Web3 teems with innovation. Brilliant ideas materialize into the fittest versions of services and products daily. Amidst this creative fervor, we grapple with accompanying jargon. It can get confusing sometimes. Lost in the labyrinth between dApps and smart contracts, and the smart dApps, one can lose sense of where one begins and where the other ends. But, that’s exactly why this blog exists. To answer your questions and tackle another puzzle: What are NFT dApps?

To keep things easy and simple, let’s go over the basics once to get it out of the way.

What are NFTs?

In 2023, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t heard of NFTs. Yet, astonishingly, 70% of Americans remain unfamiliar with them.

Let’s illustrate this with an example involving an artwork called ‘Roller Coaster.’ This piece symbolizes life’s unpredictable twists, from stomach-churning drops to exhilarating highs. While the Roller Coaster artwork has captivated countless artists, the creator isn’t keen on selling the physical canvas. Instead, they gift a digital rendition to their close friend, Natasha, who, like the artist, possesses a digital wallet. The digital artwork becomes an NFT, essentially a unique digital certificate of ownership, secured within a smart contract. Both the digital artwork NFT and the ownership rights are then passed to Natasha’s wallet.

At a certain point, Natasha finds herself in need of substantial funds. She has to support a cause she’s deeply passionate about—an NGO focused on children’s education. Faced with the urgency of the situation, Natasha decides to sell the Roller Coaster NFT. After all, art is about sharing. Here’s where the magic happens—Natasha sells the NFT for $200,000, embarking on her NGO journey. Notably, the original artist receives a percentage of the sale, ensuring their ongoing recognition and reward. This cycle repeats with every subsequent purchase of the Roller Coaster NFT, providing sustainable support to the artist community.

However, NFTs aren’t just limited to art. Its use cases expand beyond music, hospital records, property deeds, business papers, and much more. In fact, this growing industry is projected to reach a value of $80 billion USD by 2025.

What are dApps?

Having unraveled the NFT mystery, let’s dive into the realm of dApps, or decentralized applications. This section, indeed the entire page, is devoted to exploring dApps. Our focus lies in constructing a platform – a web3 app store. Where dApp experts unite to showcase their creations to a global audience. Our space serves as a hub for experts to both unveil and explore a marketplace tailored to their dApps.

Thus, to explain in simplest words, this is what a dApps is.DApps are akin to regular apps in functionality and features, but they operate on decentralized networks like blockchains using smart contracts. Thus, ensuring no central control, and featuring open-source code, public data, and cryptographic security tokens.

Here are compelling statistics that highlight the dApp growth story: During Q2 2023, social dApps claimed 13% of the market share, amassing 248,042 daily unique active users (UAW).

In terms of overall industry transactions, social dApps contributed 2%, showcasing their robustness with a 7% surge in transaction count and an impressive 72% surge in transaction volume.

Driving the ascent of social dApps, gaming blockchains like BNB Chain and Polygon witnessed a 22% and 20% rise, respectively, in the number of wallets engaging with social dApps during Q2 2023.

So, What are NFT DApps?

An NFT dApp, categorized as a decentralized application, integrates NFTs into its software infrastructure. A prominent illustration is Axie Infinity, an NFT dApp of substantial worth, exceeding $3 billion. Within Axie Infinity, reminiscent of a Pokémon-style game, NFTs represent the combatant creatures. For active participation and character breeding in the Axie Infinity NFT Game, player crypto wallets must house these character NFTs. Beyond just playable characters, NFTs within such applications can encompass tokens and coins that users utilize digitally to engage in gaming activities.

Leading NFT DApps in 2023

Delve into the premier dApps of 2023 and unearth potential investment opportunities within this thriving landscape.

OpenSea

OpenSea is globally renowned as the leading NFT marketplace, offering a decentralized platform where users can buy, sell, and explore a wide array of NFTs. It supports various chains including Ethereum, Polygon, Solana, and Arbitrum. Founded in 2017 by Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah, OpenSea has gained significant popularity for its user-friendly interface and competitive commission fees.

DraftKings Marketplace

Formerly a fantasy sports betting platform, DraftKings has ventured into the NFT space by introducing its own marketplace. It operates on Ethereum and Polygon chains, providing sports enthusiasts with the opportunity to acquire NFTs celebrating iconic sports figures. This integration enhances the fantasy sports experience by adding an engaging layer of NFT involvement.

Floor

Floor is an iOS and Android mobile app that simplifies engagement with the NFT ecosystem. Built for Ethereum and Polygon chains, this app serves as a user-friendly gateway for users to understand NFTs, explore new tokens, and participate in Web3 communities. It has effectively supported thousands of NFT enthusiasts and is now available on both the App Store and Play Store.

Yawww

Yawww stands out as a community-driven NFT marketplace and peer-to-peer lending platform anchored on the Solana chain. This platform enables users to not only collect and trade NFTs but also leverage their assets as collateral for loans within a peer-to-peer framework. Its Solana-based smart contract provides security and transparency, with sellers potentially benefiting from higher returns compared to other marketplaces.

Hyperspace

Launched in 2021, Hyperspace serves as a marketplace and aggregator dedicated to Solana NFTs. It allows users to view, collect, and trade NFTs within the Solana ecosystem, providing insights into rarity and offering low trading fees. Developers can harness the Hyperspace API to integrate its features into their projects, catering to those seeking seamless Solana-based NFT transactions.

Tensor

As the speediest NFT trading platform within the Solana ecosystem, Tensor provides traders with an unparalleled experience. Catering to power users seeking efficiency, Tensor offers advanced features such as real-time data updates, complete historical candlestick prices, and integration with Automated Market Maker (AMM) pools for NFTs. This platform empowers users to effortlessly execute actions like sweeping, bidding, listing, and delisting NFTs in bulk. If you’re an avid trader aiming for the fastest and most comprehensive NFT trading experience on Solana, Tensor is your go-to solution.

The Future of NFT DApps

The DApps Market size was valued at USD $10.52 Billion in 2019 and is anticipated to reach USD $368.25 Billion by 2027 at a CAGR of 56.1%. The increasing demand for rapid transaction processes and the inherent benefits of DApps, including transparency, reliability, flexibility, and scalability, are propelling the global DApps Market into a new era of growth and innovation.

As we navigate this landscape of boundless creativity and technological advancement, the realms of NFTs and dApps emerge as transformational catalysts. NFTs have revolutionized the very concept of ownership and value representation, while dApps are redefining our interaction with technology through decentralization and inclusivity. With the evolution of the NFT ecosystem and the growing adoption of dApps, we stand at the threshold of an exciting era where digital experiences, ownership, and participation transcend traditional confines. NFT dApps is an exploration at the crossroads of NFTs and dApps is a mere prologue to a future rich with unexplored potential and infinite horizons.