NFTs are the new horizon of decentralized technology. They are popular not only because of their possible investment returns but also because NFT arts themselves are usually relatable to mainstream audiences.
Considering the relentless growth of the Web3 space in the last half-decade, there is no telling how much the NFT industry could be worth in the coming years.
If you love NFTs we bet you’d be looking for the next big upcoming NFT projects so you can get on it, before other investors buy into the hype. Early investors in popular projects like the Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks ended up churning out great profits.
In this article, we look at a number of NFT projects with the most potential to become the next big thing in 2023.
There are hundreds of NFT projects rolling out this year, and keeping track of them all is impossible. However, you can invariably stay on track by keeping up with these top upcoming NFT projects for 2023. We will introduce them, share a short overview of each, and talk about why they’re so special. In no particular order, our list includes:
We’ll now look closely at some of the NFT projects you should look out for in 2023. A basic intro, some perks, and possible cons. A well-rounded summary of what you should know about these projects. Let’s dive in
Calvaria is a fantasy game-based NFT project that seeks to change how the world perceives the gaming industry. The project also wants to bring gamers from all over the gaming spectrum to the blockchain.
Calvaria’s first launch is a card-based Web3 battle strategy game— Duels Of Eternity. Calvaria’s stress and focus on gameplay also mean the Calvaria project will appeal to gamers even new to the NFT scene.
Calvaria has a mobile app in addition to its accessibility on PC. The cards available on Duels Of Eternity are, in fact, NFTs as players can trade these assets on marketplaces.
The game’s $RIA token has already made its way into big exchanges marking a sign of the wide vista of possibilities this project offers.
The BAYC ecosystem is not a fresh name in the NFT space, but it is a reliable brand. Rather than focus on BAYC, instead, we will discuss the relatively new and impressive project developed by Yuga labs, the Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC).
BAKC NFTs were first offered for free to all the BAYC owners (at the time, in late 2021) for supporting the BAYC ecosystem. These BAYC owners only needed to pay the gas fee for the transaction and nothing more.
Released just a little over a year ago, the BAKC NFTs are still a rare collection of 9,602 Shiba Inus (the popular dogs from the doge meme, related to DogeCoin). These hand-drawn dogs with retro-styled backgrounds and characteristics that can be described as outlandish.
Following its launch, the project was well received with its most expensive sale breaking a $200,000 margin with resales expected to go even much higher as there have even been recent collaborations with big fashion brands such as Gucci and Old Navy, and even Rolling Stone magazine.
Some BAKC NFTs have had an estimated value of almost $500,000, even though some of these prices have been attributed to NFT washing. The BAKC NFTs are all tradable and independent of their BAYC owners. This perk makes it possible for owners to trade the new BAKC NFT like any other NFT. This singular act by the BAYC project is enough reason to watch the community.
Fun Fact: A portion of secondary BAKC sales in its first six weeks was collected and donated to animal shelters and charities.
FightOut is as feisty as it sounds. The game-based NFT project is primarily focused on fitness and at the same time, mixes this effectively with the metaverse.
A few things make Fight Out stand out from the regular crypto projects that we often hear about. One of them is the use of Soulbound NFTs that are non-transferable and permanently linked to their owners' physical fitness levels.
As a player’s physical fitness increases, the NFT also levels up allowing the players to get improved gear and customizations for their NFTs. This in turn gives the owner an improved metaverse avatar over time.
“REPS” are reward points earned within the game by players. They can then be used to acquire customizations and even access real-life Fight Out gyms. REPS cannot be bought, they are only earned by in-game activity.
The Fight Out ecosystem is latticed by the $FGHT token— the project's native token. $FGHT can be staked in a special stake-for-membership system that potentially offers owners Fight Out gym subscriptions, in-game perks and merchandise.
Metacade is one of the more radical projects of 2023. The zany project is a big call to gamers and game enthusiasts who want to be a part of the metaverse revolution. After raising $14.7M within 72 hours during its presale, there are high hopes that Metacade could be one of the biggest P2E (play-to-earn) platforms in the world.
According to its team, the goal is to virtually connect gamers from around the world and at the same time, create a platform to earn money passively and from participating in tournaments.
Another important aspect of the Metacade project is its Metagrant program. The program allows game developers to pitch their game ideas to the Metacade community to receive funding. The Metacade project is levered by the use of its native coin $MCADE for governance and utility. The utility includes the use of $MCADE to vote in the Matagrant program.
There have been no announced NFT aspirations by the mMetacade team yet. However, with the present growth and continuous metaverse hype around the community, we expect NFTs to be a part of the Metacade project soon enough.
Enjin, as a brand, is not one of the newest names on the list. However, the utility and versatility of the project’s NFT is worthy of note, thus earning it a place.
In fact, Enjin was founded in 2009 and since then has since then been extremely active in the crypto community.
Their NFT project, however, is what we would be focusing on now. Enjin started delving into NFTs in 2017 and has constantly been on the competitive side of the market since then.
The platforms now focused on allowing users to create and control their NFTs by integrating their tools. Enjin aims to become the go-to for NFT creation and management even though there’s strong competition in this niche.
However, the customization and integration capability of the platform is set to give it the upper hand in the long run. The platform is a vista for anyone looking to try out NFTs and explore new frontiers of blockchain technology.
Real estate investment club (REIC) is a crypto project based on representing and educating the public on real estate investment in the metaverse.
The project’s NFT division is made up of team members who have worked on popular games like Red Dead and GTA (Grand Theft Auto) showing the intentionality of the project.
The project hopes to be the bridge between real estate investments and the blockchain’s decentralized technology.
The NFTs are avatars that can be utilized as a pass to the REIC’s metaverse— Metacity. This high-definition metaverse is set to create a buzz and is expected to become a metaverse economy based on physical real estate investments and other assets.
REIC’s NFTs also offer other perks to its users, which include:
C+ Charge is an energy-based NFT project that is set to revolutionize the way we see electric vehicles and their energy consumption.
The project partners with charging stations across different locations and then offers its users rewards for charging their EVs at these partner locations.
C+ Charge offers a mobile app powered by the project’s native token $CCHG which is used to pay for charging EVs at the partner locations.
In addition to the use of the app as a payment system, it can also be used to help EV owners diagnose any software issues and troubleshoot system malfunctions on their cars.
In a collaboration with FlowCarbon, the project created another token $GNT(Goodness powered tokens) that is used just like carbon credits. The project is still in progress and we expect to see more NFT utility as we go on
Pak is not strictly an NFT project. Pak is an anonymous artist (or group of artists) that has made an important impact on the NFT world. Pak has over the short time they have been active, created a solid fanbase for their work.
Their highest-selling Pak NFT— The Merge was sold in record-breaking fashion in December 2021. The open edition piece beat the record set by Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” piece that was before then the most expensive NFT ever sold.
The Merge was sold on NiftyGateway for an impressive $91.8M and collected by about 29,000 different collectors (this is possible because the NFT was an open edition NFT).
To understand Pak’s success, one could also consider other Pak artworks that went for massive prices. One of them—The Clock sold for around 52.7M. It was sold to AssangeDAO and its proceeds were used for the defense of WikiLeaks founder Jullian Assange.
Even more impressively, Pak has delivered all its success in the NFT world by using art that is abstract, meaningful, and thought-provoking.
Mogies are a collection of Hollywood-inspired NFTs that is set to start minting in October at a fixed price of 1ETH. The project is a collaboration with animators of the popular television series The Simpsons.
Mogies is inspired by the last century of iconic Hollywood characters in the 1923 animation style. These NFTs also afford their owners a plot of land space in the project’s metaverse called MogieLand.
Additionally, the collection is set to come with have its own animated series which will undoubtedly increase the visibility and value of the project.
Wen Sandwich is being developed by popular NFT artist Migwashere. The project adopts a different approach to creating NFTs.
Migwashere is popular for his work on the Bored Ape Yatch Club project and Sneaky Vampire Syndicate amongst others. The artist has decided to create a collection of 250 sandwich ingredients instead of NFTs.
The idea is that collectors can make their sandwiches using these 250 ingredients and then mint them as NFTs. This way the collectors get the NFTs they want instead of choosing a combination that has already been created.
Wen Sandwich NFTs mint for as low as 0.05ETH and has already been minted. Minting was open for one week starting on the 9th of February. You can find Wen Sandwich NFTs on marketplaces such as Binance and OpenSea amongst others.
If you’re a fan of meme coins and you’re looking for an NFT project that you’d love to hop on, Tamadoge might just be it.
With the relatively amazing year the project had in 2022, Tamadoge firmly fixes itself into the list of the best new NFT projects to watch in 2023. Tamadoge allows users to explore the well-detailed 3D metaverse called The Tamaverse and earn dogepoints. In the Tamaverse, players interact with metaverse-based pets that are, in fact, NFTs.
The project listed 100 ultra-rare pets on OpenSea and ended up making history by raising over 250ETH in just one day. Additionally, the project’s roadmap includes the launch of an augmented reality app and other mini-games before the end of 2023.
As discussed, there are numerous new NFT projects (e.g Mogies and Calvaria), and ones tied to well-known creators like YugaLab’s new Bored Ape Kennel Club, and Enjin.
To find upcoming NFT drops you should follow trends on Twitter or reputable crypto/NFT blogs. Some examples are CoinTelegraph, CoinDesk and Gotbit.
Yes, NFTs are an extremely profitable venture if you make your research and invest wisely. Usually, you can make good profits out of NFTs if you buy early into the right projects and sell the NFTs when their value increases.
If you’re looking to buy NFTs, you should do extensive research on budding projects and find one suitable to your investment goals. Alternatively, you can opt to buy into already proven projects such as BAYC and CryptoPunks, which are also more expensive options.
