Global “NFT” Search Interest Surpasses “Crypto” for the First Time Ever. Why?

4 min readJan 17, 2022

In December 2021, the global search interest for the term “NFT” (referring to non-fungible tokens) surpassed that for the term “crypto” for the first time ever on Google Trends, reaching new month-on-month highs.

This sharp interest in NFT search volume worldwide indicates that NFTs and tokenized assets have now entered the public consciousness. More users than ever are seeking out ways to get involved in the NFT markets — either as speculators, investors, or creators of NFTs, and SAVAGE is well-positioned to serve all three roles.

Since NFTs can be digital art, tweets, music, GIFs, or even represent real-world goods in a tokenized form on the blockchain; the options for this market and trend to continue in the coming years are limitless.

NFT Growth Trends

Take a look at the incredible statistics of NFT growth — according to The Block, weekly trade volume for NFTs peaked at over $1B USD in 2021 and total sales were expected to reach at least $17B by the end of 2021. CoinTelegraph cites that sales of NFTs grew from just $41M in 2018 to $2.5B in the first half of 2021 alone, which is a 60x in growth in approximately 3.5 years.

Today, there are 455M professional and everyday creators today monetizing their content — on everyday creative networks like YouTube, on legacy stock media platforms like Shutterstock and Getty Images, on NFT platforms, and across professional platforms like Vimeo.

SAVAGE: The Opportunity

SAVAGE aims to be well-positioned to meet this growing demand for fair and ethical compensation in the creator economy, as well as for high-quality videography and photography to ultimately disrupt the legacy media industry while allowing creators to own and retain the rights to their content and providing users with the best experience.

Since each NFT has its own unique metadata that distinguishes it from another NFT, and given that each NFT is cryptographically authenticated via the blockchain, this guarantees the owner is always known and verified due to the nature of blockchain being a public ledger.

SAVAGE is the first NFT marketplace to bake Rights Managed contracts into the NFT metadata itself, meaning creators have the same rights as they would for stock photos or videos, protecting both buyer and artist.

The increased interest in NFTs has coincided with the overall boom in the cryptocurrency market and NFT prices are certainly correlated to the prices of cryptocurrencies. Whilst the search volume and interest worldwide for crypto has been on a steady uptrend since 2020 (and previously since the bear market of 2018) as well, the popularity and rise of NFTs have taken the internet and world by storm and surprised many crypto users alike.

This trend in NFT growth has been in development for several months now, with consumer brands such as Nike and Adidas have entered into the NFT space with their own launches as of late, as well as with prominent celebrities such as Snoop Dog and even Melania Trump having promoted their own NFT collections to their audiences.

However, prominent creators and brands need carbon-neutrality to get involved deeper into NFTs. Many top creators who have brand deals with companies like National Geographic & Amazon, which would be revoked if minting on current NFT marketplaces due to social/brand pressure. A zero-emission marketplace is needed, and this is exactly what SAVAGE delivers by being carbon-neutral!

By building on Polygon’s proof-of-stake protocol, SAVAGE’s energy consumption is much lower at only 0.002% than that of a proof-of-work marketplace, which is where most NFT transactions happen today.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, the effects of the NFT cultural revolution have been in providing creators of all types — amateurs, professionals, musicians, and celebrities the chance to get paid for their work, while collectors have been able to take advantage of the transparency of blockchain to obtain authenticity and a certificate of ownership into their purchases.

Since NFTs are community-driven, can be scarce, and encourage exclusivity in groups, they have culturally served as a vehicle for status displays on the internet, especially where users spend a large time in online communities, such as Twitter, Discord, and Instagram.

Entire communities have sprung up around NFTs, made up of artists and creators who feel empowered by the possibility of their creations independently supporting themselves, and SAVAGE is proud to be a part of this change by making it even more equitable for all creators, as well as more environmentally-friendly and cheaper to transact on an NFT marketplace.

If you would like to find out more about SAVAGE and how to participate in our public token sale, join our Discord!

Global “NFT” Search Interest Surpasses “Crypto” for the First Time Ever. Why?

Written by SAVAGE