500)” and “Opensea ($ 23 million)” raising large amounts of funds.Since it does not have economic functions such as payment function, it is said that even under Japanese laws and regulations, it will be judged individually according to the use case whether it corresponds to №2 crypto asset. (https://www.businesslawyers.jp/articles/942)

“CryptoGames” and “double jump.tokyo”, which have been developing NFT business since the dawn of crypto assets, are famous in Japan, and ambitious projects have been announced.

・ 1SEC: Collectable virtual sneaker “AIR SMOKE 1 (TM)”

・ Gracone: Metaverse Gallery “CryptoArt Town”

・Plasm Network: Promoting the development of NFTs in the Polkadot ecosystem in partnership with Bondly

The NTF market is expected to undergo more experimental efforts in 2021.Not only the NFT business of major companies, but also the search for new rarity by “maximizing experience value by fusing digital and real” and “fusing with metaverse / VR domain”.

This article summarizes trends in overseas NFT marketplaces and the Japanese market, and predicts future market formation.

USA | Market formation centered on Dapper Labs

As of April 2021, the rate of increase in the initial price is declining in the United States, where large-scale listings of tech startups have continued since the summer of 2020. With more than 100 delistings revealed at China’s Star Market, the overheating of the global stock market as a whole is regaining calm. In the 2010s, the digitization of existing industries such as AirBnB and DoorDash progressed against the background of the idea of ​​the sharing economy. In the fintech domain, companies such as “Square”, which develops and provides the payment service “Cash App”, and “Affirm”, a postpaid service, are promoting financial unbundling.

The blockchain market has a “speculative” and “social experimental” character, as represented by the 2016 virtual currency (name at that time) bubble. On the other hand, “Bitcoin (an asset with absolute rarity)” and “Decentralized Finance (Defi)” are attracting attention as representative concepts and innovations of the 2020s. Under such circumstances, in the “NFT” market, which is suddenly causing a social boom, “Dapper Labs”, which develops and provides blockchain games “CryptoKitties” and “NBA Top Shot”, will reach 305 million in March 2021. Raised dollars (valued at $ 2.6 billion).

It also reveals that it is planning a new funding round with a valuation of $ 7.5 billion. Cryptocurrency exchange “Coinbase” has achieved an IPO, and “Bakkt”, which provides Bitcoin futures services, is also scheduled to be listed on the SPAC. Assuming that “Dapper Labs” will conduct an IPO in the first half of the 2020s, the following NFT marketplace valuations and M & A are expected to increase.

・ Opensea: The NFT Marketplace, which launched in 2017, handles a wide range of digital works such as art, virtual worlds, trading cards, and sports. Raised $ 23 million in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz.

・ Rarible: NFT marketplace specializing in art. It features the governance token “RARI” and formed a tie-up with “double jump.tokyo” in March 2021.

・ Sorare: Provides a fantasy soccer game that utilizes a soccer player’s digital card (NFT). Raised $ 4 million in July 2020 from VC “e.ventures” and former German national team André Schürrle.

・ Zora: An NFT marketplace that handles a wide range of digital art works such as music, videos, images, GIFs, and texts, and is attracting attention such as Linkin Park’s Mike Shinoda uploading “One Hundredth Stream,” to Zora.

・ Super Rare

・ Nifty Gateway

・ Cryptopunks

・ Foundation

・ Showtime

・ Catalog

“Dapper Labs” has also invested in “Sports Icon”, which provides not only digital trading cards but also the right to interact with athletes in the sports market. Efforts to increase added value by expanding content are expected in the future NFT market.

Furthermore, the market base will be expanded through projects with the themes of “exhibitions and immediate investment in the Metaverse digital space” and “NFT conversion of rare vintage cards + improvement of experience value”. Announced the conclusion of a partnership agreement with “double jump.tokyo” in the Japanese market. The utilization of the NFT-dedicated blockchain “flow” developed and provided by “Dapper Labs” is expected to increase in the NFT market in Japan and the United States.

“Enjin” and “polygon (Matic Network)”, which are attracting a lot of attention in the NFT market, which is suffering from Ethereum’s gas bill, are being widely used as NFT-dedicated blockchains. As the trading volume of the NFT marketplace increases, NFT will also function as a place for a new social experiment in which blockchain and each market (game, sports, art, fashion, metaverse) are fused.

Japan | Participation of major companies during the growth period

In Japan, “CryptoGames”, which develops and provides the blockchain game “CryptoSpells” and develops diversified NFT businesses such as the NFT marketplace “NFTStudio” and the NFT support service “NFTStudio OEM”, is famous. Companies that have been in the market since the dawn of crypto assets such as “double jump.tokyo” and “Coincheck” are leading the Japanese NFT market. As “double jump.tokyo” has partnered with “Dapper Labs”, it is expected that the number of cases of collaboration with overseas companies will increase in the future. The entry of listed companies into the market is expected to raise the stock price of the game sector in the stock market as well.

Square Enix: NFT digital seals planned to be deployed in the “Million Arthur” series

Mercari: NFT business planned at subsidiary “Mercoin”

Media Do: Scheduled to provide “digital appendix” service utilizing NFT

Smart app: NFT marketplace “nanakusa” nanakusa Launched on April 21st.Judging and registration system only for crypto artists.

Shinwa Wise:

Merchant Bankers

Aeria

LinK-U

Ceres

Mobile factory

Mynet

Until now, the number of cryptocurrency exchange accounts opened has increased in Japan, but there have been few products that can compete on a global scale. There was a tendency to move away from the global trend due to legal issues such as the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act and the tax system. In the future, it is expected that the art and game culture that Japan is proud of will be utilized by NFT to raise its name in the world market, thereby creating an environment in which funds can flow into blockchain start-up companies. In the United States, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) established the second crypto fund in May 2020 with a scale of $ 515 million. There are VC / hedge funds specializing in blockchain such as Galaxy Digital, Polychain Capital, Boost VC, and Proof of Capital.

And IBM announced that it will collaborate with IPwe to develop and provide NFT for IP patents. In the future, it is expected that huge amounts of money will be invested in the NFT market through market participation of global companies such as GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) and BATH (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, Huawei). The creation of world-leading cases has already been confirmed in Japan, and attention will be focused on advanced initiatives.

・ 1SEC

・ Gracone: Metaverse Gallery “CryptoArt Town”

・ CRYPTO &: Creative consulting firm

・ Plasm Network

・ Mint: NFT shop construction (NFT version Shopify)

Summary

We have looked at the efforts of each company in the NFT world market and the Japanese market, and many cases are born every week.

・Initiatives in collaboration with museums and sports facilities

・Metaverse Gallery

・NFT issuance by individual collectors / players

Not only the marketplace business, but the market is expected to develop more diversified.

Please refer to the list of companies and projects introduced this time.

・ Overseas companies

1 DapperLabs

2 Opensea

3 Rarible

4 Sorare

5 Zora

6 Super Rare

7 Nifty Gateway

8 Cryptopunks

9 Foundation

10 Showtime

11 Catalog

12 SportsIcon

13 IBM

14 IPwe

・ Japanese companies

15 CryptoGames

16 double jump.tokyo

17 coin check

18 1SEC

19 Gracone

20 Plasm Network

21 CRYPTO &

22 Mint

23 Square Enix

24 Mercari

25 Media Do

26 smart app

27 Shinwa Wise

28 Merchant Bankers

29 Aeria

30 LinK-U

31 Ceres

32 Mobile Factory

33 Mynet


·Celebrity

Edward Snowden

Eminem

Mike Shinoda(Linkin Park)

・ Blockchain

flow

Enjin

polygon

・ VC

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)

e.ventures