NFTs: Taking Over Retail With Metaverse
Written By: Arjun Patil
From Coinverse.
NFTs are the new asset class in which everyone, from big brands to small investors are interested. This comes due to the tremendous advantages it proposes over the existing system and naturally having more value associated with an NFT and thus having a higher chance of making profits is a non-negotiable plus point. As of the time of writing this article, the NFT market cap is $10 Billion, which Morgan Stanley expects to reach $56 Billion by the end of 2030 due to Metaverse.
NFTs In Metaverse:
NFTs have been proven as an efficient way to transfer and hold digital ownership of a digital asset with its on-chain fast and easy transaction, decentralized nature, the wider community, fewer barriers, more incentives, etc. However, it has also opened new avenues for already existing brands to market their products in the metaverse and use this hype to make their NFT retail game strong.
Despite a higher number of institutional investors, DAOs, and big organizations, in the year 2021, more than 80% of the NFTs transaction can be classified as retail transactions based on the value associated with the transaction. This again proves the point of decentralization and the absolute power being in the hands of the community.
The whole point of NFTs is clear. It can be digital ownership of an asset or also it can be a token representing ownership of a physical asset. This has led many fashion brands like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Valentino, Ralph Lauren, Jimmy Choo to partner with various metaverse platforms to
- Advertise Their Brand
- Sell More In Retail
This is exactly what is happening. These brands have managed to strengthen their footing in the Metaverse and have managed to earn a lot of revenue with it.
It’s not only fashion though. Sports wearables from Adidas and Nike have also managed to earn their spot in the Metaverse realm and thus have promoted web 3.0 based retail sales. Adidas for example had NFTs associated with its special physical goods, like a hoodie and the tracksuit worn by the Bored Ape that Adidas owns and also with upcoming digital experiences. These NFTs sold out within minutes and resulted in making Adidas a quick $22 million.
XRPL: The Better And Cheap Alternative To Ethereum.
Most of the NFTs are currently minted on Ethereum Blockchain which currently is proof of work-based Blockchain technology. Due to this fact, it still relies on every transaction getting verified by millions of miners every instant and thus processing less number of transactions per minute. This also leads to higher environmental concerns and most of all, higher Gas Fees. (The fees associated with carrying out the transaction in the Web 3.0 world). These fees in certain transactions were even close to $100.
Ripple (XRPL) which has partnered with NFT marketplace Mintable cuts down all these disadvantages that the first mover Ethereum has. The gas fees associated with transactions on XRPL are down to $0.0004 and the whole ripple ecosystem is already classified as Carbon Neutral, which Ethereum is far from.
Another exciting project on the XRPL is IGC or In Game Credit. This project has recently been awarded the Ripple XRPL grant to further develop their technology surrounding NFT’s by location for retailers. IGC has the ability to link augmented reality and NFTs by location and is rolling out its product globally. IGC the token also trades on XRPToolkit and the Sologenics decentralized exchange. IGC’s flagship augmented reality game is called iHunt4 and is in advanced testing phases.
“We are very excited to be awarded the Ripple XRPL Grant, our developer team are busy working on our NFT technology powered by the XRP ledger. IGC are also excited to be working with multiple high end retail brands to assist them with entry to the metaverse” mentioned Simon Church CEO of IGC (In Game Credit)
