Author: Greg Oakford, Cointelegraph
Compiled by: Felix, PANews
Wale, a researcher for the NFT project Azuki, recalled his past involvement in NFTs during an interview and expressed his views on the recent recovery of the NFT market, believing that the interest of new participants is key to the NFT market returning to its peak, and that Bored Apes have begun to attain true collectible status.
Wale minted his first NFT in early 2021 and flipped it for a few hundred dollars, and then 'was immediately captivated.'
Before getting involved in NFTs, I had bought some BTC and ETH, but didn't pay much attention and wasn't following what was happening in the crypto space, and then I discovered NFTs. Friends and family in real life were not interested in this, but I began to pay attention, minting new NFTs on exchanges and buying from the secondary market.
At that time, Wale was studying at a university in Germany and had not yet graduated. Despite making a lot of profits in NFT trading, he hesitated about fully committing to Web3, as he was working for a German car manufacturer at that time.
Wale Azuki PFP
Although I made a lot of money through NFTs at that time, more than any job before, I also felt that the whole space felt very unreal. There wasn't enough confidence to give up everything else in 2021. So I continued my marketing work at a car company in Germany. I went full-time in late 2022, when the market not only crashed but I also began to consider things more seriously from a creator's perspective, starting slowly in my commitment to fully engaging in NFTs.
Has the NFT market recovered?
In the past month, NFTs have seen a tremendous recovery. Prices for many NFTs, including CryptoPunks, Pudgy Penguins (which just launched the PENGU token), and Doodles have risen.
But has NFT really recovered? Wale believes these phenomena are good, but they are still a distance away from the frenzy of 2021-22 that was led by the cultural phenomenon of Bored Ape Yacht Club.
The price of CryptoPunks was recently around $50,000 or slightly more, and now it has surpassed $150,000. With the announcement of the PENGU airdrop, other traditional projects and Pudgy Penguins have also seen significant increases. The NFT rebound has spread across the entire ecosystem, with even discontinued collectibles rebounding by 50% or more.
Wale believes that 'for a true recovery, the market needs to be excited not only about mature projects but also about the emergence of new projects. We have not seen that yet. This is similar to how memecoins operate. Many of the best-performing memecoins in this cycle are not the memecoins from four years ago.'
From a broader perspective, many of the best-performing memecoins have actually attracted a lot of newcomers and new capital. If a collectible minted for 0.01 ETH or 0.05 ETH rises to 4 ETH, that would indicate a true recovery, but we have not yet reached that level of excitement; encouragingly, early signs of renewed excitement and interest in NFTs have been observed.
Bored Apes attain true collectible status
In the recent NFT surge over the past four to six weeks, CryptoPunks showed strong momentum for the first time, but many collectors (including Wale) were surprised that the floor price of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) doubled despite the lack of any catalysts. Meanwhile, Pudgy Penguins announced the launch of the PENGU token, and Pudgy holders will receive a certain allocation, similar to the APE allocation for BAYC holders in March 2022.
Flamingo DAO member Derek Edwards coined the term 'minimal external dependency.' This is a framework for thinking about certain types of NFTs, many art collectibles and punks fall into this category. Apart from the NFT itself, there are usually no commitments, no catalysts, no airdrops, and no roadmap. Speculation still exists, but it is not built on the external dependencies that NFT projects with strong IP or focused on gaming might have.
During the last bull market, there was discussion about whether BAYC would fall into the category with the least external dependencies and become a collectible that people simply wanted to own, rather than because they expected future gains. Wale believes there may be early signs of Apes moving in that direction.
Wale pointed out two main reasons: one is the launch of the ApeChain ecosystem, where they found something that truly attracts the core community and NFT traders, collectors, and enthusiasts.
The second reason is that we are indeed seeing Apes becoming more of a status symbol; they may not have reached the punk level in Web3 yet, but when it comes to mainstream NFTs, 90% of people know the Bored Apes brand, rather than Pudgy Penguins or Doodles. This is largely related to the mainstream attention NFTs received during their boom in 2021 and 2022.
Projects that continued to build during the bear market
Despite the fact that during 2021-22, a large portion of NFT projects made many hollow promises and failed their roadmaps, those projects that have persisted and continued to build are starting to gain attention again.
Doodles' recent large collaboration with McDonald's is a prime example, with 110 million coffee cups featuring Doodles IP. Pudgy Penguins is similar; they launched PENGU this week in collaboration with Walmart and other major retailers that sell plush toys, achieving billions of impressions across all major social media platforms.
From Pudgy's collaboration with Walmart to Azuki's partnership with anime.com, many projects are starting to see some results. Although the NFT bear market persisted for most of 2024, memecoins and the broader cryptocurrency market have indeed performed well. From the perspective of projects delivered this year, I think we have done well, and perhaps we are now seeing the market beginning to value them in a way it hasn't in the past few months.
Quick Q&A
What NFT projects do you think are currently undervalued?
Wale: I would give a slightly different answer instead of naming a specific NFT project. I believe the entire Ordinals space is still undervalued. Among the top five PFPs by market cap, there are no top Ordinals projects. I think some projects are undervalued, such as Bitcoin Puppets, NodeMonkes, and Quantum Cats.
I am surprised, especially during this rebound in Bitcoin, that they haven't performed better in terms of floor price, but I would say that relative to NFTs on ETH or Solana, the Ordinals ecosystem is still undervalued.
Which project do you think will achieve long-term success in 10 years? Doodles, VeeFriends, or Pudgy Penguins?
Wale: I think in terms of attention, Pudgy Penguins have an advantage over VeeFriends and Doodles. Doodles are great too, but the understanding among Gen Z might be a bit less. As for VeeFriends, I don't focus too much on them. They are somewhat out of the daily conversation on NFT Twitter, so I really don't know what they are doing content-wise.
If ranking them, I would choose Pudgy Penguins, Doodles, and VeeFriends.
