TL;DR
-
The first NFT was created on Ethereum, back in 2014, and a market was formed around the technology in 2017.
-
But now Bitcoin (which has had an NFT market for less than a year) is outpacing Ethereum in NFT sales!
-
Which gives BTC holders a new way to spend their money, without ever leaving the Bitcoin network.
Full Story
Things we didn’t have on our 2023 bingo card:
-
Bitcoin beating Ethereum in NFT sales.
-
A decorated Air Force vet saying UFOs are real, while under oath.
-
Céline Dion being excluded from Rolling Stone’s 200 greatest singers list (shame on you, RS).
But back to that first point…
The first NFT was created on Ethereum, back in 2014, and a market was formed around the technology in 2017.
Giving ETH a healthy 7-10 year head start on developing the technology and taking a dominant lead in the space (depending on where you measure from).
But now Bitcoin (which has had an NFT market for less than a year) is outpacing Ethereum in NFT sales! Nuts right?
What’s stranger is it’s not like the numbers between each chain’s sales are even close. In December, NFT sales on the Bitcoin network totaled $881M, compared to Ethereum’s $353M (!)
Here’s the lesson we’re taking from this:
Network effects are cool and all, but money still talks. I.e. there’s a larger network of products/games/tools built around Ethereum NFTs – but the total value of the Bitcoin network is roughly 3x more than ETH’s.
($863B vs. $273B).
Which gives Bitcoin NFTs an economic edge, in that they give BTC holders a new way to spend their money, without ever leaving the Bitcoin network.
It’s similar to how Apple has been able to enter and dominate multiple new product categories over the past decade.
The company’s message being:
“Are you an iPhone/MacBook owner that’s thinking about getting a smart watch? Subscribing to a new streaming service? Buying a tablet?
Buy our version of that product and it’ll work seamlessly within the ecosystem you’ve already put money into.”
The message of Bitcoin NFTs being:
“Made a bunch of money with Bitcoin, but feel like there isn’t much you can do with it other than buy n’ hold it? Jealous of all the functionality that’s being offered by Ethereum NFTs?
Well, don’t be. You can now buy/sell NFTs natively on Bitcoin!”
Or something to that effect…
(idk – you get the point!)
