When the final Lamborghini Aventador LP 780-4 Ultimae Coupe ever produced, which sold for $1.6 million, was packed with a non-fungible token created by Steve Aoki, Chevrolet was trying to profit from the cryptocurrency craze at the time. Hence, it had to create its own NFT with a vehicle motif to ride with the trend.
Chevy combined a digital rendering of a Corvette Z06 in a Blade Runner-inspired metropolis with a genuine 2023 'Vette that was specially painted to match the artwork. However, even though the sale was delayed by a day, the acid-green pair offered by the automaker received not a single bid.
Blind machinist and race car driver Dan Parker drives a custom built Chevrolet Corvette race car 176mph down the runway of Spaceport America during an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the fastest speed for a car driven blindfolded near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico on March 30, 2022.
A Cautionary Tale?
According to Trevor Thompkins, a Corvette spokesperson, Chevy will inevitably get back into digital assets. The failure of their previous NFT served as an immediate reminder of the crypto market's extreme volatility, as noted by Bloomberg.
Data from Cryptoslam shows that as of July 14, the average sale price for an Ethereum NFT was $391, an 84% decline from the usual $2,436 value in May. Dune reports that since May, sales volumes on OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace in the world, have decreased by 75%.
Bloomberg points out that the decline in pricing may raise questions about the long-term value of NFTs at businesses based on tangible assets in the real world, but the desire to make money, whether through cryptocurrency or not, isn't going away.
It added that Chevy's case is a cautionary tale that demonstrates how auto manufacturers will need to put more effort rather than simply producing an NFT artwork by a new artist to thrive in the crypto market.
Read also: NFT Marketplace OpenSea is the Latest Company to Let Go of Staff: 20% of Employees Lost Their Jobs
Crypto Winter
According to Alex Micol's statement with Bloomberg, who also established the NFT-based community Divergents Key and the online-ad developer Scalers Agency in 2021, the market is experiencing a "crypto winter."
Micol advises automakers to concentrate on the value the user receives from their NFTs rather than just treating them as collectibles or giving them away to the highest bidder. He recommends that they should offer genuine value to users, such as entry into a community or tickets to a special event.
This is accomplished by Mercedes-Race AMG's Collection of NFT Ticket Stubs for Formula One fans. The company produced 2,500 numbered Ticket Stubs for the majority of races, while five featured 1,000 special editions created in association with other artists, for a total of 14,888 NFTs.
As the market tethers with the crypto market, Micol said, "It's on any creator to think, what's next?"
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Joaquin Victor Tacla
