It is very difficult for beginners learning about NFTs to understand how art like Beeple’s Everydays: the First 5000 Days sold for more than $69 million. It is also surprising to know that HUMAN ONE from the same artist sold for more than $28 million.
The answer lies in the brand, value, demand, and reputation.
There are so many bags, shoes, sneakers, and clothing manufacturers across the globe, but the prices of their products vary.
While Gucci, Givenchy, Balenciaga, Ralph Lauren, Burberry, and Armani sell their products at higher prices, other companies cannot sell their products in the same price range.
This is because they are not an established brand that could set higher prices and see the same number of sales as the aforementioned brands. With an understanding of real-world events, NFTs get their value from the same brand loyalty, reputation, and demand.
Let us take a project like the Bored Ape Yacht Club as an example.
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How did Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs gain value?
Upon its launch in April 2021, each of the 10,000 bored apes sold for $190. One BAYC NFT sold for $927,000 in November 2022, despite the bearish market trends affecting the decentralised finance (DeFi) market and due to the brand’s popularity.
The BAYC fever took hold of the market, with rappers Eminem and Snoop Dogg turning into the animated versions of their respective Bored Apes they own in a music video in June 2022.
In addition, the project has inspired the creation of comic books and restaurants. This is why BAYC sales have surpassed more than $3 billion in less than five years of launch.
Another example is Otherside for Otherdeed NFT collection. As of May 2025, Otherdeed has generated more than $1 billion in just three years after launch.
Otherdeed NFTs were able to achieve this milestone due to the project being tied to BAYC, Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC). These projects were also launched by Yuga Labs.
BAYC’s reputation for short-term gains drew investors, who then poured millions into Otherdeed in its first month, May 2022.
This resulted in sales of $931 million in just 31 days. Furthermore, BAYC holders received free Otherdeed NFTs as a token of their loyalty to the project.
NBA Top Shot NFTs is another way of understanding value
In terms of how branding contributes to NFT values, let us examine projects such as Top Shot from the National Basketball Association and ALL DAY from the National Football League.
As two of the three major sports in the United States, the NBA recorded a peak of $11 billion in revenue during the 2023/2024 season. The NFL recorded $20 billion in revenue in 2023. Millions of Americans patronise the NBA and NFL.
Advertisements for a 30-second to one-minute promotion during the NFL’s Super Bowl cost millions of dollars, while the NBA and NFL make millions from other sponsorships and broadcasting deals.
With 30 and 32 teams in the NBA and NFL, respectively, which are spread across all the major cities in the U.S. and Canada, the fan base of these sports is not dying out anytime soon due to the NFL and NBA brands being too strong.
This is why the markets for digital collectibles continue to wane in 2025. The NBA’s Top Shots and NFL’s All DAY, which show outstanding moments from the two sports, have grossed more than $1 billion and $150 million, respectively.
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Sorare
The same branding effect has helped determine the value of NFTs on Sorare, which is based on cards from professional association football (soccer) players.
NFTs gain value by being scarce
The last factor for the determination of NFT value is scarcity. The basic laws of demand and supply say that the scarcity of a good tends to lead to a spike in demand, which increases the price.
Developers typically cap most NFTs at 10,000 to 100,000, whereas fungible tokens like cryptocurrencies often have supplies in the millions, billions, or quadrillions.
This allows for the quick removal of 10,000 unique digital collectibles from the market.
Many holders of popular NFTs have intentionally remained inactive due to negative market sentiment buoyed by Terra’s collapse in May and FTX’s in November 2023. Additionally, most investors have taken to other asset classes due to the bearishness of the digital collectibles market.
Once the bulls return sometime in the future, NFTs with a huge brand name and reputation will be exchanging hands for relatively higher prices than they are currently selling for in May 2025 due to their scarce nature.
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