Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) were all the rage last year, leading to price explosions and mushroom collections. But the NFT market has struggled this year. However, this is not the case everywhere, as the South American market still seems to be very popular.
Inflation is higher in South America
This was written by CoinDesk’s Marina Lammertyn, who lives in Argentina herself. Inflation is a global problem today, but few places are as serious as South American countries. Argentina is in bad shape, with an annual inflation rate of 83%. This makes it the seventh-highest inflation country in the world. In South America, Venezuela is the only country with high inflation, ranking fifth with an annual growth rate of 114%.
This is nothing new for Argentina, which is notorious for its unreliable government and high levels of corruption. Argentines are also familiar with banking crises. All of this makes cryptocurrencies very popular in the country despite the bear market.
A small problem is that inflation in some South American countries is not too bad. For example, the figures for Brazil and Peru are “only” 7.17% and 8.53%, respectively. For comparison’s sake; in the Netherlands and Belgium, we can barely cope with 14.5% and 12.27%.
Massive adoption of NFTs in Argentina
But the Argentine has clearly found a way to deal with the situation. Cryptocurrencies are not only popular, but not just for speculation. Lammertyn specifically mentioned NFTs as a popular medium of exchange. This does not involve well-known NFT collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks, but NFTs from local artists.
Also not a large platform like OpenSea is used for this purpose, but a very popular platform among Argentines. CoinDesk mentioned Enimga.art, an NFT marketplace on Ethereum (ETH) targeting the Latin American market.
TravelX is a marketplace that offers tickets in the form of NFTs, so people who can’t take a booked flight can still sell their flight. In Argentina, a large part of the market has passed the hype phase and the market has been driven by actual demand.
Source of information: Compiled from CRYPTO-INSIDERS by 0x information.The copyright belongs to the author Simon Bosch and may not be reproduced without permission