NFT-related stocks draw attention as non-fungible tokens buzz increases
The popularity of non-fungible tokens, a type of digital asset that is authenticated by blockchain. It is spreading to equities as investors focus on shares of online art trading platforms and companies making NFT-related announcements, sparking outsize moves in their stocks.
The shares of Sino- Global Shipping America Ltd. were last raised by 12% after rising as much as 33%. This happened after the company said it will launch an exchange for NFTs with the e-commerce public chain CyberMiles. The stock, which recently traded at $9.66, rose 85% in the last eight sessions.
Shares of pipe maker ZK International Group were last up 6%, rose as much as 20% before paring gains on Thursday. This happened after it said subsidiary xSigma Corporation would develop an NFT marketplace where users could buy and sell NFTs and create their own custom assets in some clicks.
Investors also seemed to be staking that art-related companies would profit from NFT, with U.S. shares in art trading platforms Takung Art Oriental Culture Holding changing hands rapidly on Thursday.
Takung shares – last down 8% after rising as much as 79% earlier in the session – had rised more than 700% in the last five sessions. Oriental Culture’s shares, which rose as much as 60% on Thursday before turning down 3%, had risen 200% in the last five sessions.
The popularity of NFTs has highly risen during COVID-19, as enthusiasts and investors scramble to spend huge sums of money on items that are available only online.
In the previous month, musician and artist Grimes, who is dating Tesla CEO Elon Musk, sold some animations she made on a website called Nifty Gateway for more than $6 million.
Earlier this month, a $70 million digital-only artwork was auctioned by Christie’s to a crypto asset investor who goes by the pseudonym “Metakovan.”
Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in Pittsburgh, said the interest in companies involved in digital assets is “largely driven by the people that think they missed bitcoin.”
“Buying the companies offering NFT would be like buying companies that have some sort of dealings with bitcoin in the early days,” Forrest said.
