• The NFT market has seen meteoric growth in recent years with billions in monthly sales
  • Brent Liang is tapping into the NFT market through Fractal, a gaming NFT marketplace startup
  • Mainstream adoption of NFTs highlights the increasing prevalence of the technology as well as its increasing public awareness

The NFT space has seen a tremendous amount of growth in recent years with the market capitalization of NFTs rising by 138.7% on an annual basis between 2018 and 2020. An NFT is a non-fungible token that is a digital asset that is entirely unique and stored on a blockchain. This is similar to cryptocurrency, but the difference is that NFTs draw their value from their non-fungibility.

NFTs have a number of different mediums with which they typically operate. This includes artworks, music, films, video game items, and collectibles of various kinds. There are essentially no limits as to what an NFT may be as the first tweet which was ever posted was sold as an NFT.

The process of creating an NFT is called minting, and this is where the unique NFT is created and stored on the blockchain. There are many services available that conduct this process. Equally, there are many different marketplaces on which NFTs are bought and sold.

The digital artist Beeple sold an artwork titled “The First 5000 Days” for a value of $69 million in March of 2021. This is still far and away the most valuable NFT which has ever sold and this sale was largely responsible for the significant increase in public awareness surrounding NFTs. The artwork is among the most expensive artworks ever sold by a living artist.

NFT sales totaled a colossal $18.5 billion in 2021 which represented an increase of 570 times the NFT sales of 2020. Monthly sales of NFTs have also been impressive with an average monthly sale of $2.5 billion worth of NFTs. This number has peaked as high as $4.5 billion as of February 2022. The NFT market is predicted to rise to $30 billion in 2022 as strong monthly sales and an increase in new buyers continue to drive the market considerably. Certain mainstream companies such as Coca-Cola and McDonald’s have also entered the NFT market which is a demonstration of the reach and potential that NFTs possess.

Brent Liang’s Success Story

Brent Liang was born in New Zealand and raised in Shanghai where he was educated at SHSID, one of China’s best international schools. Liang then achieved a score of 44/45 on the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, one of the most renowned high school diplomas in the world. In his high school years, he also attended and won several international competitions, including a short-term exchange to Harvard University.

Brent Liang
Brent Liang Brent Liang

Liang then went on to study law and economics at Sydney Law School on a full scholarship. Sydney Law School is a prestigious university ranking 13th in the world and 3rd in the Asia-Pacific region. Liang represented his university in several innovation programs for which he has won distinguished awards. One of these wins allowed Liang to meet with President Bill Clinton.

Liang has used his skillset to launch his career in the technology industry as he now works for Goat Capital, an early-stage venture capital fund. He works alongside Justin Kan who is the co-founder of Twitch, the largest live streaming platform in the world, and Robin Chan who is a Silicon Valley investor with early wins including Uber and Twitter. Liang is also part of the founding team of a new startup called Fractal which has Google Drive’s co-founder as its CEO.

Fractal is a marketplace built on Solana for anyone to buy, sell and discover gaming NFTs. Fractal aims to give gaming studios that utilize blockchain technology a platform on which they can be successful, with products such as the Fractal Launchpad.

Fractal has already raised $35 million in funding from Paradigm, Multicoin Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase Ventures and others. Liang helped Fractal build a community of 100,000+ people in its first week of launch.

Final Thoughts

NFTs are a new player in the world of investment and are showing exceptional growth with no sign of slowing down at any time. In fact, predictions point to continued growth in the NFT market as NFTs continue to attract public interest and new buyers and sellers. With mainstream companies joining the NFT phenomenon all signs point to continued gains in the sector for the discerning investor. Brent Liang is a young entrepreneur who is making his mark in the technology sector through the launch of Fractal.