Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
GBBC: Overview of NFTs (as of Q2-2021)
GBBC | Aug 2021
Noteable Investments
- Kevin Durant and Michael Jordan joined the $305 million funding round, led by Coatue.
- Bitski raised $19 million in a Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Jay-Z and Serena Williams as additional investors. “Bitski is aiming to allow mainstream brands and celebrities to bypass the crypto complexity of early marketplaces, hoping to give customers like early partner Adidas an on-ramp to the NFT world that’s more approachable to consumers who understand digital items but might not have fully bought into crypto.”
- Rarible closed a “$14.2 million Series A from Venrock Capital, CoinFund and 01 Advisors.
- SoRare - Benchmark led a $50 million Series A funding round.
- SuperRare - Mark Cuban, Chamath Palihapitiya, and Marc Benioff joined a $9 million funding round led by Velvet Sea and 1confirmation.
See: OpenSea best month ever, NFT Avatars trend continuation, and Web 3.0 tipping point
- OpenSea raised $23 million from Andreessen Horowitz, Mark Cuban, Alexis Ohanian, and others. • Four months later, OpenSea “raised $100 million in a Series B round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). The new funding values the company at $1.5 billion... Participants in the round include talent and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Michael Ovitz, Kevin Durant and Ashton Kutcher.”
Regulation
- Given the recent popularity of NFTs, regulation or guidance in this space is extremely limited. They are generally considered to be property, similar to the treatment of virtual currencies in the U.S. o Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
- SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce warned that issuing baskets of NFTs or fractionalized NFTs could be considered the offering of a security: “You better be careful that you’re not creating something that’s an investment product — that is a security.”
- Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission banned the trading of NFTs in June 2021.
Conclusion
- NFTs are an innovation that has existed for years, though it first exploded in popularity in late 2020 and early 2021. o The most popular NFT applications are digitally native collectibles and artwork.
- Significant investments are being made in NFT minting and trading platforms.
- It is likely that future NFTs will be linked to real world assets, enabling a wide variety of efficiencies and previously impossible processes.
See: NFT Fire hose: Educational Resources
- The environmental impact of POW blockchains will remain a concern, though Ethereum’s likely transition to POS should mitigate some of these worries in the NFT space.
- Regulation in this space is extremely limited; it remains to be seen how governments, legislators, and regulators will respond.
- This space will continue to move quickly, and NFTs in areas such as gaming and metaverses will be something to watch.
Download the 6 page PDF report --> here
The National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association (NCFA Canada) is a financial innovation ecosystem that provides education, market intelligence, industry stewardship, networking and funding opportunities and services to thousands of community members and works closely with industry, government, partners and affiliates to create a vibrant and innovative fintech and funding industry in Canada. Decentralized and distributed, NCFA is engaged with global stakeholders and helps incubate projects and investment in fintech, alternative finance, crowdfunding, peer-to-peer finance, payments, digital assets and tokens, blockchain, cryptocurrency, regtech, and insurtech sectors. Join Canada's Fintech & Funding Community today FREE! Or become a contributing member and get perks. For more information, please visit: www.ncfacanada.org
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
Leave a Reply