The biggest NFT announcements of 2022

In 2022, hardly a month passed without NFT making the news. From Reddit avatars to the merger, NFT ruled the tech space. While the market continues to grow rapidly, the number of NFT companies is also on the rise. The market is already worth over $20.44 billion and many expect it to reach $211.74 billion by 2030.

Here are the top NFT announcements to give you an overview of what happened in 2022.

Meta launched NFTs on Instagram

As early as January, there were reports that Meta wanted to allow users to bypass NFTs on its platforms. Finally earlier this month (November), the tech giant allowed users to create, buy and sell “digital collectibles” to normalize and scale NFTs. The company’s blog stated that a small group of creators in the US would initially get access to the feature. To make this possible, Meta partnered with Polygon, which will be given to users to create NFTs, display and sell the digital collectibles.

Reddit’s avatar NFTs generated over $2.5 million a day

IN October, Reddit’s Collectible NFT avatars generated $2.54 million in sales from October 23-24, according to data compiled by Polygon Analytics. This represented an increase of over 1,000 percent in sales volume from the previous day and brought the total for Collectible Avatars to over $8.1 million, spread over nearly 28,000 individual sales.

Reddit’s CryptoSnoos NFTs are limited edition collectibles based on the social platform’s mascot, Snoo. Designed by independent artists and Reddit creators, the avatars provide users with platform benefits (such as unique profile animations) and allow Redditors to use their avatars however they want outside of the platform.

The merger finally happened

The merger, Ethereum’s long-awaited transition to a proof-of-stake consensus system, finally happened in September this year. The colossal move officially marks the merging of Ethereum’s mainnet execution layer with the Beacon Chain consensus layer. Ethereum developers created the Beacon Chain in 2020, and until now it has been running in parallel with the Ethereum network.

Officially switching from its original consensus mechanism, the Ethereum blockchain’s energy consumption is expected to fall between 99.5 and 99.99 percent.

Gucci accepts Bored Ape Yacht Club’s cryptocurrency

According to a tweet from AugustGucci began accepting ApeCoin – Bored Ape Yacht Club’s cryptocurrency – as a form of payment in certain US branches.

Given ApeCoin’s origins as a limited, on-demand possible cryptocurrency originally intended for Bored Ape and Mutant Ape holders, this partnership aims to offer holders of these recognized NFTs and cryptocurrencies a new way to represent their community IRL – via garments from the old haute couture brand.

Minecraft will no longer support NFTs

Mojang Studios, the developer of Minecraft, posted in a blog in July about changing its position on NFTs. Also, they gave a few reasons to justify the move. The new guidelines for using Minecraft outlined accessibility and functionality. These rules will ensure a community with equal access. However, NFTs can create models of scarcity and exclusion that conflict with the guidelines and spirit of Minecraft.

WeChat banned accounts linked to NFTs

IN April, the popular Chinese social media platform WeChat updated its terms of service and will ban accounts that engage in “virtual currency or digital fundraising activities” – i.e. NFTs and crypto. According to the app’s unlawful operation clause, this type of communication is considered “offensive content”.

After China’s outright ban on crypto trading and mining in 2021, many speculated that they would crack down on NFTs next.

TIME published the first full magazine issue as NFT

Time announced a first-of-its-kind full magazine issue as an NFT on the blockchain i March. The trial marked the first time any publication has released an issue on the blockchain. In keeping with TIMEPieces’, the issue featured a cover story on Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.

OpenSea reported a massive data breach

IN June, OpenSea – the most popular NFT marketplace – posted a blog about the breach. An employee of Customer.io, OpenSea’s email provider, abused their access to share users’ email addresses with an unauthorized external party. The company stated that anyone with an email account shared with OpenSea should “assume they are affected”.