Article from: Felix
Author: Greg Oakford, Cointelegraph
Compiled by: Felix, PANews
Wale, a researcher for the NFT project Azuki, reminisced about his past experience in NFTs during an interview and shared 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 Bored Apes have begun to achieve true collectible status.
Wale minted his first NFT in early 2021 and flipped it for a few hundred dollars, then 'was immediately captivated.'
Before getting into NFTs, I had bought some BTC and ETH, but didn't pay much attention or follow what was happening in the crypto space, then I discovered NFTs. Real-life friends and family showed no interest, but I started paying attention, minting new NFTs on exchanges and buying from the secondary market.
At the time, Wale was studying at a university in Germany and had not yet graduated. Despite making a lot of profit from NFT trading, he hesitated to fully engage in Web3 because 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 at any other job, I also felt that the whole space felt very unreal. I didn't have enough confidence to give up everything in 2021. So I continued to work in marketing for a car company in Germany. I fully committed in late 2022, when the market not only crashed but I also started to think more seriously from a creator's perspective. I was slow to commit fully to NFTs.
Has the NFT market recovered?
In the past month, there has been a massive recovery in NFTs. The prices of many NFTs, such as CryptoPunks, Pudgy Penguins (which just launched the PENGU token), and Doodles, have risen.
But has the NFT market really recovered? Wale believes these phenomena are positive, but there is still a long way to go before reaching the frenzy of 2021-22, which was led by the cultural phenomenon of Bored Ape Yacht Club.
The price of CryptoPunks was recently around $50,000 or slightly higher, and it has now surpassed $150,000. With the announcement of the PENGU airdrop, other traditional projects and Pudgy Penguins also saw significant increases. The rebound of NFTs has spread throughout the ecosystem, even for collections that have ceased operations, which rebounded by 50% or more.
Wale believes that 'for a true recovery, the market needs to generate excitement not only for mature projects but also for the emergence of new projects. We haven't seen that yet. This is similar to how memecoins operate. Many of the best-performing memecoins in this cycle are not the same memecoins from four years ago.'
From a broader perspective, many of the best-performing memecoins have actually attracted many newcomers and new funds. If a collection minted for 0.01 ETH or 0.05 ETH can rise to 4 ETH, that would be a real recovery, but it hasn't reached that level of excitement yet. Fortunately, early signs of excitement and interest in NFTs have returned.
Bored Apes have achieved 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 despite no catalysts, the floor price of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) doubled. Meanwhile, Pudgy Penguins announced the launch of the PENGU token, with Pudgy holders receiving a certain allocation, similar to the APE allocation for BAYC holders in March 2022.
Flamingo DAO member Derek Edwards coined the term 'minimal external dependencies.' This is a framework for thinking about certain types of NFTs, many art collectibles and punks fall into this category. Aside from the NFTs themselves, there are usually no promises, no catalysts, no airdrops, no roadmaps. Speculation still exists, but it is not based on the external dependencies that strong IP or game-focused NFT projects might have.
During the last bull market, there was discussion about whether BAYC would fall into the category of having the least external dependencies, becoming a collection that people just want to own, not because they expect future returns. Wale believes there may be early signs of Apes moving in that direction.
Wale pointed out two main reasons: first, the launch of the ApeChain ecosystem, where they found something that truly attracts core communities and NFT traders, collectors, and NFT enthusiasts.
The second reason is that we are indeed seeing Apes becoming more of a status symbol. They may not have reached punk status in Web3 yet, but when talking about mainstream NFTs, 90% of people know the Bored Apes brand, rather than Pudgy Penguins or Doodles. This is closely related to the mainstream attention NFTs gained during their boom in 2021 and 2022.
Projects that continued to build during the bear market
Despite a significant portion of NFT projects making many hollow promises and failing their roadmaps during 2021-22, those that persevered and continued to build have started to gain attention.
Doodles' recent large collaboration with McDonald's is a prime example, featuring 110 million coffee cups printed with Doodles IP. Pudgy Penguins is similar, as they launched PENGU this week and partnered with Walmart and other major retailers of 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 is expected to last most of 2024, memecoins and the broader cryptocurrency space are performing quite well. From the perspective of the projects delivered this year, I think we are doing well, and perhaps we are now seeing the market beginning to value it 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 think the entire Ordinals space is still undervalued. Among the top five PFP market caps, there are no top Ordinals projects. I believe some projects are undervalued, such as Bitcoin Puppets, NodeMonkes, Quantum Cats.
I'm surprised, especially during this Bitcoin rebound, that they haven't done better in terms of floor prices, but I want to 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 visibility, Pudgy Penguins will have an advantage over VeeFriends and Doodles. Doodles is also great, but the understanding among Generation Z may be a bit less. As for VeeFriends, I wouldn't pay too much attention to them. They are somewhat disengaged from the daily conversations on NFT Twitter, so I really don't know what they are doing content-wise.
If ranked, I would choose Pudgy Penguins, Doodles, and VeeFriends.
Related: NFT Market Warms Up: Multiple Top Projects Announce Token Plans, Blue-Chip Projects Become the Main Force of Recovery
