Stephanie Douse 
With continued interest from investors in the NFT market, knowing which NFT projects are worth looking out for may just be one of the reasons you end 2022 being a millionaire.
There are millions of NFTs for sale and thousands of new projects seem to be released every day.
How can you cut through all the noise to identify the best NFT projects to follow and potentially invest in?
On the one hand, and depending on how much you want to spend, you might not want to think of NFTs as an investment.
There are currently 4 million assets on OpenSea (the most popular NFT marketplace) and potentially millions on other markets like (Rarible, Foundation, SuperRare, NBA Top Shot, etc.).
Knowing that the NFT universe is vast and constantly expanding, it is safe to say that not all of these assets are valued.
You may be wondering what to look for in a project? We consider utility NFTs (defined below) to be an excellent first introduction to NFTs and their possible future uses.
Note: A utility NFT can be where someone receives a physical piece of art that matches the NFT they purchased; it could be unique access to an event, exclusive in-person memberships, or future use in the digital world (think within a game).
Suppose you find a project with a mission that you can identify with and that also has a benefit. In this case, you get more from your NFT purchase than just digital ownership of an asset (art, photo, video, audio, etc.).
Here at Coinscreed, we have taken the time to help you narrow down your search for the perfect NFT project to jump on this year.
The best NFT projects to look out for in 2022
Below are the best NFTs to look out for in 2022 in no particular order:
- VeeFriends
- Crypto Baristas
- Flyfish Club
- Azuki
- DeeKay #LetsWalk
- Kibatsu Mecha
- Doodles
- Women Rise
- Propertys
- Cryptoon Goonz
- Invisible Friends
- Treeverse
- Moon Boyz
- Meka Verse
- Nouns
- Creature World
- Adam Bomb Squad
- Claylings
- Autograph.io
- Decentraland
VeeFriends
VeeFriends is none other than serial entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. Gary is President of VaynerX, CEO of VaynerMedia and owner/founder of VeeFriends.
In short, VeeFriends is a ticket to Gary V’s multi-day super conference, which only VeeFriends token holders have access to.
VeeCon is the world’s first paid NFT conference. VeeCon is where VeeFriends token holders come together as a community to build lasting friendships, share ideas, and learn together.
Crypto Baristas
The first coffee in the world to be funded by the NFT and no longer by us, Coffee Bros.!
Crypto Barista Season 1 will launch with 60 caffeine-loving characters whose owners will help conceive and open the world’s first NFT-funded coffee shop.
Crypto Barista owners will enjoy the benefits of caffeine for a lifetime in all future coffee rooms and venues.
The owners also control the “Banco Barista”, a 15% fund earmarked for the project’s income for future use in the coffee sector.
Some potential uses for Barista Bank could be to support coffee charities, advance the Crypto Barista project, or start something new.
The Coffee Bros Project. Crypto Barista tries to address the three elements that are sometimes missing in many NFT projects: governance, community and ownership.
The project will evolve through seasonal releases, with each season focusing on a new company in the coffee space, offering benefits and governance to all owners.
Flyfish Club
Another project by Gary Vaynerchuk, the Flyfish Club is the first NFT member private dining club in the world.
Flyfish Club members have access to a private New York City dining room that spans 10,000 square feet.
There are two FFC memberships with 2.5 ETH for regular Flyfish members or 4.25 ETH Flyfish Omakase including Omakase room.
With Flyfish’s standard membership, you can reserve a table for up to 8 people without a token. With the Flyfish Omakase option, you can reserve a table for the same number of guests, but you can only bring one guest into the omakase room.
The important part of an NFT membership is that you can contractually rent or resell your membership at any time.
Knowing the past projects of Gary Vaynerchuk (Vee Friends), the value of Flyfish membership will likely increase over time.
As at the time of writing this article, Flyfish Club is completely sold out but they plan to open more locations and memberships as they grow.
Azuki
Azuki are the self-proclaimed internet skaters who “skate between the blurry lines of the physical and digital worlds as they begin to blend”.
As a project, Azuki is a collection of 10,000 avatars that give access to The Garden.
In the garden, Azuki sees his project that blurs the physical and digital worlds. Azuki uses his personas and associations for streetwear collaborations, additional NFT releases, and potential live events.
Azuki has also been seen pushing the limits with new offerings like his recently released Bobu the Bean Farmer.
Bobu the Bean Farmer should split the artwork and create a Bobu token that all community owners can use to master the Bobu character in the azuki universe.
Token holders will direct Bobu’s future in this unique web3 experience.
DeeKay
DeeKay Kwon is the artist behind the popular #LetsWalk series. LetsWalk is an ongoing project of character walk cycles aiming to create 100.
To date, DeeKay Kwon has completed 72 walk cycles and even worked on projects like Invisible Friends, Doodles and Kibatsu Mecha.
Kibatsu Mecha
Created by artist and animator Jerry Liu, Kibatsu Mecha is a collection and story of 2,222 unique, hand-generated, fully-animated characters.
The range of Kibatsu Mecha is rare and consists of a combination of 7 traits. A handful of Kibatsu Mecha will be titled “mega rare” and will have unique traits not found on other characters in the set.
Doodles
Doodles are a collection of 10,000 NFTs (Non-Expendable Tokens) made up of hundreds of cool graphics designed by Burnt Toast.
Hand-drawn doodles include skeletons, cats, aliens, monkeys and pets. The Doodles collection also includes dozens of unusual heads, costumes and colour combinations from the artist’s palette.
What makes a Doodle unique is that you can use it to vote on community resources and upcoming products and events.
The entire Doodles roadmap is a collaborative experience between the collectors and the architects/designers of the project.
Doodles also has a community bank called “Doodlebank” which is their treasury managed by the community and used to fund new experiences.
Currently, at the time of writing, Doodlebank has over $5 million in funds.
Doodles had his most unique advancement in NFT space after launching his Space Doodles project. “Space Doodles are personal spaceships for your doodle.
Each Space Doodle is generated from over 200 audiovisual features and includes stats reflecting your Doodle’s abilities in your spaceship.
Space Doodles and their stats will be used in future Doodles experiences that will amaze and delight the broader NFT ecosystem.
Women Rise
Women Rise is a collection of 10,000 randomly generated images by internationally renowned visual artist Maliha Abidi.
The collection aims to make the NFT space more inclusive and diverse by featuring more female characters and donating a percentage of primary sales to funds focused on gender equality, education and girls’ health in marginalized societies.
Property’s
Property’s is the most innovative property collection game in the NFT space and Metaverse.
It brings together the mechanics of the world’s most popular games and aims to offer an unprecedented experience inside and outside the metaverse.
Each NFT is a trading card that showcases properties inspired by different cultures and economies.
Property has been busy building partnerships with other NFT brands and communities ahead of launch.
One such partnership is with Crypto Baristas, where the real estate game will feature Crypto Barista style cafes and carts across the country.
Keep an eye out for Property as their game is part of the user-generated Sandbox world that is just beginning to take shape.
Cryptoon Goonz
From creator and tattoo artist @SeanTat2s, Cryptoon Goonz is a rubber hose style 6969 generative character design with hundreds of unique traits.
Cryptoon Goonz reminds us of the old Mickey Mouse art, and each piece is adorned with references to pop culture, hip-hop and streetwear.
Cryptoon Goonz has a strong and passionate Discord community of over 10,000 members and is worth following to learn more about the project.
Invincible Friends
Invisible Friends comes from animator Markus Magnusson, who brings 5,000 invisible walking characters to life. Markus Magnusson is aptly known as Motion Markus, and if you take a look at his Vimeo you’ll see why.
The “Invisible Friends” project will start in February 2022 and has already gained many followers on Discord (over 250,000 members) and Twitter (373,000 followers).
If you’re not lucky enough to beat the odds and create one of 5,000 characters, Markus has released a beautifully designed product pack which you can find here.
Even the illustrator of the Crypto Baristas project has a passion for Invisible Friends and can talk about the project on his blog about the most illustrated NFT projects of 2022.
“I know I’ve talked about a walking project before, but it’s a very complex animation sequence to create. And I think it’s incredibly harder when the character has to loop in place. This project takes my fear and walks on it – pun intended”, said Tony Bui of Crypto Baristas.
Treeverse
Treeverse is an open-world sci-fi fantasy MMORPG with an action-packed MOBA-style combat system.
Slay beasts, forge powerful weapons, lure in the biggest fish, form guilds, conquer dungeons and explore the depths. The vibrant world of Treeverse awaits those brave enough to conquer it.
Treeverse has always been among the top 100 NFT buys on OpenSea and has garnered a lot of attention on social media.
While Treeverse doesn’t have a website to develop just yet, they’re already well underway with EndlessCloudsHQ. Endless Clouds HQ releases monthly updates on game progress.
Moon Boyz
Moon Boyz is a collection of 11,111 unique characters living on the Ethereum blockchain. Unique and 3D designed, each NFT is a full member of a growing community and huge profits.
The Moon Boyz project is constantly evolving and the Phase 1 roadmap includes:
- Moon Boyz Party (for rare character owners)
- Exclusive merchandise for owners
- Private club access
- And more
MekaVerse
The MekaVerse is a collection of 8888 generative Mekas with hundreds of items inspired by the mecha universes of Japan.
The MekaVerse project was created by Mattey and Matt B, two friends and 3D artists who made the leap into the NFT space.
The MekaVerse project roadmap aims to bring Mekas to life through high-quality 3D printed toys.
The MekaVerse project continues to evolve as the founders and character owners work through the script.
Future ambitions for the project include streetwear, collaborations with famous artists and possible short films featuring the characters.
Nouns
The Nouns project seeks to increase identity, community, governance and a cash flow that the community can use to create long-term value and grow the project.
Nouns.wtf mints one NFT character every day. The unique aspect of the Noun project is the formation of its own DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) treasury that collects 100% of the funds from NFT sales.
The treasury is controlled and managed by the name holders, who decide on its future use, the direction of the project, etc.
Creature World
21-year-old visual artist Danny Cole from New York City strives to refresh the imagination through his Creature World project.
The project itself has garnered a lot of buzz in the NFT space, but it remains a mystery.
There is www.creature.world, an interactive space where creatures take you on a virtual journey.
It’s unclear if the purchased characters will eventually make their way into the virtual world or the overall intent of the project.
Anyway, we’re curious to see how it works, because the mystery behind the project is quite intriguing.
Adam Bomb Squad
If you’re a fan of streetwear fashion, then the Adam Bomb Squad project is for you. The Adam Bomb Squad project was created by The Hundreds (a famous streetwear brand founded in 2003).
The premise of the project is threefold where they seek to bring identity, community and ownership to the NFT space.
The “Adam Bomb” is the world-famous character/logo of The Hundreds and the Adam Bomb Squad project seeks to chronicle the 18-year history and use of this character.
Claylings
The Claylings is another highly requested project and currently ranks #5 in total trending volume ($6.42 million at the time of writing).
Project Claylings is attempting to bring clay animations to the blockchain, where they aim to free up 4,040 characters.
One of the goals of the project is to create a claymation short film that can feature one of the previously successful characters (it would be great to see your character in the film).
Autograph.io
Autograph.io is more of a marketplace than an individual project, focused on athletes, entertainment, culture and unique digital experiences.
The project was co-founded by Tom Brady and had significant support, including a well-represented board of directors Naomi Osaka, Wayne Gretzky, Tiger Woods and others.
Athletes cite the current approach to Autograph.io-centric NFTs, including authentic professional subscriptions, access to upcoming releases, and private access to the Discord channel.
It will be interesting to see how this project develops with the support and support of everyone involved.
While it’s now heavily focused on athletics, keep an eye on its rapid expansion towards entertainment and unique digital/in-person experiences.
Decentraland
Decentraland is a virtual world with its own DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) that gives users control over the virtual space.
The world of Decentraland is powered by their marketplace for virtual in-game assets such as terrain, wearables (for your characters), and more.
All you need to play is a web browser and a cryptocurrency/digital asset wallet like MetaMask.
Although not required, the wallet enhances the gaming experience as your wallet protects all of your digital assets such as names, collectibles and LAND.
Conclusion
It’s not always easy to determine what makes a great NFT project or investment worthwhile. When selecting the best NFT projects in 2022, we grouped projects that were more than just illustrations (so-called utility NFTs).
Utility NFTs are those that assign a use to the artwork, such as access to an event, exclusive personal membership or in-game assets.
When deciding what to look for in your first NFT purchase, look for a utility project to benefit from.
For example, Crypto Barista’s is a coffee-themed NFT project that funds a coffee shop in New York and offers caffeinated perks (like discounted coffee, free drinks, etc.) to owners.
VeeFriends is another NFT utility that provides access to a large multi-day conference. Both NFTs have value beyond the art, making them a more solid buy.
Looking ahead to the NFT space in 2022, we will continue to add to our list the top 10 NFT projects to watch out for and make sure we have the latest and greatest project.
Until then, check out some of our other NFT-related reading.