- The crypto winter has been frigid. Most NFT projects–outside of the clear market leader Yuga Labs, which continues to build the Otherside–are trying to weather the storm of the economic downturn.
- But just when you think you have a handle on the NFT market, it can change in a blink of an eye.
- The Nakamigos projects–pixelated characters reminiscent of the CryptoPunks, but in a kind of miniature sized body–are all the rage.
- They haven’t quite had the parabolic price increase as MoonBirds did.
- But Nakamigos have defied the crypto winter and major headwinds for NFT projects.
- The hype–speculation–over Nakamigos was fueled in part by Beeple’s drawing:
- Of course, the hype is hype until the project proves it’s worth. Remember the hype over MoonBirds and many other projects.
- We shouldn’t read too much into this early hype. It does follow what economist Robert Shiller describes as “narrative economics” and “contagion.” Investors will invest based on hype, and the contagion of others investing in the hopes of striking it rich. Tyler D of Lucky Trader aptly calls it the “Nakamigo Mania.”
- I devote an entire chapter in my book Creators Take Control to explain the contagion involving NFTs booming. Chapter 8 discusses FOMO and NFT bubbles.
- This isn’t to suggest that the Nakamigos are all hype. Personally, I love the art, and they do give IP rights to the owners. But it remains to be seen if they are trying to be “CryptoPunks-lite” pfps, or if they plan something beyond pfps. It would be fascinating if the “pfp-grant IP rights to owners” model becomes the most attractive option for NFT projects.