In late 2017, a collectible game, CryptoKitties, clogged the network of Ethereum, a cryptocurrency second only to Bitcoin by market capitalization. Trades of digital cats from this game accounted for 95% of all Ethereum network transactions at the peak. That was the time NFTs first hit the headlines of mainstream media.

Over three years later, the NFT hype is back and now stronger than ever. It is no longer limited to die-hard crypto believers and a couple of primitive collectible games. Celebrities and big brands have jumped on the bandwagon and have already made millions of dollars on unique digital collectibles. If you are wondering what is even going on, let’s figure it out together.

What Is an NFT?

NFT stands for a non-fungible token. It’s a digital item that is stored on a blockchain and has a unique ID. Everyone can check an NFT’s origin, history, and ownership but no one can change it, delete, duplicate, or replace it with another item. This makes each NFT unique. Nothing will change if you swap a one-dollar bill for a bill of the same value. You can also trade one bitcoin for another without any consequences. But a non-fungible token is one of a kind, and you can’t confuse such an item with something else.

Since an NFT is essentially a file stored on a blockchain, anything digital can be a non-fungible token: a song, video clip, picture, virtual in-game item, or a badge issued by a sports or eSports club.

What Makes NFTs Valuable?

Since each NFT is unique and you can easily prove its originality, it gains significant collectible value. Unlike other digital assets, an NFT can’t be duplicated or deleted. Think of a song or music video of your favorite musician. You can pay a certain amount of money to obtain and enjoy it. And millions of fans can do the same. If this song is put on a blockchain and becomes an NFT, it is no longer reproducible and can only have one owner. If this recorded content is exclusive as well, it’s nothing less than a unique piece of musical art that belongs to a single person. Just imagine how much music fans would be willing to pay in order to get their hands on such treasure. Especially since NFTs don’t wear out and can grow in value over time. No matter how expensive an NFT is to buy, it might be resold with a profit in the future.

What Are the Most Expensive NFTs?

On February 28, Grimes, a Canadian music artist, sold $6 million worth of NFTs during an auction on the Nifty Gateway marketplace. The most expensive piece was an exclusive music video called “Death of the Old”. The winning bid was $389,000. Yet, the main part of the sales was generated by two NFTs with many copies — short videos called “Earth” and “Mars”. Sold at $7,500 per copy, these works accounted for $5.18 million in total revenue.

The same day, electronic music producer 3LAU carried out his own NFT auction and earned a record-breaking $11,684,101.

The current NFT boom also focused the spotlight on older NFT projects like CryptoPunks, a set of digital collectibles developed by Larva Lab back in 2017. The Punk 6965 from this collection was recently bought for 800 ETH (Ethereum cryptocurrency), equivalent to over $1.5 million.

Buying a short video or an algorithmically generated image for thousands or even millions of dollars may look like a waste of money. But don’t forget about investment and speculation opportunities tied to NFTs. “Crossroad”, a video clip by digital artist Beeple, was initially bought for $67,000 and later resold for $6.6 million.

NFTs in Games, Sports and eSports

The above-mentioned Ethereum-based collectible game, CryptoKitties, has generated around $3.4 million in sales over the past month and over $41 million since 2017. The game’s sole purpose is to collect rare digital kitties. Yet, use cases for NFTs in gaming are not limited to simple collectible titles. With the development of blockchain gaming, we should expect NFTs to be used in more complex game mechanics, for instance, as cosmetic in-game items in massively multiplayer online titles.

CryptoKitties’ developers, Dapper Labs, are also bringing NFTs to sports. In collaboration with the NBA, the company digitizes short match highlights from star players and sells the footage as NFTs through the NBA Top Shot platform. The project has already amassed nearly $300 million in sales.

In eSports, NAVI is leading the pack. This celebrated eSports organization awards its fans with NFTs in the form of unique digital memorabilia through the NAVINATION program. It is powered by the DROP technology developed by DMarket.

NFTs and DMarket

The first NFT item appeared on the DMarket blockchain in 2017. It was the DMarket Founder’s Mark awarded to the platform’s early investors. More NFT collectibles were added over time. All of them are available for trading on DMarket. Their current market prices vary from a few dollars to several hundred dollars.

In late 2020, DMarket introduced its Drop.gg software and, together with NAVI, launched the first project based on this application, called NAVINATION. This enables gamers and eSports fans to receive drops of NFT items during live streams and craft more valuable NFT assets and physical prizes from these drops. NFT owners can then trade their items on the DMarket platform, and the most expensive NAVINATION NFT to date is the Navination Season One: Leader of the 1st Week item, sold for $100k.

Mentioned among the top six NFT platforms on eips.ethereum.org, DMarket continues to contribute to the NFT breakthrough, and more digital collectibles, unique and noninterchangeable, are coming to the platform soon.

Source: https://dmarket.com/blog/nft-on-dmarket/

Last year included crucial changes thanks to a global pandemic and lockdown situation. Everything became online, from study to parties, but one thing was unchanged. With the need to stay at home all day our opportunities to spend time playing video games even more were increased. The skins market is not an exception. It also was affected and had new changes compared to the year 2019. You can understand the true picture by checking out our new CS:GO 2020 Market Stats, and see the most popular skins from previous years!

Don’t forget that you can buy and sell all of these and other CS:GO skins for the best prices on DMarket!

CS:GO Items by Purchases

• Graffitis — 34.3%
• Weapon Skins — 31.1%
• Cases / Keys — 27.1%
• Stickers / Capsules — 4.9%
• Agents / Music / Others — 2.6%

The list with the most purchased items changed a lot compared to 2019. In 2020 Graffiti became the most tradable CS:GO purchase taking up 34.3% of all years deals. Weapons were also popular — 33.1%. Cases and keys get third place in our list with 27.1% of all sales. Last but not least are Stickers and Capsules — 4.9%, and Agents / Music / Others — 2.6%.

Continue reading the article: https://dmarket.com/blog/csgo-skins-best-sellers-2020/

Steam’s sensational top-seller, the multiplayer-only survival game Rust, has now launched on DMarket. This means you can safely trade all Rust skins with other players and cash out your profits using a variety of payment methods — https://dmarket.com/ingame-items/item-list/rust-skins.

Rust Trading on DMarket

• Rust items on DMarket are available for buying, selling, and exchange.
• You can buy items listed on the Rust market by other DMarket users. You can also offer a price for items from other users’ inventories through the Target | Bid feature. Watch this short video tutorial if you haven’t used this feature before.
• You can list Rust skins for sale or sell them instantly for a price suggested by other users.
• Rust items with an instant sale price can be easily exchanged for items from any game on DMarket. See how to exchange skins on DMarket.
• DMarket’s trading fee is set at 5% of a sale amount, the lowest among major skins marketplaces.
• You can withdraw funds earned from trading on DMarket using your bank card or payment account such as PayPal, Skrill, Payoneer, and others.

Continue reading the story: https://dmarket.com/blog/rust-skins-on-dmarket/

Want to get a new game or buy a digital gift for your friend? Double the funds in your Steam Wallet by following this proven trading strategy with step-by-step instructions and examples.

Pay Less, Play More

Due to the huge discounts on many skins on DMarket, you can use a simple and efficient trading strategy to cut your gaming expenses by half or get twice as more games without spending more. In short, it’s “Buy on DMarket — sell on Steam”. For more details, check out this step-by-step guide:

Set Your Goal

Let’s assume you want to buy a $40 game on Steam.

Add Half the Amount You Need to Your DMarket Balance

If your goal is a $40 game, add $20 or a bit more (to reach the goal faster).

Use Filters and Sorting on DMarket

• Set the item price range to under $20 (you can also indicate a minimum price, to filter out those few-cent items).
• Sort items by the best discount.

Monitor the Market

• Look for in-demand items with 40%-50% discounts compared to Steam (aside from DMarket filters and sorting, you can also use online aggregators for skin prices).
• To check the demand for items, use the recent sales stats on DMarket.

Buy Skins on DMarket

As soon as you spot a suitable item at 40%-50% off, check its actual price on Steam to be sure of the discount, then buy the item on DMarket.

Sell Skins on Steam

Withdraw the item to Steam, sell it there and capitalize on the price difference.

Keep It Up

Catch a couple of good deals and transform your $20 deposit on DMarket into a $40 balance on Steam.

Tips & Tricks

Don’t Forget About the Target | Bid Feature

This will help you when a discount for an item you want is not as much as you need. Make a bid with your optimal price, and the item will be automatically purchased as soon as it is listed for sale at the price you have offered. Make multiple bids for different items to increase your chances of getting a great deal.

Beware of Trade Locks

Steam applies trade hold periods to items after each transaction, so it’s impossible to resell an item immediately after buying it. Use the Face2Face trading mode on DMarket to cut trade hold periods by 50%.

Check It Twice

Since item prices fluctuate, always check the actual rates on Steam and DMarket before making a purchase.

Watch How It Works

This strategy isn’t just a theory — it is a proven method to profit from price differences between DMarket and Steam. Watch the video below to see how it has worked out for others and then you can make it work for you.

Source: https://dmarket.com/blog/dmarket-trading-tips/

This is one of the most popular assault rifles in CS:GO. Its origin is from the United States of America. The magazine capacity — 30 / 90. The main counterpart to the AK-47. All of these are about the most purchased counter-terrorist weapon — M4A4.

More accurate but less damaging than its AK-47 counterpart, the M4A4 is the full-auto assault rifle of choice for CTs. — official CS:GO description.

Today we’ll talk about the best M4A4 skins. Check out our top list. Like and comment if you have some of these beautiful skins. Here we go!

You can buy CS:GO skins in 2 different ways:

• Steam (has its own trading platform)
• 3rd party services such as DMarket. Because gamers want to trade without fees and withdraw money from their accounts (Steam does not provide such an opportunity).

1. M4A4 | Desolate Space

• Added: 15 June 2016
• Rifle: Classified
• Starting Price: $8.63
• Case: Gamma Case

Continue reading: https://dmarket.com/blog/best-m4a4-skins/

The evergreen and beloved multiplayer FPS Team Fortress 2 has been entertaining millions of players for over 12 years. Today, it comes to DMarket so that you can buy, sell, and exchange TF2 items using the most advanced set of trading features.

Whether you’re looking for a new Shortstop for your Scout or how to make a ton of money from your Golden Frying Pan, DMarket is where you can do this with speed, fun, and security.

Team Fortress 2 in Numbers and Facts

Fact #1

1 — TF2 was the first big title to allow player-to-player trading. In December 2012, TF2 became the first game to be featured on the Steam Community Market.

Fact #2

2 — TF2 is a sequel to the Quake mod Team Fortress, released in 1996 and remade into Team Fortress Classics in 1999.

Continue reading: https://dmarket.com/blog/tf2-on-dmarket/

On January 30th, the developers made us happy with anew CS:GO Update. There are new changes in the next maps: mirage, cache, train, studio, and dust2 plus new features.

Before you start to read the patch notes, you need to know where to find the best deals of CS:GO skins. DMarket is one of the most popular marketplaces with the lowest prices and many great offers. Why not let them check and complete your inventory!

Cache:

• Improved stability and optimization
• Small bugs fixed
• Updated radar

Continue reading: https://dmarket.com/blog/csgo-update-january-2020/

Blast Premier: Spring 2020 Regular Season is the first tournament, which will open the big BLAST season with more than a $2.8 million prizepool in total. At the Spring 2020 RS, 12 teams are going to fight for the six direct invites to Spring 2020: Finals and six invites to Spring 2020: Showdown.

General Information Blast Premier Spring 2020

• Location: London, England
• PrizePool: $300,000
• Participant Teams: 12
• Organizer: RFRSH Entertainment
• Start: 01/31/2020
• End: 02/16/2020

Continue reading: https://dmarket.com/blog/blast-premier-spring-2020/

The Leipzig or 7.23 Major has already finished, and here we sum up the second of the five big tournaments this season. Sixteen of the world’s best teams have fought for $1,000,000 and 15,000 DPC points in Leipzig.

This was the first major after 7.23 — one of the biggest Dota 2 patches ever. We’ve prepared all 7.23’s patch notes in our article Dota 2 The Outlanders Update.

Leipzig is a new town for significant esport events and all the more for Dreamleague. The hometown for this tournament is Stockholm. But Leipzig coped with it correctly, and most importantly, the dota was interesting.

The last Dreamleague Major was held in March 2019, and it was Season 11 in Stockholm. In the Grand Final, Vici Gaming won 3:2 against Virtus.pro and got the first major’s victory of the DPC season 2018–2019. The Grand final of The Leipzig Major had the same five maps to reveal the champion, but there was a fight between other teams. Here is our overview of the Dreamleague Season 13: The Leipzig Major.

Continue reading: https://dmarket.com/blog/dreamleague-s13-leipzig/

Icefrog and Co released a new patch a few moments after Clement picked up a Dreamleague cup in Leipzig. Valve has made changes to the map and shrines as well as updating the heroes and items.

Before you start to read 7.24 patch notes, you need to know where to buy Dota 2 skins with the lowest prices on the market. Colorize your game with the most popular Dota 2 marketplace — DMarket.

General Changes

• Now heroes have a separate slot for neutral items. Each hero can wear no more than one neutral item active.
• Now the fountain has a common hiding place. The neutral items are there, not on the ground. Right-clicking on an accessible item in the new interface will place it in the hiding place or in the courier so that it can be picked up. The new interface also shows the status and location of the remaining items that have fallen out.
• The neutral item can be instantly moved to the shared hiding place by selecting the desired item from the context menu (from the backpack or neutral cell).
• The number of cells in the backpack has beenreduced from 4 to 3.
• Now each team can fall out of four neutral items of each category (chance of falling out is increased from 9% to 10%).
• The chance of falling out of neutral items from ancient creeps is now three times higher.
• The shrines have been removed from the map.
• Outposts have been moved to the main forests on each side.
• Overview of outposts was changed: previously there was an unrestricted view in a radius of 1,400, became ground in a radius of 700 (invisibility radius was reduced accordingly).
• Now the outposts are initially owned by their teams, and they can be captured at any time (the first award is still given at 10:00).
• The location of the trees in the places where the outposts were located has been changed.
• The middle camp of neutral creeps in the main forest of the Dark Force has been slightly shifted.
• Runes of wealth from the lines have been moved to additional forests.
• All talents that increase gold per minute have been removed.
• Void Spirit and Snapfire added to Captain’s Mode.
• Hero revival time at levels 1–5 has been increased from 6/8/10/14/16 to 12/15/18/21/24 seconds.
• Buyback price increased from (100 + value/13) to (200 + value/12).
• The death of the courier no longer stops a passive receipt of gold.
• Each player’s reward for killing the courier has been increased from (25 + 5* level) to (30 + 7* level).
• Courier revival time in seconds has been changed from (50 + 7* level) to (60 + 7* level).
• Speed of the courier movement has been increased from 280 to 290.
• Couriers can no longer place wards at level 15.
• Couriers can no longer use items on level 25.
• Ability charges are now highlighted in a separate interface, not as positive effects.
• Close Combat attack radius on Observer Ward and Sentry Ward is increased by 150.
• Items on Level 5 now drop out after 60:00 (see item changes below).

Continue reading: https://dmarket.com/blog/dota2-patch-7-24/