A few weeks ago I promised the occasional treasure-map-type-thing with a giant X on it to direct you to where to dig for crypto riches. I may have been exaggerating ever so slightly, since even at the best (or worst) of times I can’t bring myself to outright recommend making any specific financial decision.
That said, I can share a few projects that I like, my theses on why I like them, and then allow you to make up your own mind regarding what to do. Think of it like a tattered map with a few vague and blurry Xs. Or something. I think I’ve stretched this analogy about as far as it goes..
But before jumping into the specific NFT projects, I want to mention the indicators that are leading me to believe we might be on the cusp of a bull run. The canaries in the diamond mine, so to speak.
Let’s start by looking at CryptoPunks, which have historically been the first to move whenever there’s been an NFT meta. The first time this happened was between Oct 2020 to March 2021, famously kicking off the mania of that epic NFT bull run. But it happened two more times: once in November 2023 which led to a couple of month bullish period, and then again just a few months ago in October 2024 which spurred on another bullish period that lasted until December, and you could argue, is still ongoing (for Punks at least).
We’ve seen a steady stream of Punk sales in spite of otherwise terrible market conditions, with plenty of above-floor rare traited Punks changing hands too (another bullish indicator — bears don’t care about rares) [man I just came up with that saying but how good is it? that’s definitely a tweet right there, nobody steal it plz].
I don’t believe that just because Punks are doing well an NFT run is guaranteed, but I do believe that we are yet to see an NFT run that has not first started with them, so make of that what you will.
(One counter point is that ETH has been dropping in price, so the Punks, while up in ETH terms, are actually down in USD — meaning the jury is still out for how bullish this actually is. Fortunately, this is not the only indicator.)
The other thing getting my spider senses tingling is the success of two projects that have received a lot of attention in recent weeks: Good Vibes Club and The Masks of Luci by Sam Spratt. Importantly, these are very different types of collections. The former is a traditional 10k PFP collection, the latter a smaller art-focused collection.
The timeline is buzzing with positive energy around these two projects which in turn is having a flow on effect to the entire NFT community. People are enjoying their NFTs again, sharing them, appreciating them. Forming communities. The timeline is full of, unironically, good vibes.
Other collections are starting to move too. Nothing explosive, but the fireworks tend to come later. This is just another canary chirping for now.
I could of course be totally off base here and the market falls over next week. This could be due to a lack of interest in NFTs specifically, or a wider market crash that brings the jpegs down with it. But I do believe there is enough upside potential, with enough downside risk mitigated, to warrant considering some buys.
So I’m going to share 5 NFT collections that I think are worth looking at. I’ll share my thesis on each of them and even go so far as to wager a guess at some price range predictions. NFA NFA NFA, of course, and even that is not enough so:
Please note that none of this is financial advice, or should be considered financial advice. Whenever considering any purchase for any reason, take into account your overall portfolio and financial situation. This information is presented for informational and educational purposes only.
(One important thing as well to remember is the opportunity cost of any purchase — it might be +EV to buy a particular thing, but it’s a crypto bull market, and there are many +EV opportunities. You don’t want to tie all your liquidity up in an illiquid jpeg.)
Ok enough edging.
Thesis
I have been bullish on everything by the Parallel team for years. Recently they have been focusing on AI, with two significant products in the pipeline (actually three, but we’ll just focus on two).
The first is WayFinder, an AI DeFi (or DeFAI or Deef AI.. but we need help setting a standard here and I am team AI DeFi) product primed (heh) to launch any week now. It’s generating a lot of attention because of their upcoming TGE for $PROMPT, the token that fuels WayFinder.
Parallel Avatars will serve as a multiplier for $PROMPT. They won’t directly receive any tokens (unless they surprise and delight), but if the launch is successful then it will of course reflect very well on the team and their other projects.
The second product is Colony, an upcoming game they’re developing which they describe as “genre defining” and “the world’s first AI agent game”. If they pull it off, it would be a big freaking deal. The Parallel Avatars are designed to be agents in the game, and one can only imagine that with some bullishness on their whole ecosystem, the Avatars will get some love.
Buy Range
The current floor is 0.6 ETH. I would be looking to either market buy or buy via bids at anything under 0.7 ETH.
Price Target / Sell Triggers
With the right catalysts, I think these can run to 1.2 to 2 ETH fairly easily. For a short term trade, I would start to sell at 1.1 ETH though and set higher sell prices if you have multiple. I would be paying attention around the launch of their $PROMPT token and any big announcements for Colony. Bullish news on either front could provide good profit taking opportunities.