NFTs - What's New In 2022

As explained in our prior posts, NFTs exploded in popularity in 2021. This trend has continued into 2022 with new NFT projects launching daily. It seems that everyone from entertainers to public figures are either investing in or purchasing NFTs. In this week's NFT Newsroom post, we explore a few 2022 NFT drops.

World's 1st NFT Restaurant

Gary Vaynerchuk, Chairman of VaynerX and co-founder of the restaurant-reservation app, Resy, has announced plans to open the world's "first NFT restaurant" in New York City. The Flyfish Club is a member's only private dining club. The membership for Flyfish Club comes in the form of an NFT purchased with Ethereum (ETH). As an NFT, the membership becomes an asset to the token holder, which can later be sold, transferred or interestingly, leased on the secondary market. The Flyfish Club created a leasing mechanism whereby a token holder can lease their token to a non-token holder on a monthly basis giving the token holder a potential passive income stream, in addition to the potential appreciation of the token price due to the scarcity and demand of the token. Scheduled to open in early 2023, the Flyfish Club began selling memberships through NFTs earlier this month.

U.S. Congressional Candidates Fund Campaigns with NFTs

The Federal Election Commission approved political cryptocurrency donations eight years ago, and lately some congressional candidates have begun selling NFTs to help finance their midterms campaigns. As reported by Bloomberg, Democratic House candidate Shrina Kurani and Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters have both offered NFTs as "incentives for donors." In an interview, Kurani called NFTs her "campaign merchandise," targeting younger voters through the online marketplace "SolSea". Masters's raised nearly $575,000 by promising to give donors digital cover art of his best-selling book Zero to One.

The Associated Press is Launching an NFT Marketplace

The Associated Press (AP), recently announced plans to launch the Associated Press NFT Marketplace where collectors will be able to purchase tokenized photographs from its 175-year-old archive, including AP's Pulitzer Prize-winning images. The marketplace is built by the blockchain technology firm Xooa, with NFTs to be minted on the Polygon blockchain. The platform will support secondary transactions using debit and credit cards or payments in Ethereum (ETH). According to the press release, "each NFT will include a rich set of original metadata offering collectors awareness of the time, date, location, equipment and technical settings used for the shot." The AP is not new to the world of NFTs, it is simply expanding its reach. Last March, the AP auctioned off an NFT artwork that depicts a visual of the electoral college map as viewed from space, commemorating the first U.S. election recorded on a blockchain.

Samsung and LG are Adding NFT Features to TVs

Samsung Electronics unveiled a new line of Smart TVs, which will feature, "the world's first TV screen-based NFT explorer and marketplace aggregator, a groundbreaking platform that lets you browse, purchase, and display your favorite art — all in one place." According to the company, the TVs feature an intuitive, integrated platform allowing users to discover, purchase, and trade NFTs right from their TV. The screens also have anti-glare, anti-reflection, and anti-fingerprint properties, allowing users to enjoy their favorite artwork in perfect condition. Following Samsung's plans, LG Electronics, one of Samsung's biggest competitors, announced that it will also incorporate NFT features into its TV line. Earlier this month, the company held a press conference in which its head of home entertainment business division Park Hyung-se remarked LG "definitely" plans to introduce NFT capability into its TVs.