NFT Token Talk: Introducing an NFT Utility Token Recap
Over the last year, many NFT projects have yielded to consumer excitement and speculation by creating their own ERC-20 token. Most projects label these a "utility token," designed to be the currency of a larger ecosystem or game. At one point in time the words staking and tokens were a catalyst for sellouts and upwards price movement, regardless of the project's underlying "fundamentals" or the token's clear purpose.
Today though, "token meta" seems to have largely fizzled out. Perhaps NFT collectors are wiser to the potential regulatory concerns. Or, the hints at a potential bear market have spooked them from owning the lowliest class of low-liquidity shitcoins. Either way, the random $ZOMBIE tokens have faded, and only those that are actually useful are worth watching (I typed this VERY lightly).
Going forward, I'll spend some time each week walking through some of the notable NFT utility tokens, commenting not only on their price movements, but potential unlocks in their use, news and notes, and more.
The NFT Token Portfolio
Firstly, let's take a look at the portfolio. I've built a public CoinGecko portfolio with some of the most notable NFT utility tokens for easy keeping and public sharing. You can view the portfolio here. If you have believe a token on CoinGecko should be included, please reach out to me on Twitter.
To start, I've placed the tokens into a few notable categories:
Metaverse + Ecosystem Coins
Though these could be argued as adjacent to NFT utility tokens, I've deemed the tokens like $WRLD, $SAND, $MAGIC, and $MANA as important enough for inclusion. All relate to popular Metaverses or Metaverse-like projects and economies that are able to support other NFT collections.
NFT/PFP Utility Tokens (no game)
As certain brands and IP look to extend their reach, they've built utility tokens to introduce mechanics for new mints and more. This group includes SupDucks and $VOLT, and Cyberkongz and $BANANA. Both projects are without games, but allow their tokens to accrue to holders for use in minting companions Baby Kongz or Mega Toads.
NFT/PFP Utility Tokens (game)
The largest group in the portfolio includes projects that are looking to build in-game currencies for eventual games. This group includes $MILK (Cool Cats), $POW (MetaHeroes), $WOOL (Wolf Game), $RAIDER (Crypto Raiders), and more.
This group is likely to be the most scrutinized as the respective utility tokens in this group are supposed to play an integral role in the games they belong to.
Miscellaneous
Last but not least, I've built a group to maintain any oddballs that warrant paying attention to - like $ASH, Murat Pak's token. Pak's ultimate plans for $ASH are still unwinding and as it remains the most cryptic of the group, it seems only fitting that it remains in "Miscellaneous" until the mechanics may allow us to better define or categorize it.
The State of NFTokens
The Positives
Only two of the 20 tokens included in the current portfolio are green over the last seven days, $VOLT (+ 0.4%) and $WRLD (+ 27.9%).
Perhaps it is no surprise that the price of $WRLD increased alongside a massive boost from the underlying NFT collection, NFT Worlds.
Here's a glimpse at the NFT Worlds floor price from the last week. It's not a major surprise that the price of the utility token follows the price of the asset or NFT which most often produces the respective utility token.
The Negatives
It was easier to simply list the positives when creating the state of the market this week, as nearly every utility token in the NFT Token Portfolio saw a major decrease this week. The largest two decreases though came via $MILK (- 44.2%) and $WOOL (- 40.4%) from Cool Cats NFT and Wolf Game respectively.
The largest loser, $MILK, is also the newest ERC-20 token, only having been deployed in the last two weeks with the pending release of Cooltopia, the game and ecosystem being built by the Cool Cats team.
Unfortunately, while the token was created, $MILK is currently not usable as the Cooltopia game remains delayed due to technical difficulties. Another concern that may be impacting the price of $MILK is the imbalance which is growing within the Cooltopia ecosystem. At present time, Cool Cats NFT Holders earn $MILK per day, pursuant to their rarity tier of Cool Cat. However, because the Cooltopia game has not yet launched, Cool Pets holders are not earning any $MILK from their pets. The Cool Cats team is aware of the disparities and imbalance this is creating in regards to $MILK ownership, but their formal plans for rectifying the issue have yet to be fully announced.
Beginning next week, I'll start to break down more of what we know about these tokens, including details about their issuance, supply and more.
Disclaimer: Lucky Trader is not a registered investment advisor. You understand that the service is furnished for your personal noncommercial, information, purpose only. No mention of an NFT in the service constitutes as a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold that or any other NFT. Nothing within the service shall, or is intended to, constitute financial, legal, accounting, or tax advice. Any decision that you make to buy, sell, or hold an NFT should be based on an assessment of your risks in consultation with your personal advisers.
