Interest in digital assets surged this year, with the next generation of investors at the forefront.
The value of the cryptocurrency market briefly surpassed $3 trillion in November, with top coins like bitcoin and ether hitting all-time highs. Other digital assets, like nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, jumped in value as well. In November, NFT marketplace OpenSea surpassed $10 billion in total volume.
Demand for NFTs of art, music and in-game assets, like digital plots of land in the metaverse, soared.
Now, during the holiday season, young investors are spending big on NFTs and other digital assets as gifts. Here’s a look at what five people are planning to buy.
Digital land and NFTs of art for the family
Cynthia Gentry plans to gift an NFT of a digital land lot for her sister and parents to share in the metaverse. It could cost thousands of dollars, depending on factors like metaverse game, demand and size.
The 23-year-old San Antonio resident sees NFTs as assets that will appreciate over time. “It’s funny, I don’t think I even have a budget,” she says. “It doesn’t feel like I’m spending money, [I’m] just storing my money in a different asset.”
For her mom and sister, Gentry plans to buy collectible NFTs from projects like World of Women and Crypto Coven that aim to empower women. Though she’s unsure how much she’ll spend, each collection has a floor price, which is the lowest price available.
Sisters Cynthia Gentry, 23, and Imani Gentry, 19, with their mom, Brenda Gentry.
Courtesy of Brenda Gentry
The World of Women collection, which consists of 10,000 generated works representing drawings of diverse women, has a current floor price of 1.95 ether, or $7,275. The Crypto Coven collection includes 9,999 different witches and has floor price of 0.19 ether, or about $709.
She also plans to buy NFTs from artists like Lana Denina, whose popular Mona Lana project has a floor price of 0.24 ether, or about $895.
For her dad, Gentry plans to get a Ledger Nano hardware wallet, which ranges from $59 to $119, or an NFT from a project with a “cool, interesting roadmap,” Gentry says. She’s also hoping to pay for an online course on blockchain coding for him, because “he likes gifts that can expand his expertise in some way.”
Gentry’s sister, Imani, also plans to buy everyone in her family NFTs for Christmas. She’s budgeting at least 2.5 ether, or about $9,327, in total.
“Personally, I think sending digital gifts will be the norm and [part of the] future because of how accessible it is,” the 19-year-old says. “I wish this was a thing sooner, honestly. It saves time and wrapping paper and it’s cooler, in my opinion.”
For her mom, Imani, who is also based in San Antonio, …….
