According to OpenSea, NFT creators earned over US$1 billion this year so far (based on the sales concluded between January 1 and November 23 on the platform). This amount does not include grants, various incentives, or sponsorships. Over 80% went to less popular collections, the rest heading to the top 10 NFTs.
Less than a decade since the creation of the first NFT, namely Quantum, which was created by Anil Dash and Kevin McCoy back in May 2014, this field has taken off to reach impressive dimensions. The first NFT project, Etheria, arrived in 2015 and remained in the dark until mid-March 2021, when it generated about US$1.4 million in sales. The market came to a halt in 2022 after two years of solid growth. Although NFT sales took a sharp dive compared to 2021 by mid-2022, OpenSea reports that the creators earned over US$1 billion this year (until November 23, to be accurate).
The impressive figure mentioned above only includes the revenue generated by creator fees from the resale of their NFTs. In many cases, NFT creators also gain from sponsorships, engagement incentives, as well as grants. According to OpenSea’s data, only 20% of the US$1.1 billion generated this year went to the top 10 NFT collections. This top is based on the creator fees-based earnings of the collections, and not anything else.
In the future, OpenSea is planning to fully unleash the drops minting experience with the goal of “expanding the canvas for storytelling” and improve the platform’s experience for both creators and their followers. For now, this remains one of the more interesting NFT-related projects to keep an eye on and only time will tell if the market can return to its former glory.
Disclaimer: The information reported here should not be used as a basis for any personal investment decision. Notebookcheck does not offer cryptocurrency, NFT, or other trading, investment, or financial advice.
Codrut Nistor – Senior Tech Writer – 5743 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2013
In my early school days, I hated writing and having to make up stories. A decade later, I started to enjoy it. Since then, I published a few offline articles and then I moved to the online space, where I contributed to major websites that are still present online as of 2021 such as Softpedia, Brothersoft, Download3000, but I also wrote for multiple blogs that have disappeared over the years. I’ve been riding with the Notebookcheck crew since 2013 and I am not planning to leave it anytime soon. In love with good mechanical keyboards, vinyl and tape sound, but also smartphones, streaming services, and digital art.
Codrut Nistor, 2022-12- 3 (Update: 2022-12- 3)