2022 NFT highlights 🗓️
The past year in NFTs!
Metaversal is a Bankless newsletter for weekly level-ups on NFTs, virtual worlds, & collectibles
Dear Bankless Nation,
Over the past year I wrote over 150 articles about NFTs for Bankless!
Looking back on all that’s happened, 2022 was certainly a defining period for the young NFT ecosystem, which recently enjoyed advances in many areas but also recently faced the growing sting of its first major crypto winter.
As we get ready to face 2023 and its open possibilities, what do you say we look back on the big NFT happenings from the last year to catch up on all that’s happened?
For today’s post, then, it’s time to take a selected tour through some of 2022’s most notable NFT headlines. Let’s dive in!
-WMP
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2022 NFT highlights and headlines
January 2022
✍️ Metaversal highlights:
📣 Big news:
LooksRare announced the arrival of its NFT marketplace
GameStop revealed to be working on its own NFT marketplace
Nate Alex launched on-chain battle royale ChainFaces Arena
Nouns DAO traded a beer-themed Noun with Bud Light
OpenSea acquired Dharma
Gem launched its NFT marketplace aggregator platform
Axie Infinity released the RON token
Reservoir introduced its NFT orderbook protocol
Dmitri Cherniak published Dead Ringers: Edition
February 2022
✍️ Metaversal highlights:
📣 Big news:
Lens Protocol announced its web3 social platform
x2y2 launched a vampire attack on OpenSea
CryptoPunk #5822 was resold for 8,000Ξ
SHL0MS introduced their $CAR conceptual art project
Urbit unveiled plans for its own L2
March 2022
✍️ Metaversal highlights:
📣 Big news:
Pixelmon totally botched its NFT collection launch
CyberBrokers stored their metadata completely on-chain
Nouns DAO launched its innovative Prop House community funding system
Axie Infinity saw its Ronin bridge hacked for $600M
April 2022
✍️ Metaversal highlights:
📣 Big news:
WAGMI United completed a takeover of Crawley Town FC
Luca Netz acquired the Pudgy Penguins IP for 750Ξ
Drift made photography history with +10k mints of First Day Out
Coinbase NFT launched in beta
PROOF Collective released the Moonbirds collection
Sotheby’s held its Natively Digital 1.3: Generative Art auction
OpenSea acquired NFT marketplace aggregator Gem
Yuga Labs held its Otherside land sale
May 2022
✍️ Metaversal highlights:
📣 Big news:
Azuki creators were revealed to have been the creators of multiple abandoned NFT projects
Goblin Town arrived on the scene in wild fashion
Lil Nouns launched its protocol and community
Foundation opened to all creators
Dr. Disrespect and his Midnight Society game studio partnered with Polygon on NFTs
June 2022
✍️ Metaversal highlights:
📣 Big news:
Nate Chastain was charged with insider trading at OpenSea
PoolTogether raised 100% of its legal crowdfunding goal with Pooly NFTs
sartoshi faded into the ether, a.k.a. left the space
Async Art launched its generative music platform Music Blueprints
OpenSea migrated to its new SeaPort Protocol
ClubNFT launched its metadata storage backup tool
Uniswap acquired NFT marketplace aggregator Genie
July 2022
✍️ Metaversal highlights:
📣 Big news:
GameStop launched its NFT marketplace beta
Sudoswap released its NFT AMM marketplace
Nick Tomaino bought CryptoPunk #4156 for 2,691Ξ
August 2022
✍️ Metaversal highlights:
📣 Big news:
Async Art opened to all creators
PROOF Collective entered Moonbirds into the public domain
XCOPY designated all his art hitherto as CC0
Vitalik Buterin proposed stealth addresses for NFTs
Jonthan Mann released his music collector tool Song-A-DEX
CrypToadz migrated to onchain storage
BLVKHVND became the first esports DAO to win a world title by winning the 1st Pokémon UNITE Championship
September 2022
✍️ Metaversal highlights:
📣 Big news:
Meta introduced support for posting NFTs across Instagram and Facebook
Sorare entered into a partnership with the NBA for a fantasy basketball game
Starbucks tapped Polygon for its NFT-based membership rewards program
Axie Infinity started Origins: Season 1 gameplay
Tyler Hobbs launched the collaborative generative art project QQL
sound.xyz released the Sound Protocol
Linagee Name Registrar was rediscovered as the oldest NFT project on Ethereum
October 2022
✍️ Metaversal highlights:
📣 Big news:
Art Blocks released its 2.0 version
Rarible unveiled its 2.0 version
The U.S. SEC launched an investigation into BAYC creators Yuga Labs for potential securities law violations
Blur launched its NFT marketplace aggregator
Twitter started testing NFT tweet tiles
sound.xyz released its Sound Market
OpenSea unveiled a copymint detection system
Art Gobblers by Justin Roiland and Paradigm launched
November 2022
✍️ Metaversal highlights:
📣 Big news:
Bankless introduced Bankless Collectibles and Bankless Market
Zora launched its Drops and Nouns Builder tools
Instagram added an NFT toolkit
PartyDAO released NFT coordination-centric Party Protocol
OpenSea launched an onchain enforcement tool for NFT royalties
UpShot opened its NFT appraisal platform
Uniswap launched its NFT marketplace aggregator
December 2022
✍️ Metaversal highlights:
📣 Big news:
Tessera introduced the Tessera Market and Tessera Protocol
PartyDAO released an optimized version of the PartyBid app
Finiliar launched oracle connectivity
Decentraland added support for LAND rentals
A tough year, but plenty to be excited for
The NFT ecosystem faced its share of ups and downs in 2022. In some ways, the past year felt like a wilder ride than the raging bull market of 2021!
Yet beyond all the chaos and drama we faced in 2022, we also undoubtedly made promising advances in all directions. From new experiments to new platforms and new protocols, there’s never been more to do and never been more to be excited about around digital things.
That said, the fundamental reasons that many of us were excited about NFTs going into 2022 are the same reasons we’re still excited about them as we head into the new year.
In other words, the tech around NFTs continues to improve, bringing better efficiency and security. Mainstream adoption continues to pick up steam. And the ability for NFTs to disrupt and revolutionize traditional industries, like collectibles and gaming, will maintain them as big drivers of innovation for the foreseeable future. 2023 is poised to be another interesting year, then, to say the least!
Action steps
🤔 What were the biggest NFT highlights of 2022 in your opinion? Let me know in the comments below what happenings you’d include in your picks!
🎉 Check out my previous write-up PartyBid evolved if you missed it!
Author Bio
William M. Peaster is a professional writer and creator of Metaversal—a Bankless newsletter focused on the emergence of NFTs in the cryptoeconomy. He’s also recently been contributing content to Bankless, JPG, and beyond!
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Not financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This newsletter is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here.
william there is *so* much amazing content in this single post, killer year. thanks for taking the time to write and share.