Metaverse is a key factor in long-term NFT success, says new research

A new report from Juniper Research analyzed the trajectory of the nonfungible token (NFT) market over the next five years. According to the study, global transactions related to NFTs will escalate from 24 million in 2022 to nearly 40 million by 2027.

One of the top catalysts to push NFT adoption will be those linked to metaverse use cases, according to the study. This niche of NFTs will be the fastest growing in the next five years. Metaverse-related NFTs will experience an increase in transactions from 600,000 transactions in 2022 to 9.8 million by 2027.

A good indicator for brands such as Gucci and Adidas, which have already adopted the technology for wearables in the digital universe, this data shows that consumers want their digital assets to have value beyond the monetary.

This is also backed up by a recent report from Ripple (XRP), in which the company surveyed major financial institutions on NFT interest. The NFTs of most interest were music-related.

Music NFTs often involve multi-utility, aside from accumulating value in a wallet, such as exclusive artist content and fractional stakes in song rights.

Juniper says the data from the report is based on a “medium scenario” for adoption. Although these digital assets offer new growth and profit avenues, the report cautions vendors to act wisely due to the amount of NFT scams available on the market.

Related: How do you pick your next NFT? Community responds

Since the boom took off in 2021, there have been a number of reports involving NFT scams, most surrounding the security of NFTs in crypto wallets and pump-and-dump schemes.

The NFT marketplace OpenSea recently addressed its community on Twitter about scams and stolen NFTs:

9/ In the long term, our key focus areas continue to be on finding solutions that tackle this problem at its root. Efforts are already underway to better automate threat and theft detection, such as blocking suspect URLs earlier.

— OpenSea (@opensea) August 10, 2022

Solana (SOL) announced its plans to combat spam NFTs. The network plans to introduce a burning feature in its Phantom wallet that would allow users to weed out any spam NFTs sent by scammers.

The current bear market state of the crypto has also been a catalyst for wiping out projects that don’t have long-term sustainability and utility.