NFT Creators Caught Between Crypto Crash, Profit Margin

Non-fungible token (NFT) creators are seeing a conflict related to the fall in crypto prices — they can either increase their mint price in crypto terms or face steep losses in fiat, Blockworks reported Monday (June 27).

The market favors NFT collectors, and many creators are often conscientious of ethical implications, with some avoiding raising the mint prices or the cost of making a digital collectible on a blockchain like Ethereum.

The report said sellers who don’t want to see losses have had to make the choice to raise the prices, often doubling or tripling them. Additionally, the price volatility has seen traditional payment processors working alongside the NFT marketplaces to make fiat payments mainstream in the space.

9GAG, a social media site, saw this dilemma as it rolled out a new NFT recently, with the price set in ether when the bidding opened. After that, the price of ether fell over $1,800. Memeland, which was behind the NFT, said it maintained the initial mint price in order to keep its integrity.

But many collectors aren’t buying the dip, with crypto exchanges currently bogged down by liquidity issues and security concerns. Both the primary and secondary sales for NFTs have been down by over 20% in volume and fiat value in the last week, according to statistics from NonFungible.com.

PYMNTS wrote that NFTs have seen some optimism lately, though, as several marketing professionals speaking at New York City event said drops in the values of the digital collectibles could be a sign of health.

Read more: NFT Upheaval Could Be Healthy, Some Marketing Pros Say

The values of NFTs have slid back from the recent highs because they’re bought with cryptocurrencies which have seen drops in value. According to Julian Holguin, CEO of 10,000-NFT-owner Doodles, this could be a “maturation progress.”

“At the end of the day … I think you’re going [to] see a lot of standout use cases from the people that were treating these like lifetime projects and real businesses — not just a way to generate some quick capital,” Holguin said. “The future is incredibly bright.”