EXCLUSIVE: Benzinga's 2022 NFT Investments Listmakers Made Significant Contributions To The NFT Space

Financial media and data company Benzinga is capitalizing on its mission to bridge the gap between retail and institutional investors by holding free virtual events featuring speakers from innovative companies.

On Wednesday, Benzinga held its "2022 NFT Investments Listmaker Event," recognizing the most innovative companies creating and promoting in the NFT industry, featuring digital art and collectibles. 

This year's NFT Listmakers have made significant contributions to the NFT space either by introducing new NFT projects to the market or by making these investments more accessible for the average investor. 

Those who made the list have been recognized in one of three categories: "Top NFT Exchanges," "Top NFT Promoters" and "Top NFT Projects."

Watch the full Listmaker Event here:

Here's a look at the 2022 NFT Investments Listmakers (ordered alphabetically):

Top NFT Exchanges

• Crypto.com – One of the OGs in the crypto and NFT space, Crypto.com claims to be the fastest-growing crypto app – and they have leaned in hard in the last 12 months with media tie-ins and special drops to attract buyers.
• Dapper Labs – Brought us NBA Top Shots, a project that grabbed mainstream attention and brought it squarely to NFT sports collectibles.
• FTX – "Built by Traders for Traders," FTX prioritized NFTs in 2021. FTX had a recent significant fundraise and is now valued at $8 billion, with partnerships including Coachella and Tom Brady.
• Looksrare – Offering rewards for purchasing on their platform, Looksrare was a breakout success in the first quarter of 2022 and became the second-largest NFT marketplace by sales volume.
• Nifty Gateway – They moved to a broader form of curation in 2021, but have used its new flexibility to make a steady stream of drops, making it a standout for many buyers and a strong player in the secondary market.
• OpenSea – In early 2021, OpenSea still had competition for the dominant exchange in the space. By the end of 2021, OpenSea's leader position seemed understood, with creators posting their work on OpenSea in addition to any other platforms where they officially launch.
• Rarible - Rarible was competing with OpenSea for the top marketplace spot until just a year ago, but their star has still continued to rise and they introduced an open API in 2021 that will have an aggregate effect on how marketplaces are integrated and is an excellent way for their platform to expand.

Top NFT Promoters

• Farokh – Farokh is an expert at starting and hyping NFT social communities and a virtual legend on socials. He continues to hype the crowd from 2021 to 2022 and he still loves Cool Cats.
• Gary Vee/VaynerNFT – Gary "Vee" Vaynerchuk did his research and became one of the leading NFT advocates in the blockchain community and to the world at large. VaynerNFT is not quite a year old, but with leadership from Avery Akkineni, the agency has been supporting VeeFriends while dropping a steady stream of major brand tie-ins, with partners like PepsiCo Inc PEP and Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV BUD. They are unique in touching so many parts of the industry, and no agency is in the position VaynerNFT is to roll out new brands.
• Hunter Orrell – NFT influencer and YouTuber. He's also a creator and proclaimed investor in Looksrare.
• Ja Rule – If you have been sleeping on Ja Rule and NFTs, time to check his Twitter feed. Ja is still creating, launching NFTs, doing TV appearances and shows on his ICONN app. Ja isn't just bringing mainstream fame to NFTs (lots of people are doing that), he's bringing the force of nature that is his creative drive to the Wild West of NFTs, and it's a net gain for the space.
• Zeneca – Zeneca's path to NFT truth has taken them from a writer, thinker and social influencer in the space to Zen Academy, a token access learning platform.

Top NFT Projects

• Art Blocks - A first-of-its-kind platform featuring art project generative content. After someone purchases an Art Block NFT, it randomly generates an image. The project was funded by proceeds from CryptoPunks. Art Blocks recently passed $1.2 billion in sales volume. 
• Axie Infinity: Sky Mavis - Axie Infinity is the biggest play-to-earn game in the NFT space and recently announced the project passed $4 billion in sales volume. Fierce creatures that love to battle, build and hunt for treasure, called Axies, are featured in individual NFTs that holders can use across the Axie Infinity universe of games.  
• BAYC: Yuga Labs - Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs act as club memberships, granting holders access to members-only benefits. This project is popular among celebrities and popular sports figures. The project has rewarded its holders with exclusive events including a party on a yacht. The lowest-priced Bored Ape currently sits on the Ethereum ETH/USD blockchain for around 90 ETH, or close to $250,000.
• CloneX (RTFKT) - RTFKT is a well-known digital sneaker company that launched CloneX to provide holders avatars for the metaverse. During the project launch, Nike Inc NKE announced that it would be acquiring RTFKT.
• Cool Cats - Cool Cat holders can participate in exclusive events such as NFT claims, raffles and community giveaways. The NFT project was featured in mainstream media following its partnership with Time Magazine. 
• CryptoPunks: Larva Labs - The CryptoPunks project is credited with being one of the first projects to really push the space forward. CryptoPunks launched as a fixed set of 10,000 items in mid-2017 and became an inspiration for many of the NFT projects to follow. CryptoPunks was initially launched as a free project, but now demands extremely high prices. Many punks are rumored to have been lost in individual wallets over the years.
• CyberKongz - CyberKongz was one of the first projects to introduce tokenomics in order to reward holders. The project originally featured 1,000 NFTs before the team introduced breeding, which added 4,000 baby CyberKongz to the project. Each Genesis CyberKong yields 10 Banana tokens per day.
• Doodles - A community-driven collectible project featuring art with vibrant colors. Each Doodle allows its owner to vote for experiences and activations paid for by the community's treasury.
• Michael Wagner - Wagner is the co-founder and CEO of Star Atlas, a space-themed metaverse game featuring open world exploration. The project is built on the Solana SOL/USD blockchain and allows users to create, play and learn with other users in the game. 
• The Sandbox - The Sandbox is a play on the metaverse. The project offers plots of land for sale in its virtual world via NFTs. Land is scarce and prices have risen as a multitude of media brands and consumer projects have been snatching up land recently.
• Sneaky Vampire Syndicate - Sneaky Vampire Syndicate features a collection of 8,888 vampire NFTs that reward holders with the Blood token. The team recently launched Sneaky Vampiress Syndicate, which features female-based traits. 
• VeeFriends - Launched by Gary "Vee" Vaynerchuk, the NFT project features a collection of hand-drawn art that focuses on providing value to its holders through meaningful intellectual property and an extraordinary community.
• World of Women - This NFT project features 10,000 artworks of diverse and powerful women. The community aims to celebrate representation, inclusivity and equal opportunities for all. World of Women recently signed a media deal with Hello Sunshine, a production company founded by actress Reese Witherspoon. The actress displays her World of Women NFT as her profile picture on Twitter.