NFT sales and pricing are driven by luck, scarcity, and optimism, according to multiple studies

A trio of research printed in November might shine some mild on the social and psychological components that encourage motion within the non-fungible token (NFT) market.

Researchers from Western College in Canada, Tilburg College within the Netherlands, the College of North Carolina at Chapel Hill within the U.S., and Rennes College of Enterprise in France, throughout three impartial research, discovered that non-public experiences and luck, together with asset shortage and shopper optimism, had been catalysts for almost all of market motion within the NFT house.

NFT market motion

In a examine carried out by Guneet Kaur Nagpal of Western College and Luc Renneboog of Tilburg College, entitled “On Non-fungible Tokens, Blockchain Hypes, and the Creation of Shortage,” the researchers analyzed the market dynamics of “Crypto Punks,” a well-liked collection of NFT property.

“CryptoPunks,” write the researchers, “are among the many most valued Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), with exceptional gross sales comparable to CP #5822 fetching USD 23.7 million in February 2022, and CP #7523 acquiring USD 11.8 million in December 2021.”

The first findings, in response to the paper, embrace the evaluation that consumers who had been already invested in Ethereum (the blockchain on which CryptoPunks property reside) had been extra prone to interact out there at increased prices and likewise noticed increased features. The researchers additionally famous that Ethereum features and losses didn’t essentially have an effect on the worth of NFTs, however did affect the choice to promote or resell property.

Moreover, the examine states:

“The authors set up that the creation of rarity, for each CP varieties and accent mixtures, which may be captured by statistical and visible measures, determines pricing.”

In a separate examine entitled “Private Expertise Results throughout Markets: Proof from NFT and Cryptocurrency Investing,” researcher Chuyi Solar of the College of North Carolina at Chapel Hill examined transaction-level information from “about a million” wallets to review how “private experiences” contributed to bubbles within the NFT market.

”I discover that NFT buyers who randomly obtain extra useful NFTs within the main market usually tend to take part in subsequent main market gross sales,” writes Chuyi Solar. They add that buyers who randomly obtain extra useful NFT tokens usually tend to finally buy “extra lottery-like” cryptocurrencies.

Counterintuitive findings

A 3rd examine, carried out by Akanksha Jalan and Roman Matkovskyy of Rennes College of Enterprise, entitled “The Influence of Expertise, Overconfidence and Optimism on Future Cryptocurrency Possession,” takes a deep dive into the dynamics surrounding investor optimism and their knock-on impact for the cryptocurrency and NFT markets.

Associated: The ‘WAGMI’ mentality is undermining crypto

On this examine, the researchers discovered, counter-intuitively, that unfavorable previous experiences and investor optimism each positively have an effect on the percentages of future cryptocurrency and NFT possession.

“The truth that particular person crypto buyers with unfavorable experiences with cryptocurrencies proceed to indicate curiosity within the asset class may mirror some type of self-serving bias,” write the authors, earlier than including “with these buyers doubtless attributing their losses to components past their management (like market volatility) quite than poor decision-making on their half.”