NFTs are fast gaining popularity in Nigeria, one of Africa's largest economies.
In 2018, during the Ethereal blockchain summit, a certain Jacon Osinachi Igwe became the first Nigerian to tender his work for an NFT sale. He would then become the first finalist for the Bridgeman Studio Award in 2019. Jack Osinachi had some knowledge in NFT mining before the Covid-19 pandemic. This helped him make great gains amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, as countries worldwide went into lockdown periods of varying lengths. In contrast, physical stores closed down as coronavirus spread like wildfire.
After the incredible success his works brought him, making huge profit sales in the crypto art market, he also emerged as the first African artist to present a series of NFTs at Christie's, a top auction house in London.
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The market valuation of the NFT space has increased to about $7 billion. This increase sees a monthly sales of $400 million at the beginning of the year. Founder of QLIP, a Nigerian-based NFTs marketplace, Kathleen Obakpolor, talked about how artists can take full advantage of this newly found asset. She said, "Art is one of the uses of NFTs. Using this use case, African artists could sell their art while adding "UTILITY" to it."
"Make it so that anyone who buys your NFTs can get the physical work. A photoshoot might be an option if it's a photography piece", she added. The wide acceptance of crypto assets has led to many technological innovations, increasing the use and relevance of blockchain technology worldwide. These are unique units of data on a digital ledger referred to as "blockchain" is the underlying technology for the functionality of any cryptocurrency such as Ethereum, Bitcoin. NFTs are expected to gain more popularity even as the world accepts cryptocurrency today. The food for thought will be regulation, although that is becoming less than a worry as time goes by.