DEXterlab Poll Reveals Most NFT Buyers Are in it for the Money

As any NFT enthusiast will tell you, there are so many things you can do with NFTs; they can be an investment, a collectors’ item, and much more. This also means that there are many reasons why people choose to buy NFTs, from profit-making to access to specific benefits attached to them.

However, a new poll from blockchain software company DEXterlab shows that most NFT investors enter the market with a view to making a profit. The poll, which was posted on Twitter on May 27, 2022, also has some interesting revelations about the NFT community. 

The Results of the Poll

The DEXterlab poll was posted with the simple question ‘why do you buy NFTs?’ and four options were available; to make money, community and flex, you collect digital art, and access to games and tools. 

Making money saw an overwhelming victory, with 64.3% of voters choosing that option. Community and flex came in second with 14.7% of the vote, followed by collecting digital art with 12.4%, and access to games or tools last with 8.6%. 

These results clearly show that the NFT space is currently dominated by those hoping to ‘flip’ assets for a profit. While this can be said of any asset market, there have been recent calls to diversify the NFT space and put less emphasis on making money. 

Brad Garlinghouse, the CEO of Ripple, for example, said in a recent interview that NFTs are actually underrated in what they can do for their users. Perhaps this aspect of NFTs will be explored as opposed to profit-making. 

Speaking of profit, another poll was posted by DEXterlab on June 2, 2022, which asked users about how their NFT journey is going. 58.3% of respondents reported that they had lost money in the markets while 41.7% reported that they had made money. 

This shows that while many are in NFTs to make a profit, over half of them have not succeeded. A high-profile example of this is Sina Estavi, the Malaysia-based man who purchased the NFT of Jack Dorsey’s first tweet for $2.9 million but was barely able to get $10,000 in bids for its resale. 

“Last year, when I paid for this NFT, very few people even heard the name NFT. Now I say this NFT is the Mona Lisa of the digital world. There is only one of that and it will never be the same. Years later, people will realise the value of this NFT,” he has said, undeterred. 

Expanding on NFTs

While this poll shows that the NFT space is in profit-making mode, this can change over time. There are many more projects that are being launched with NFTs, especially by private companies, that put an emphasis on their utility and the value being attached to them as opposed to money. 

If this continues, we could see the results of this poll reversed in only a few years.