An old NFT project is getting a lot of support from NFT influencers in the year 2022, which is helping it acquire a lot of traction.
The NFT project known as CryptoSkulls may give the impression of being a new player in the non-fungible market; however, this is not the case. This non-fungible token (NFT) project is a collection of 10,000 digital assets that was released in 2019, making it one of the earliest Profile Picture (PFP) NFTs on Ethereum.
After having been constructed initially on the widely used blockchain Ethereum, the project is now also live on the Ethereum side-chain Polygon as well.
Collectors like to place a higher value on something that has a significant amount of history, and such assets typically see a revival at some point in time. This is something that we have learned from the success of older projects such as CryptoPunks, Ether Rocks, and MoonCats. So, let’s investigate this thing that everyone is talking about, shall we?
NFT Mania Continues
This fever is continuing this year at the same frenetic rate as it did in 2021, which was the year that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) simply surged into prominence.
According to Google Trends, the number of people searching for the phrase NFT keeps going higher; it has recently reached a new all-time high and has been trending upward since July 2021. NFT monthly volume is also closer to $3 billion in sales over ten various blockchain networks, including Ethereum, Ronin, Solana, Flow, Polygon, and more, which is in stark opposition to the ongoing general fall in the cryptocurrency market.
The increased interest in NFTs is further demonstrated by the fact that Meta (formerly known as Facebook) has begun working with NFTs. The world’s largest technology company has just revealed a new function that will let users to flaunt their NFTs on their profiles on Facebook and Instagram. Additionally, the company is working on NFT marketplace prototypes so that customers will be able to mint their own NFTs in the near future.
Twitter, another major player, recently released a new feature that allows users to certify PFP NFTs. To accomplish this, the platform now supports a number of cryptocurrency wallets, such as Argent, Coinbase Wallet, Ledger Live, MetaMask, Rainbow, and Trust Wallet. Users can connect these wallets to their profiles in order to verify their NFTs using these wallets.
As for what exactly NFTs are, they are non-fungible digital tokens that reflect the ownership of one-of-a-kind goods. This makes them distinct from fungible cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and fiat money in that they cannot be exchanged for other forms of currency.
The realm of NFTs is still very young, and its application can be found in anything that is one of a kind and requires ownership to be proven. NFTs are traded on specialized platforms known as NFT markets, such as OpenSea, Rarible, SuperRare, Foundation, Nifty Gateway, and LooksRare. These marketplaces function in a manner very similar to that of crypto assets.
Rare CryptoSkulls available in extremely limited quantities.
People have invested millions of dollars in NFTs, with certain artworks, such as Beeple’s “Everydays: the First 5000 Days,” selling at Christie’s for an astounding $69 million at auction. Since then, a number of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), including CryptoPunks and Bore Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), have generated significant profits.
One such NFT is called CryptoSkulls, and it was released in 2019 by Alex Slayer, who is both a coder and an artist. There are a total of 10,000 collectibles, and each ERC-721 NFT is kept on the Ethereum blockchain as well as the Polygon blockchain.
Ethereum is the most popular blockchain for NFTs; nevertheless, it has problems with network congestion, which increases the cost of utilizing it and prices out smaller users as a result. Although Ethereum is working on a solution to the problem of scalability with its most recent significant upgrade, “The Merge,” which will switch its current consensus mechanism from proof of work (PoW) to proof of stake (PoS) this year, there is still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the release of this upgrade.
While Ethereum continues to struggle with scalability, competing alternatives like as Polygon are gaining popularity. Because of this secondary scaling option for the Ethereum blockchain, transaction fees have decreased and transaction times have decreased. Relatively recently, our layer-2 scaling solution was able to effectively apply the much-publicized Ethereum upgrade, EIP-1559, to burn native MATIC tokens.
In the card game Gold of Skulls, each CryptoSkull can also be used as a playable token. In addition to this, the game features its very own ERC-20 token known as GSK, which has a supply of 10 million. As this is being written, it is trading around about $1.30. These GSK tokens can be earned by players within the game and then used as a payment token on the main NFT markets such as OpenSea. Alternatively, players can send these tokens to their friends as a gift.
The team has decided to devote 55 percent of the available GSK to in-game prizes, 15 percent to community support, 12.5 percent to development funding, and 2.5 percent to the initial liquidity pool. The team receives 5% of the supply, while marketing is allotted 10% of it for their own reasons.
Unique Pixelated Avatar NFTs
Profile Picture NFTs were among the very first NFTs that had ever been manufactured. In 2017, CryptoPunks were one of the first to jump on the trend with their fixed photos of punks that were generated by algorithms. A few of years later, in 2016, CryptoSkullss made its debut on the market with their very own collectibles that each included unique characteristics.
Each CryptoSkull character is a one-of-a-kind piece of pixel art that has its own Uniqueness Index value. This property displays the overall rarity of all picture attributes. Those with less common characteristics have a higher Uniqueness Index. For example, skull lords, which are images that have been drawn by hand, possess the rare quality and have a uniqueness index value of one.
In a manner comparable to that of the avatar project, there are only 10,000 CryptoPunks available, and they were given away at first launch. However, as NFTs gained everyone’s attention, their value skyrocketed. CryptoPunk 7523, which was sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $11.75 million, is currently the most expensive avatar in the collection to date.
A comparable frenzy may be seen in the desire for extremely rare EtherRock. This is because EtherRock is extremely uncommon. This 2017 collection of 100 “per rocks” was available at a price of approximately $5,000 at the beginning of NFT summer; nevertheless, its floor price quickly soared to more than $1 million within a month’s time.
All the Buzz
Although CryptoSkulls has been available for purchase on the market for three markets at this point, it was not until January 2022 that this NFT began to gather pace. This development occurred as a direct result of the discovery of this collection by various NFT influencers.
At one point, CryptoSkulls surpassed the likes of OG collectable CryptoPunks as well as BAYC and Art Blocks Curated to become the most popular NFT project. According to data provided by CryptoSlam.io, the sales volume of CryptoSkulls was over $31 million over the course of the preceding seven days, while its all-time volume was approximately $53.7 million.
On OpenSea, the platform that leads the NFT market in terms of volume, CryptoSkulls is still one of the top 10 collections. At this time, there are 4,300 holders that are proud owners of CryptoSkulls. The minimum price at which one can purchase a CryptoSkulls from the market is referred to as the floor price, and it is currently set at 2.14 ETH.
The project had only a couple of sales up to the second week of January 2022, but after that, the number of sales increased to over 200. In the middle of the month, their average price had increased to 3.45 ETH, up from less than 0.1 ETH when the month began.
So, what exactly was it that first sparked people’s interest in CryptoSkulls all of a sudden? It’s possible that NFT Now co-founder Matt Medved, who has been promoting CryptoSkulls for the past several months, was the one who started it all.
Gary Vaynerchuk, who has over 2.8 million followers on Twitter and is considered to be one of the most powerful people in the world, was a driving force behind the significant revival of the CryptoSkulls NFT collection. Since the beginning of last year, the business owner has been heavily involved in the non-fungible token (NFT) industry. He is rumored to have a sizable collection of NFTs, which includes many CryptoPunks.
It has been speculated that CryptoSkulls could even end up replacing CryptoPunks as a result of its viral success. The commotion began when Vaynerchuk disclosed in a Twitter thread that he had acquired a CryptoSkulls NFT for the price of one hundred ether classic.
As CryptoSkulls NFT were being minted by collectors and influencers, and as the initiative was being pushed up on social media, many people were tempted to join in. When it was combined with their historical status, CryptoSkulls were able to attract an even greater number of aficionados.
NFTs issued by CryptoSkulls are presently offered for purchase on the markets OpenSea and Rarible, in addition to the most recent NFT marketplace, LooksRare, which holds the position of market leader at the present time.
Where Can I Purchase CryptoSkulls NFTs?
A digital wallet is required before you can purchase or sell CryptoSkulls on any NFT marketplaces, so make sure you have one before you get started. A widely used wallet for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is called MetaMask, and it may also be downloaded as a browser extension. Be wary of promoted sites and phishing attempts if this is your first time installing the cryptocurrency wallet. When you want to download the wallet, you need to make sure that you are using the correct website URL.
Utilize popular hardware wallets such as Ledger and Trezor in conjunction with MetaMask in order to take additional steps toward the goal of safely putting your NFTs in cold storage.
You should load some ETH into your wallet before beginning to use these platforms so that you can pay for the gas and any other transaction fees that are charged by these NFT sites. Because the gas fees are contingent on the network usage and can be quite pricey, you might want to utilize the network at times of the day when petrol prices are lower in order to save money. You can examine the range of the price of gasoline on any particular day by consulting websites such as EthGasStation.
After you have the wallet installed, you will need to link it to the NFT marketplace. This can be done by navigating to the platform and selecting your profile from the drop-down menu there. When you are presented with the opportunity to connect your wallet, select MetaMask from the list of available alternatives. Simply agree to the Terms and Conditions, grant your wallet all of the necessary rights, then sign the signature request to complete the process.
You may now acquire the CryptoSkulls NFT by using the search bar on the platform, which will allow you to find all of the different alternatives that are accessible. You have the option of purchasing certain NFTs at the price that is displayed directly beneath them, or you can make an offer that is required to be higher than the previous one.
You will be prompted to connect your wallet whenever you want to go for any of the available options. When you are finished, you will be able to view the pertinent information, such as the estimated time it will take to conduct the transaction and the gas fees. When you get to this point, you could be tempted to adjust your gas fees, but keep in mind that if you did so, the transaction speed would also decrease.
Your transaction will be processed as soon as you click the confirm button. After then, some seconds or minutes will pass, at which point you will have your NFT, which you will be able to view in your collection.
To sell your CryptoSkulls NFT, select the “Sell” option from the menu, then fill in all of the relevant information on the transaction. For this point, you will be required to make a decision between selling the NFT at a predetermined price or participating in a timed auction. At this point, all that is left to do is wait for the bids to come in.
The listing of NFTs on these platforms is typically free, but there is a fee associated with any purchase or sell transaction. For example, OpenSea takes a cut of 2.5% of each transaction, Rarbible charges a commission of 2.5% of each sale, and LooksRare has a fixed transaction cost of 2%. The modest price that LooksRare requires of its native token LOOKS stakers is one of the primary reasons why the platform is gaining popularity so quickly.
The Last Word
NFTs are only strengthening their position and receiving more attention from the mainstream as a result of the success of 2021. This attention is growing even faster than that given to large crypto assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum or meme coins such as DOGE or SHIB. NFTs have a commanding presence in the cryptocurrency market and continue to see an increase in their popularity, volume, and price. This is in contrast to the general market, which is moving at a snail’s pace.
Now, within the NFT industry itself, a number of other verticals are beginning to emerge. This year, in addition to collectibles and digital artwork, it seems that gaming and finance are going to be the new trend where non-fungible tokens will see their applications.
As a novel application of blockchain technology that can be used to ascertain ownership of digital assets, it stands to reason that non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are gaining in popularity, would continue to do so. And because of this, their potential is not confined to merely digital artwork, music, and digital land; rather, it can extend into the future to include licensing and publishing, the metaverse, limited-edition products, ticketing, physical assets, and more.
However, this does not indicate that the value of the collectibles will decrease. At this time, initiatives involving Avatar NFTs are at the forefront of the industry and are among the most successful ones. These Profile Picture NFTs are serving as people’s digital identities for thousands of individuals at a time. Some of these initiatives even allow participants to join communities and gain access to special events and additional NFT drops.
Twitter is currently inundated with NFT profile images, and given the rise in popularity of online anonymity and the fact that the world is becoming increasingly virtual, the market for PFP NFTs that feature highly customisable avatars is only expected to continue expanding.
Not to mention the fact that Twitter, the giant of the social networking world, is helping to legitimize NFTs by enabling its users to demonstrate ownership of their profile photographs. Some of these pictures have cost their owners thousands, if not millions, of dollars.
