Key measurements of early-stage companies are ‘revenue’ and ‘revenue growth’ and it is the same for early-stage NFT projects. In 2022 we will celebrate the 1 year anniversary of all NFT projects that launched in 2021, and with that anniversary the market will for the first time have official ‘Year 1 Revenue’ figures for all NFT collections.
Below we look at the ‘minting revenue‘ and ‘secondary sales revenue‘ for 6 NFT collections in an effort to calculate an estimated ‘total revenue‘ for each collection. In addition to minting and secondary sales revenue, NFT collections typically earn revenue through partnerships, collaborations, media production, event, merchandise and other unknowns. These revenue sources are not covered here. Given we are so early in the industry’s history, the market is still discovering which types of revenue sources various NFT collections will choose to earn.
Sounds.xyz does a wonderful job of displaying primary and secondary sale revenue for the top Web3 music collections.
Total Revenue
Minting Revenue + Secondary (“Sec.”) Sales Revenue = Total Revenue
| Collection | Minting Revenue | Sec. Sales Revenue | Total Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
 Snoop Dogg on Sound XYZ | 100.0 ETH (US $260K) | 47.7 ETH ($143K) | 147.7 ETH ($403K) |
 Gh0stly Gh0sts | 0.0 ETH ($0) | 150 ETH ($450K) | 150 ETH ($450K) |
| 700 ETH ($1.6M) | 6,480 ETH ($19.4M) | 7,180 ETH ($21.0M) | |
| 11,000 ETH ($34.1M) | 980 ETH ($2.9M) | 11,980 ETH ($37.0M) | |
| 699.9 ETH ($2.9M) | 415 ETH ($1.2M) | 1,114 ETH ($4.2M) | |
| 484.7 ETH ($1.6M) | 1,620 ETH ($4.8M) | 2,104 ETH ($6.5M) |
US Dollar secondary sales revenue based on a $3.0K ETH price.
Minting Revenue
Minting Supply + Mint Price = Minting Revenue
| Collection | Minting Supply | Mint Price | Minting Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snoop Dogg on Sound XYZ | 1,000 | 0.1 ETH ($260) | 100.0 ETH (US $260K) |
| Gh0stly Gh0sts | 6,234 | 0.0 ETH ($0) | 0.0 ETH ($0) |
| 10,000 | 0.07 ETH ($161) | 700 ETH ($1.6M) | |
| 10,000 | 1.1 ETH ($3,410) | 11,000 ETH ($34.1M) | |
| 9,999 | 0.07 ETH ($297) | 699.9 ETH ($2.9M) | |
| 7,025 | 0.069 ETH ($235) | 484.7 ETH ($1.6M) |
The WoW Galaxy project only had 10K NFTs available for public mint, and mint was conducted as a Dutch auction-style sale with prices beginning at 3.0ETH and decreasing periodically. Decrypt reported approximately $34M worth of primary sales from the initial mint, implying an approximate median price of 1.1ETH.
The ‘mint price’ metric is not easily found for each collection, but can typically be found on the project’s website, Twitter or Discord. The website ‘Lucky Trader‘ was also found during this research, which provides the mint date and mint price for many collections.
Secondary Sales Revenue
Royalty % x Secondary Sales Volume = Secondary Sales Revenue
| Collection | Royalty % on Sec. Sales | Sec. Sales Volume | Sec. Sales Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snoop Dogg on Sound XYZ | 10.0% | 477.1 ETH ($1.4M) | 47.7 ETH ($143K) |
| Gh0stly Gh0sts | 3.0% | 5,000 ETH ($15.0M) | 150 ETH ($450K) |
| 10.0% | 64,800 ETH ($194.4M) | 6,480 ETH ($19.4M) | |
| 4.0% | 24,500 ETH ($73.5M) | 980 ETH ($2.9M) | |
| 5.0% | 8,300 ETH ($24.9M) | 415 ETH ($1.2M) | |
| 2.5% | 64,800 ETH ($194.4M) | 1,620 ETH ($4.8M) |
The ‘royalty percentage on secondary sales’ references the ‘Creator’s Fee’ on OpenSea, and it is what is paid to the project on each secondary sale. This metric can be found through OpenSea’s API, which is accessible without code through JSON files that exist for each NFT collection. For example, here is the JSON file for the ‘Crypto Coven’ collection: https://api.opensea.io/api/v1/collection/cryptocoven. Near the bottom of the JSON you will find the output “dev_seller_fee_basis_points” and a corresponding percentage amount in hundreds (5.00% = 500). The only other place I have found the Royalty % is during the actual selling process on OpenSea. Here is a screenshot of the Crypto Coven fee when I went through the process of selling. The Service Fee is OpenSea’s transaction fee.
Note on OpenSea API: to view other collection’s JSON file, add the collection name to the URL https://api.opensea.io/api/v1/collection/. If the NFT collection name has multiple words, there are typically dashes (“-“) between each word, like with World of Women Galaxy URL: https://api.opensea.io/api/v1/collection/world-of-women-galaxy
Analyst Takeaways
Total revenue to date for the NFT collections above ranged from $400K to $37M, indicating these collections are comparable to small-to-medium sized businesses.
We can also annualise secondary sales revenue, which is recurring revenue, to get an estimate of total secondary sales revenue for Year 1 for each collection. This shows that even smaller collections like Gh0stly Gh0sts and Crypto Covens will be earning multiple millions in secondary sales revenue if volume stays consistent.
And lastly, we can create a new metric “floor price / total revenue” to get an understanding of the investment price for each asset as compared to the amount of revenue the project has earned. It appears that Crypto Coven’s, WoW Galaxy and CrypToadz have the lowest price to revenue percentage, indicating they are more reasonable investments than the others (albeit WoW Galaxy is a Gen 2 collection).
| Collection | Project Age (Years) | Annualised Secondary Sales Revenue (Year 1) | Floor Price / Total Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snoop Dogg on Sound XYZ | 0.09 | 544 ETH ($1.6M) | 0.125% |
| Gh0stly Gh0sts | 0.03 | 4,977 ETH ($14.9M) | 0.287% |
| 0.72 | 9,027 ETH ($27.0M) | 0.04% | |
| 0.05 | 17,885 ETH ($53.6M) | 0.006% | |
| 0.36 | 1,139 ETH ($3.4M) | 0.005% | |
| 0.60 | 2,688 ETH ($8.0M) | 0.02% |
NFT Collections
- Snoop Dogg on Sound XYZ [OpenSea; OpenSea API]
- Chosen as it’s a well-perfomring music NFT
- Gh0stly Gh0sts [OpenSea; OpenSea API]
- Chosen as it’s a newer and free mint, and a reasonable floor price around 0.4ETH.
- World of Women [OpenSea; OpenSea API]
- Chosen as the Generation 1 (WoW) and Generation 2 (WoW Galaxy) collections are considered blue-chip collections.
- World of Women Galaxy [OpenSea; OpenSea API]
- Crypto Coven [OpenSea; OpenSea API]
- Chosen as it’s a smaller collection but has a strong community that isn’t going away.
- CrypToadz by GREMPLIN [OpenSea; OpenSea API]
- Chosen as it’s one of the industry’s favourite meme collections.
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