Discover which NFTs are blue chips and learn how the market values these non-fungible tokens, including the art, artist, developers, utility, floor price, and sale volume.
In traditional finance, blue-chip stocks refer to investments generally considered safe, long-term bets which can generate steady returns on the invested principal. These blue-chip companies have existed for decades, are well-capitalized, and, as such, have a high track record filled with success.
Example bluechip companies include Alphabet, Amazon, Tesla and Berkshire Hathaway. The S&P500 is also a basket of the top 500 blue chip companies. However, it’s harder to quantify blue chips in the NFT space, as it’s so new.
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What Makes an NFT Blue Chip?
The term blue chip refers to longevity, but this concept is tricky to apply in the NFT space, as it’s a young industry. When people refer to an NFT as a blue-chip NFT, they mean the project can reach a higher value and capture a broader market share. It could behave like a traditional blue-chip stock in the future. The key factors to consider evaluating an NFT as a blue chip, include:
- The art
- The artist and developers
- The brand or team
- The floor price
- Celebrity endorsements
- Community
- Utility and use cases
- Liquidity
- Trading volume
NFT buyers can use tools and websites to evaluate the value of NFTs based on some of these criteria. These include Rarity Tools, Traitsniper, Golom, Moby, Nansen, etc.
For example, you can use premium software like Nansen to track the performance of older and newer bluechip NFT projects based on volume and floor price. However, these tools all determine what quantifies a bluechip NFT based on different metrics.
Read our guide to the best NFT websites.
The liquidity and availability of NFTs in a collection also impact on its blue chip status. At $69 million, Mike Winkelman’s Everydays: The First 5000 Days is the most expensive NFT of all time, but only one exists. So it’s considered an example of rare digital artwork rather than something most NFT investors can buy. That said, we’ve picked ten bluechip NFTs that are liquid, trusted, and acquirable (if you have the funds).
1. CryptoPunks
CryptoPunks is one of the most successful blue-chip NFT projects to date, in part because it was early. The original CryptoPunks were minted on June 9, 2017. 10,000 randomly generated CryptoPunks exist on the Ethereum blockchain, some of which have sold for millions. The project is considered a part of NFT and web 3.0 history. In 2022, YugaLabs, the creators of Bored Ape Yacht Club, bought the CryptoPunks and Meebits intellectual properties from Larva Labs.
2. Meebits
Larva Labs also created this bluechip NFT project. 20,000 Meebits exist on the Etheruem blockchain. It’s a type of 3D Voxel project. That term describes computer modelling or graphical simulations in a three-dimensional space. This project inspired multiple voxel-type projects in the NFT space. Today, YugaLags owns Meebits, although holders can possess commercial rights.
3. Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)
On April 18th of 2021, the Twitter account known as @Boredapeyachtclub began promoting a new collection of cartoon ape NFTs. During the 2021 NFT bull-run, these NFts proliferated widely on Twitter and the team launched a secondary project: Mutant Ape Yacht CLub. The momentum behind Apes picked up on April 24th when @Pranksy and @J1mmy.eth collectively bought over 250 apes. Today, these instantly recognizable apes trade hands for six and seven figures.
4. Mutant Ape Yacht Club
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) dropped the Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFTs on August 28 2021. Up to 20,000 of these NFTs exist.
Bored Ape Holders received an airdrop of Mutant Ape Serum, which they could use to create these Mutant Apes. Alternatively, buyers can pick up a Mutant Ape on the secondary market. Mutant Apes are a cheaper entry point into the bluechip NFT space.
5. The Sandbox
On March 30, 2021, The Sandbox NFT marketplace Beta went live for the first time. The first phase of the beta included 100 NFTs from 46 artists, and after it gained a high level of popularity and success, the project gradually opened the marketplace to everyone.
6. Decentraland
Decentraland is a 3D virtual world browser-based platform that was initially opened to the public in February of 2020. In November of 2021, metaverse land sold for a record $2.4 million in Decentraland which drew the attention of the NFT community.
7. Doodles
Evan Keast (formerly of Dapper Labs), Scott Martin (a Canadian illustrator) and Jordan Castro (formerly the CryptoKiitties lead) launched the Doodles NFT project in October 17th of 2021. Each NFT minted at 0.123 ETH.
Again, 10,000 of these NFTS exist. These colorful hand-drawn creations are easily recognizable. Owners can vote on community features, products and events. In 2022, Shopify even bought one.
8. World of Women
World of Women is a female-driven bluechip NFT project. It’s aim is to increase diversity in the space and educate the next generation of creators.
Owners of the World of Women (WOW) NFTs receive an NFT from a WOW-approved artist. They also own the underlying artwork and intellectual property of the NFT in question and get access to real-world events. The project is releasing another collection in 2022.
9. Clone X
Clone X is an avatar-based NFT project, similar to CryptoPunks. Celebrated Japanese artist Takashi Murakami designed them, and virtual fashion collective RTFK Studios launched the project in November 2021. 20,000 of these NFTs exist. In a bullish play for Metaverse, Nike bought RTFK Studios in December for an undisclosed fee.
“This acquisition is another step that accelerates Nike’s digital transformation and allows us to serve athletes and creators at the intersection of sport, creativity, gaming and culture,” said John Donahoe, President and CEO of NIKE.
10. VeeFriends
Veefriends is an NFT project created by entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. Owners get access to an exclusive Discord community. They also receive tickets to VeeCon: a 2022 NFT event. 10,255 of these NFTs exist. Gary created some of the NFTs in this collection personally. In late 2021, Christie’s auctioned five artworks from the collection for $1.2 million.
At the time, he told CNBC:
“It feels like an out-of-body-experience. I view myself as a very creative and artistic person, but this is way bigger than me. … It represents a paradigm shift and the consumer is intrigued.””
11. Cyberkongz
Cyberkongz is a play-to-earn bluechip NFT project that launched in early 2021. Owners of the Cyberkongz Genesis NFTs receive $banana tokens each day. At one point, the value of these free tokens translated into multiple six-figure amounts per year. Those interested can also buy a Cyberkongz Baby NFT, gain access to a private trading community, and win opportunities to mint other NFTs at a discount. Cyberkongz also released a voxel NFT which holders can use as part of a play-to-earn NFT game.
Evaluating Bluechip NFTs
A bluechip NFT project will stand the test of time, hold a reasonable floor price and deliver value to holders. That said, the NFT space is still incredibly young, so many of tomorrow’s bluechip NFTS doesn’t exist.
