Top NFT Projects for 2023

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The next 100 million crypto investors.

Health, Wealth, and Happiness

December 21, 2022

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”

– Maya Angelou

In today's issue: One of our most popular pieces this year was our Top Performing NFTs, where we showed which collections have grown the most.

Today, our NFT list grows even niftier.

We've updated our list for 2023 to show you the best performing NFT investments of the year. With many floor prices at record lows, this could be a great time to get into the NFT collectibles market.

Also, NFTs make a great holiday gift. Read on.

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Top NFT Projects of 2023

by Danielle Greving

Summary: NFTs are a specialized niche of crypto. They're only appropriate if you really love collecting. Even then, they should not compose more than 1% of your portfolio. For those who want to invest, here are the top NFT projects.

With the NFT market down 97% from its highs, it may feel like the fad is over, but if you believe in these digital collectibles as long-term investments, now could be a great time to buy.

As we said in our Investor's Guide to NFTs, think of them like collecting any other exotic investment: rare wines, classic cars, or even vintage baseball cards.

To help you discover the NFT collections with the most traction for 2023, we’ve compiled the top NFT projects of the past year. Read on.

Bored Ape Yacht Club

Most people with a passing knowledge of NFTs are familiar with Bored Ape Yacht Club, a collection of 10,000 unique NFTs built on Ethereum. Each Bored Ape contains different characteristics, with some being rarer than others. For example, only 3% of Bored Apes have biker vests, while only 5% have red fur.

The rarer the trait, the more expensive the Bored Ape may be. All the Bored Ape NFTs were initially available on a first-come, first-serve basis, and they sold out rather quickly. Now, they're available on OpenSea, a secondary market that acts like eBay for NFTs.

As the name suggests, the Bored Ape Yacht Club brands itself as an exclusive social organization. NFT holders get access to an exclusive Discord channel where fellow members (including high-profile celebrities) hang out and chat. Owning a Bored Ape NFT also grants you access to more NFT collectibles, which can be resold at higher values.

CryptoPunks

CryptoPunks was one of the earliest NFT projects based on the Ethereum blockchain. CryptoPunks has 10,000 algorithmically generated NFT avatars, and each contain unique attributes. The avatars were inspired by the 70s British punk scene, which reflected the blockchain community's anti-establishment, rebellious nature.

While every avatar is unique, some contain rarer traits. For example, over 9,000 of the NFTs are human men and women, but a select few feature designs of zombies, aliens, and apes. Thus, the NFTs with unique attributes may be more valuable than others.

CryptoPunks was created by John Watkinson and Matt Hall. They're the founders of Larva Labs, a New York-based software company. Originally, Watkinson and Hall created the characters as an experiment and thought they might turn them into a smartphone app or game. Instead, they ended up with a successful NFT collection boasting a market cap of over $6 billion (there is currently no floor price for CryptoPunks because they're not for sale).

Mutant Ape Yacht Club

Launched in August 2021, the Mutant Ape Yacht Club is an offshoot of the Bored Ape Yacht Club. The Mutant Ape NFT collection was created to reward Bored Ape NFT holders with secondary NFTs that spawned or "mutated" from their original Bored Apes. While the Mutant Ape NFTs differ from those in the Bored Ape collection, they possess similar characteristics.

The Mutant Ape Yacht Club was created to expand access and allow new members to join the Bored Ape Yacht Club. To become a member of Bored Ape, you need to own a Bored Ape NFT, a Mutant Ape NFT, or another related NFT.

There are 20,000 Mutant Ape NFTs, half of which were auctioned off for ETH, Ethereum’s native token. Through the auction, users could mint Mutant Ape NFTs after making successful bids. The remaining 10,000 NFTs were allocated to Bored Ape holders. Mutant Ape NFTs were auctioned off for around $10,000 and sold out in about an hour.

Otherdeed for Otherside

Otherdeed for Otherside is an NFT collection of metaverse land plots created by Yuga Labs, which created the Bored Ape Yacht Club. Otherdeed NFTs allow owners to claim Otherside land plots once the Otherside officially launches.

Each Otherdeed represents different sediments and environments within the Otherside universe. Each Otherdeed also contains different artifacts and resources that users can trade within Otherside by using Yuga Labs’ Apecoin. Bored and Mutant Ape Yacht Club holders had the chance to claim one Otherdeed NFT for each BAYC or MAYC NFT they held.

Otherside plans to be an interoperable metaverse, meaning users can move between different metaverses. The metaverse intends to serve as an open-world game, where NFT holders can own land and interact with different ecosystems and the unique beings that inhabit them.

Moonbirds

Moonbirds is a collection of 10,000 owl NFTs launched on April 16, 2022. American entrepreneur Kevin Rose created the NFTs as part of the Proof Collective, Rose's members-only NFT club.

Proof Collective members got access to the first 2,000 NFTs. Another 7,875 NFTs were released to the public through a whitelist (a group of users who are given early access to NFT collections). The remaining 125 Moonbirds remain with Proof Collective admins and may be used for future collaborations and marketing campaigns.

Moonbirds offer various incentives to their holders, the most significant being users can stake (or "nest") their NFTs by locking them up. Staking allows your Moonbirds to accrue additional benefits like achieving more tier levels and upgrading nests to make then more profitable.

Meebits

Meebits is an NFT collection of 20,000 3D voxel characters created by Larva Labs with the help of a custom generative algorithm. The Ethereum-based NFTs represent 3D characters that can be traded, animated, or used as avatars in the Metaverse.

Almost 19,000 of the Meebits are humans, with others represented as pigs, elephants, robots, skeletons, or "dissected" (this the rarest with only five units). Each character comes with various attributes like tattoos, earrings, beards, etc.

Launched in May 2021, Meebits are regarded as the successors to CryptoPunks, the OG NFT collection mentioned above. CryptoPunks are ideal for profile pictures on Web2 social media accounts, but Meebits are the Web3 equivalents.

Meebits use the ERC-721 standard, allowing them to be compatible with all popular NFT marketplaces. They also have a built-in marketplace, so users can buy and sell new Meebits for ETH.

In March 2022, the intellectual property (IP) rights for Meebits and CryptoPunks were purchased by Yuga Labs. Today, the Meebits ecosystem is under ongoing development based on the governance proposals raised and voted on within the MeebitsDAO.

Sandbox LAND

The Sandbox LAND collection consists of virtual real estate assets in The Sandbox, one of the most popular metaverse gaming ecosystems.

Each LAND is a unique digital piece of real estate. Much like developing real estate, LAND is developed by game designers to create digital experiences such as virtual buildings, games, or dioramas.

There will be a total of 166,464 LAND tokens. The NFT collection is minted on Ethereum using the ERC-721 standard. In The Sandbox, users can merge multiple LANDs to form ESTATEs. A special type of ESTATE is called a DISTRICT.

LANDs can be traded, rented to game creators, and leveraged to build assets in the Metaverse. Holders also participate in the ecosystems’ governance process.

VeeFriends

VeeFriends is a transmedia and entertainment company led by Gary Vaynerchuk (aka Gary Vee). He created 283 unique characters for this Web3 ecosystem. Many were his own doodles that have been professionally redrawn.

Gary developed the VeeFriends NFT collection to materialize his ambitions of building an active Web3 community around his creative business passions. VeeFriend NFT holders become part of the VeeFriends community and get exclusive access to VeeCon, a multi-day event.

Vaynerchuk is a wine critic turned entrepreneur and social media mogul. A four-time New York Times bestselling author, Gary is the founder and CEO of New York-based communications firm VaynerX, as well as VaynerMedia and VaynerSports. With a net worth of about $200 million, Gary Vee’s priority is to build a Web3 community, and VeeFriends plays a key role.

VeeFriend NFTs are minted on Ethereum and offer great opportunities for utility, collectibility, and community building. The inaugural collection (Series 1) was launched in May 2021. It comprises 10,255 VeeFriends tokens depicting Gary’s unique characters that were drawn manually. Every token gives admission to VeeCon 2022, 2023, and 2024. The Series 1 also includes 1,242 so-called G.O.O. tokens (Gary Originally Owned), a limited collection that goes with the G.O.O. badge.

The Series 2 collection was launched in April 2022 and features 55,555 NFTs depicting 236 characters from Series 1 and 15 new characters created specifically for the second series.

Okay Bears

Okay Bears is an algorithmically generated NFT collection released on the Solana blockchain in April 2022. 10,000 bears were initially released. Each was priced at 1.5 SOL.

The team behind the Okay Bears tokens wanted to cultivate a relaxed and vibrant community focused on acceptance, good vibes, and progress. An algorithm created each Okay Bears NFT character. Each NFT comes with utility, meaning it can be used for a variety of practical applications like exclusive access to events and experiences.

The Okay Bears NFTs sold out in one day, helping the Solana blockchain reach over $2 billion in total sales. Okay Bears has separated itself from other NFT competitors by creating unique hype around its brand. For example, some people were able to earn membership into the community by completing simple tasks like creating poems, changing their social media profile pictures, or sharing posts with specific hashtags.

Okay Bears strongly emphasizes creating a culture of kindness for its community members. Members can gather at The Park, an exclusive Discord channel where everyone is equal and encouraged to spread positivity.

KPR

KPR (Keeper) is a relatively new NFT ecosystem that gained attention at the end of 2022. It represents a storytelling project that plans to grow into a metaverse built around a collective narrative inspired by NFT holders.

The upcoming "KPRVerse" doesn’t have a roadmap. Instead, it will gradually reveal its genesis collection, multi-player gameplay, and deconstructed role-play game (RPG) among other things. The KPR NFTs will give access to this upcoming KPRVerse and unlock digital and physical experiences.

The NFTs represent unique characters painted in 2D by hand. The genesis collection consists of 10,000 NFTs that derive from 400 unique characters.

Even though we don’t know where KPR is going, many in the crypto community tout this as a top project.

Azuki

Azuki is an anime themed NFT collection that had one of the most successful drops in history. The collection of 10,000 NFTs, which were released on January 12, 2022, sold out within three minutes for over $30 million in total.

In the following weeks, as word began to spread about the successful launch, the Azuki collection reached almost $300 million in transaction volume across the market. Azuki NFTs can now mostly be found on secondary marketplaces like OpenSea and Rarible.

The popularity of Azuki NFTs is partially due to their characteristics, as the artwork attracted many anime enthusiasts. The brand has also employed several clever marketing tactics like collaborating with the Korean hip-hop trio Epik High.

Purchasing an Azuki NFT grants you access to The Garden, an exclusive online club that includes NFT drops, live events, streetwear collaborations, and more.

Primates

Primates is a collection of 10,000 ape avatar NFTs. It's basically a Bored Apes knockoff for Solana. The collection was minted on June 14, 2022, with a starting price of 4 SOL.

Primates focuses its brand on community and streetwear fashion. It wants its NFT space to be primarily for those interested in collecting and reselling streetwear. Primate NFT holders will have exclusive access to streetwear pieces from the Primates collection and early access to drops. It also plans to integrate Solana Pay into its digital storefront, so users can connect their wallets and directly purchase items from drops with SOL.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I choose an NFT project? If you believe collecting NFTs is like collecting art, do your research first on How to Collect Art.

Remember that uniqueness is critical for collecting art. Perhaps even more so in collecting NFTs, as thousands can be generated from a single algorithm. The "first of something" is generally more valuable (e.g., CryptoPunks, the first NFT collection; the first in an NFT series; the first series from an artist).

Second, look at the NFT's mission statement to understand the advantages of owning a specific NFT. Many NFTs now have utility beyond bragging rights, so examine what exclusive rights you’ll get by being an NFT holder (i.e., exclusive access to Discord channels or IRL events).

Third, become a Premium member to get access to our complete library of NFT scorecards, which are rated and reviewed by our analysts. You can also use our blank NFT Investor Scorecard to rate and review an NFT collection yourself.

What NFTs should I invest in? Any of the above NFTs could potentially be profitable long-term investments, but exercise caution. Before buying, be sure to look into the NFT’s liquidity, market volume, and long-term price performance. As is always true when investing in volatile assets (and especially NFTs), don’t invest more than you’re willing to lose.

Why are NFTs so expensive? They’re scarce (even if the scarcity is artificial). Each collection contains a limited number of NFTs. This perceived scarcity alone can drive up prices.

Many NFT collections also have utility. They give owners exclusive access to events, merchandise drops, and even licensing rights. NFTs are inherently unique and non-interchangeable, meaning no one else has rights to the NFTs you own unless you sell them.

Finally, NFTs may be expensive due to a hype-fueled bubble. If you're uncertain about investing in NFTs, it's probably best to sit them out.

Think of NFTs like digital collectibles.

Investor Takeaway

The NFT collections presented above have been great investment opportunities. Many also give additional benefits like access to exclusive events or voting rights on the projects themselves. These are benefits that could grow over time.

Other collections can be developed to grow in value. For example, you can buy Sandbox LAND in a great location and rent it to game developers or big brands looking to build assets in the Metaverse.

Nevertheless, investing in NFTs carries many risks, especially since they’re so new. Do your due diligence before investing in NFTs or become a Premium member to get access to our complete library of NFT scorecards (rated and reviewed by our analysts).

ICYMI