5 NFT Collections That Took Crypto Mainstream

October 17, 2022 by Mimi Phan

Picture this. It’s 2017 and you’re having a pretty good day, so you decide to scroll through Twitter. Three memes, two outrage posts, and one baffling clickbait headline later, you see something that catches your eye. It’s a post about NFTs, and not just any NFTs – CryptoPunks. You open the tweet and it’s a picture of a cool looking cartoon guy sporting a mohawk. The post also says that you can get one for free. You’re uninterested, so you close the picture and move on.

Three years later, that picture is worth $5 million.

This type of growth is one major reason why non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are among the most revolutionary tech concepts of our era. They’ve completely redefined what it means to own digital property. Several NFT collections paved the way for the industry to become so massive. Let’s look at some of these NFT collections that took crypto mainstream and how they got so popular.

How Do NFT Collections Work?

In the simplest sense, NFT collections are groups of tokens that are created and released by an artist or a group of NFT artists. They typically contain a limited number of individual tokens, all of which are similar but have slight variations to protect their uniqueness.

NFT collections are valuable due to their scarcity. If a collection can grab mainstream attention while maintaining a “limited edition” status, people will buy it.

Some other factors that boost the appeal of an NFT collection include:

• Artist reputation. The easiest way for an NFT collection to gain traction is if the developer is famous. We see this happen all the time, with celebrities capitalizing on their popularity to release NFT collections. Some examples are Eminem, Paris Hilton, and Snoop Dogg.
• Utility. NFTs can also become popular due to how useful they are. Several NFT collections are integrated into gaming ecosystems, community memberships, and social identification measures. Some NFT creators have also created cryptocurrencies tied to their NFTs. This way, investors get additional utility beyond just the NFTs themselves. 
  Which crypto coins are related to NFT collections? We have The Sandbox (SAND), ApeCoin (APE), and Axie Infinity (AXS), among others.

• Ownership history. Several NFT collections have also become popular due to the people who buy them up. The growth of the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection was partly spurred by celebrities like Steph Curry, Jimmy Fallon, and Neymar buying them and sharing their purchases on social media.
  

NFT Collections That Took Crypto Mainstream

While there are many NFT collections available today, some have definitely been more impactful on broader crypto culture than others. Here are some of the NFT collections that took crypto mainstream.

1. CryptoPunks

CryptoPunks is one of the OG NFT collections. Created by Larva Labs in 2017, it was the first NFT collection to gain significant traction. While there are more successful collections today, CryptoPunks will always have a place in NFT history.

The CryptoPunks collection was created as a “free mint” – basically, it was free to purchase, and a buyer only needed to worry about small transaction fees. Today, it’s almost impossible to buy one of the 10,000 CryptoPunks for anything less than $90,000.

The collection also set two important trends in the NFT space. It was the first collection to contain 10,000 pieces, and it also inspired several other collections that built NFTs with similar, albeit unique traits.

2. CryptoKitties

Like CryptoPunks, CryptoKitties is another collection that marks a piece of NFT history.

CryptoKitties was actually the first online game to be built on the Ethereum blockchain. If you’re a 90s kid, you were likely obsessed with collecting Pokémon cards and exchanging them with others. CryptoKitties works just like that, but with NFT trading cards.

The CryptoKitties game was created in 2017 by a gaming studio called Dapper Labs. In the game, players can buy digital kitties (which are NFTs) and grow them. Collectors with more than one kitty can also “breed” their pets, essentially creating new kitties that have character traits from both parents. Interest in the game was so intense that CryptoKitties accounted for about 25% of the Ethereum blockchain’s transaction volume at some point. That’s the stuff of crypto legend right there!

As one of the first NFT projects, CryptoKitties was influential in showing the potential of blockchain and cryptocurrency to thousands of early adopters. Today, there are hundreds of blockchain games that use NFTs as in-game assets, and many of them were inspired by CryptoKitties.

3. Bored Ape Yacht Club

When it comes to NFT collections getting cultural appeal, hardly any come close to the Bored Ape Yacht Club. The collection was created in 2021 by Yuga Labs, and it’s easily the answer to the question, “Which NFT has made the most revenue?” As of 2022, sales of Bored Apes have crossed $1 billion!

The Bored Ape collection features 10,000 NFTs of ape-like characters, all with unique facial expressions, outfits, accessories, and other traits. The collection became especially popular due to its celebrity appeal – as well as the names listed above, Justin Bieber, Mark Cuban, Madonna, and Tom Brady are just a few other celebs who own at least one token from this collection.

Yuga Labs has also created a cryptocurrency called ApeCoin (APE), which investors can buy. If you’re wondering “What is the most popular NFT crypto?”, this asset is easily in the conversation. They’re also working on a metaverse platform called Otherside, and they even have partnerships with big companies like Adidas.

Fun Fact: In early 2022, Yuga Labs bought the entire CryptoPunks collection from Larva Labs.

4. Moonbirds

Moonbirds is one of the newest and freshest NFT collections in the market. Created in April 2022 by Proof Collective, the collection includes bird-themed images that can serve as profile pictures. There are 10,000 pieces in this collection as well, all of which are similar but also unique in their own way.

Despite being only a few months old, the collection has grown quite impressively. Each Moonbird sells for at least $13,000 today. And besides acting as profile pictures, each Moonbird also grants its holder access to a Discord filled with some of the crypto industry’s biggest players – so these tokens have utility beyond just their look.

5. NBA TopShot

NBA TopShot is one of the best examples of big brands stepping into the NFT space. Launched in 2020, it is a partnership between the NBA and Dapper Labs, the creators of the CryptoKitties collection. With NBA TopShot, users can buy and trade highlights from the basketball league.

Did you see a LeBron James dunk or a Kevin Durant three-pointer that looked awesome? You could check it out on NBA TopShot and buy it immediately! These highlights – or “Moments,” as they are called in the marketplace – increase in value based on their rarity. Each moment is an NFT that is officially licensed by the NBA and minted with a unique serial number that includes data like game and player stats.

NBA TopShot became the standard for most sports and entertainment brands looking to enter into the NFT space. Today, the NFL, MBL, and UFC have their own NFT platforms, and several other major sports brands are entering into the space as well.

Featured image by Markus Spiske on Pexels