Both NFT searches and sales are trending downwards.
Those who came of age during the late 1990s will certainly remember the Beanie Babies craze — the small plush toys with a heart tag and a saccharine poem attached would line store shelves, be advertised by celebrities, and attract collectors willing to pay thousands for rare ones like Pinchers the Lobster.
After the company making them announced that it would stop making the toys in 1999, many started buying them off in droves in the hopes that they would grow in value.
Ty, Inc. later restarted production and the craze ultimately died down.
Are We Currently In NFT Mania?
While these collector crazes can be difficult to spot and truly understand until they’re over, the argument that we are currently in an “NFT Craze” can certainly be made.
Standing for nonfungible token, an NFT is primarily a way of asserting ownership over a piece of online content like a photo or a recording.
While rare ones like the Bored Ape Yacht Club currently sell for millions, the trend was quickly picked up by celebrities and those trying to promote their brands.
Screengrab/TS
Over the last year, everything from Martha Stewart’s Thanksgiving photo shoots to Jack Dorsey’s first tweet was auctioned off as NFTs. Companies like Yum!Brands (YUM) – Get Yum! Brands, Inc. Report-owned Taco Bell and Adidas (ADDYY) also quickly got in on the action.
According to numbers from sale-tracking firm DappRadar, global NFT trading went from bringing in $100 million in 2020 to $21 billion in 2021. A 3-D sculpture of an astronaut by NFT artist Beeple sold for $29 million in November.
Is The Beanie Babies Burst Coming For NFTs?
The fate of the Beanie Babies is well-documented in films like Beanie Mania.
While some were (and, in the case of rare ones, still are) able to resell their collections at great profit, the hype inevitably died down and many are now listed for little other than the value of a plush toy.
While $500 million worth of all kinds of Beanie Babies sold on eBay in 1997, current owners have to have a few rare animals to bring in solid money.
In 2021, the biggest Beanie Babies sale went to the buyer paid $24,000 for Gobbles The Turkey.
Data from Google Trends shows that people are already looking for NFTs less — Google (GOOGL) – Get Alphabet Inc. Class A Report searches of “NFT” are now down 68% since the start of 2022.
Did I Buy All Those NFTs For Nothing?
While NFTs do not accumulate closet space like Beanie Babies, it is fair to doubt whether the current gotta-have-em-now period will last forever.
The most likely scenario is that, like the plush toys, some will remain extremely valuable while the rest will fade into obscurity for those who miss the bubble.
“It’s not just interest that’s waning- NFT sales have also taken a nosedive,” Edith Reads of Stockapps.com said in a statement. “Although this is expected of any new technology, at this point we cannot be sure what direction NFTs will take.”
