SuperRare Sells Over $4M in Digital Art as NFT Market Explodes

The Non-Fungible Token (NFT) and digital artwork platform SuperRare revealed that it sold over $4 million worth of art in October. The platform announced that over 10,000 pieces of art had been sold, with artists earning $3 million. The performance is a testament to the sudden popularity of NFTs, which have matched the enthusiasm of the DeFi (Decentralized Finance) sector.

Milestones Reached in Oct:
– $3M Earned by Artists – $3.39M
– $4M Total Sales – $4.34M
– 10K+ Artworks Sold (10,161)
– Top 6 Highest Ever USD Sales by @RAC @Hackatao @AndroidJones2 @Coldie @MrQuandomai

Collector secondary sales approaching $1M milestone any day now ($949,159)💎

— SuperRare 💎 (@SuperRare_co) November 2, 2020

SuperRare metrics show tremendous growth across the board. There are nearly 600 artists selling their work on the platform, up from roughly 263 in Jan 2020. During the same period, total collectors grew from 339 to 1,175 while total artworks have crossed 15,500.

The platform also recorded art volumes of 1.68 million in October 2020, compared to the month before when it logged just over one million. At the start of the year, this figure was no more than a few hundred thousand.

NFTs Growing and Evolving

NFTs have existed since 2017 and first grabbed the public’s attention with the arrival of CryptoKitties, which reached a staggering and surprising level of popularity. While it is no longer the dominant application on the market, many of today’s most valuable tokens owe themselves to the collectible game. Games continue to be the most popular application, though art appears to be catching up quickly. SuperRare’s sales were preceded by the sale of Batman artwork NFTs that sold for approximately $200,000.

The most popular NFT platform, in terms of sales, is still CryptoKitties. According to data platform NonFungible, the game has recorded over $38 million in sales, which dwarfs SuperRares’ $4.57 million in sales. The data suggest that NFTs are simply on a growth trend, with a ‘killer app’ perhaps required to bring even further adoption. With art and real estate both examining applications of NFTs, 2021 could see far larger volumes. Most platforms have integrated the DAI stablecoin into their markets, especially those dealing in digital art. Artists on these platforms prefer stablecoins for their resistance to volatility. Maker CEO Rune Christensen has even touted the use of DAI on NFT art platforms.

Some Remain Skeptical

While the number of platforms and volumes have increased across the board, not everyone is convinced by this particular use-case for NFTs. FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has been open about his skepticism, though others like Morgan Creek co-founder Anthony Pompliano are confident about the growing trend. NFTs, however, have utility in uniquely identifying property ownership. Real estate continues to be one of the hottest applications of blockchain technology, though no projects have made significant headway with respect to the application of NFTs besides the virtual Decentraland.