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Despite the ongoing bearish market, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) continue to drive value into the blockchain ecosystem. According to DappRadar’s Dapp Industry Report for April 2022, the NFT market bounced back sharply in April following a six-week cooldown period to reach upwards of $6.3 billion in monthly trading volume - marking 23% growth compared to March 2022.

Everyone is joining the NFT revolution, so it seems. Even Robinhood, one of the leading retail brokers, recently announced that it would soon start supporting NFTs. Meanwhile, GameStop, a retailer of popular video games and accessories, has also expanded into the NFT market with its new NFT marketplace. 

The underlying technology for NFTs, too, is witnessing significant advances. Blockchain forensic firm Chainalysis recently launched its Web3-native analysis tool “Chainalysis Storyline” to further simplify smart contract transactions for decentralized finance (DeFi) and NFTs. Not to be left out, blockchain infrastructure provider Fireblocks has launched a new suite of Web3-native tools and a dedicated portal to enable multichain access for NFTs.

As blockchain technology continues to evolve, several existing and upcoming projects are testing new features and solutions - most of which are designed to streamline the fragmented NFT ecosystem while at the same time lowering entry barriers. That said, here are a few projects that are contributing immensely toward the ongoing expansion of the NFT segment.

Focusing On Security And Transparency

NFT-focused blockchain startup bitsCrunch is on a mission to revolutionize the NFT ecosystem through its extensive range of products and services. The platform aims to overcome the NFT industry's drawbacks by addressing critical challenges, such as asset forgery, wash trading, unfair asset valuation, and the unavailability of reliable information, among others.

To put an end to fraudulent activities while enhancing transparency and security for the multi-billion dollar industry, bitsCrunch offers multiple AI-powered solutions that work seamlessly across the majority of blockchains. For instance, bitsCrunch’s SCOUR is a solution designed to identify and flag spoof transactions (those that manipulate the volume and price of NFTs). Another bitsCrunch solution, titled the Liquify Fair Price Estimator, helps users ascertain the “true value” (fair price or intrinsic value) of NFTs. Finally, there’s Crunch Da Vinci - an AI-powered digital asset forgery detection system.

bitsCrunch’s solutions are blockchain-agnostic, meaning they are designed to work across all blockchains. As of now, bitsCrunch’s solutions work with Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, and Polkadot blockchains. The bitsCrunch team recently raised $3.6 million from leading venture capital firms and angel investors to expand its services to other prominent blockchains.

IP-Licensed NFT Guns

Connecting the firearms, gaming, and hunting industries together, Digital Arms is taking NFTs in a new direction through its interactive NFT marketplace that allows users to explore, purchase, and trade digital firearms and accessories as NFTs. Launched in 2020, Digital Arms positions itself as a multifaceted ecosystem that offers numerous services, including firearm-related NFTs, a digital marketplace for trading NFTs and other assets, and an auction platform for firearm and hunting-related physical products. 

The platform hosts exclusive IP (Intellectual Property) rights to the world’s leading firearm brands. Powered by the platform-native $HNTR token, Digital Arms facilitates NFT firearm gaming interoperability and supports new use cases for the metaverse, blockchain gaming, and gaming guild platforms.

Bitcoin-Secured NFTs

Following the Taproot upgrade, the Bitcoin network now supports smart contract functionality, leading to an influx of DeFi and NFT projects atop the legacy chain. RSK (RootStock Network) is one such project empowering Bitcoin users to tap into the NFT ecosystem without changing networks.

Earlier, RSK, through its infrastructure, enabled DeFi and OpenFi primitives on the Bitcoin blockchain. Thanks to its smart contract capabilities, it has now expanded into the NFT ecosystem. RSK offers full EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) compatibility, thus natively supporting Solidity smart contracts and APIs while allowing developers to move their ERC-20 tokens to its Bitcoin-powered RSK Network seamlessly.

RSK’s transaction speed (100 TPS), paired with Bitcoin’s security and Ethereum’s compatibility, has become a promising alternative, especially in terms of speed and gas fees. To that extent, several NFT projects and marketplaces are already building upon RSK. 

Recently, Carnaval NFT platform, featuring collections of NFTs from Latin American artists minted exclusively on the Bitcoin blockchain, was launched on the RSK Network at the Bitcoin Conference 2022 in Miami. Blockchain and OpFi investment firm Coinsilium's subsidiary Nifty Labs Limited is also developing an RSK-powered NFT marketplace on the Bitcoin blockchain to allow creators to mint Bitcoin-secured NFTs.