According to a new study from Jupiter Research, the worldwide number of NFT transactions will rise from 24 million in 2022 to 40 million in 2027.
The research also cautioned that although non-fungible tokens provide a new channel for growth, vendors should be fully informed of the risks of operating in an unregulated environment that could be home to scams and other fraudulent activities.
The report stressed that vendors who take part in the NFT space are at risk of brand damage by association, considering the role NFTs have played in illegal activities like scams, fraud and money laundering. It also raised environmental issues as a major concern due to the current method in which transactions are facilitated on the blockchain whereby massive energy is being used.
The study went on to emphasize the need for regulators to work with other industry bodies in order to standardise processes with lessened environmental impact and built-in consumer protections that’ll allow vendors to utilize NFTs as a medium to further engage with customers.
Can the metaverse save the NFT?
Jupiter’s report also predicts that metaverse-linked NFTs will be the fastest-growing NFT segment in the next 5 years and beyond. Saying that it will increase from 600,000 transactions in 2022 to 9.8 million come 2027.
In order to capitalise on this growth, the study suggests that consumer-facing businesses create MFT-based content that’ll meet changing demands from a younger, tech-savvy demographic, who will be more than ready to buy novel forms of both online and digital content.
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.