India's vast scope has made the country well poised for becoming the front runner in the non-fungible tokens (NFT) space. NFTs are unique, unlike other cryptocurrencies that are fungible. NFTs are the cryptographic assets on a blockchain that are not exchangeable because of their nature of being distinguished from each other. That said, NFTs are not interchangeable with any other crypto avenues.
Abhay Agarwal, founder, and CEO of Colexion which is Asia's Largest blockchain-based NFT marketplace, said India has been home to one of the strongest IT and Communications landscapes, globally. Extrapolating its mettle, it is also emerging as the front runner in the NFT space.
Notably, there are about 11 NFT companies headquartered in India, closely lagging the US and Singapore.
As per Agarwal, the country's NFT marketplaces form 5.02% of the total NFT companies in the world.
He said, " India has always been a powerhouse of creativity and talent. NFTs provide the appropriate and seamless reach for artists to showcase their work digitally, at a much larger scale."
Data from Chainalysis Inc showed that central and southern Asia have e emerged as global leaders in web traffic to NFT marketplaces, accounting for 35% of the $22 billion in the global trade of NFTs.
"Web3.0 and Metaverse are ushering in a new era for web users, crypto assets, and blockchain," Agarwal said.
Last year, WazirX launched South Asia's first NFT marketplace and 15 NFT creators, pan-Asia. In Agarwal's opinion, this encouraged the nation’s participation in crypto assets and NFTs. The minimal gas fees on the NFTs were the icing on the cake for existing and potential creators.
Indian investors have shown promising interest in the NFT marketplace. There is an urge to explore and invest in NFTs.
The country was ranked fifth in the world in terms of Google searches related to NFT keywords, with more than 3.5 million searches emerging during the 12 months of study.
Further, the Colexion CEO said 2021 witnessed a boom in NFTs with prominent figures and icons from the entertainment to the sports community launching their own collections, providing impetus to this digital token. Celebrity-led NFTs have already amassed a growing interest from their fans who wish to lay their hands on the memorabilia, interact, and engage with their role models.
"NFT marketplace in India has the scope to trade and transfer ownership at a global level as the industry continues to boom. NFTs are gaining momentum since it provides fans with rare digital assets and enables the creators to monetize their art. The other reason why NFTs are experiencing an uptick in the fact that the values appreciate over a period of time and are not impacted by any underlying volatile market-linked assets," Agarwal added.
Meanwhile, Ramkumar Subramaniam, CEO & Co-founder, GuardianLink said, "Indian is now ready to embrace any new big tech development and NFTs are surely a part of the list. Indian has all the credentials it takes to become one of the most important markets for NFTs."
GuardianLink, a no-code NFT (Non-Fungible Token) platform, enables creators, artists, brands, and celebrities worldwide, to mold their NFTs with their own launchpads.
According to Subramaniam, India is hugely populous and right now, the fact that India is bigger than Germany when it comes to automobiles is a resounding testimony to the increase of consumers in India. India is also a land of creators and artists. This should be another factor that fuels the growth of NFTs, not only from the adoption/purchase perspective but also from a creation perspective.
Further, Subramaniam pointed out that , India is also the home to a lot of big brands and globally renowned celebrities. This would be another factor that will catalyze NFT growth. To bridge the gap between creation and consumption, India also has a highly skilled workforce of information technology/software development professionals, making it an ideal place for NFT companies mushrooming.
" I think we can safely assume that the 3rd place that India occupies right now is an interim position. It is bound to get better exponentially in the coming years if not months," GuardianLink CEO added.
Lastly, Subramaniam concluded, "The enviable third position held by India in terms of a number of NFT companies is bound to attract investors as well. Maybe, the climate is not perfect for blockchain and its offshoots but once the dust settles, India is looking at quite a fruitful, promising, and lucrative market for the creation, consumption, and enablement of NFTs."
As per Crypto Slam data, global NFT sales stood at $371.43 million so far in June. This month, up till now, there have been 305,290 unique buyers and 641,240 unique sellers.
In May, global NFT sales stood at $3.067 billion, while the sales were at $3.715 billion in April, the data showed.
On Saturday, the NFT collections and individual assets market cap stood at around $12.22 billion down by 4.66%. The sales volume of this market declined 2.5% to $11.13 million, as per CoinMarketCap's real-time performance. Top NFT collections namely Bored Ape Yacht Club, Otherdeed for Otherside, CryptoPunks, Clone X, and We Are All Going To Die - traded marginally up. These top collections are powered by Ethereum.
Catch all the Business News , Market News , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
MoreLess