NFT Space Likened To The Tulip Bubble By New York Times

The New York Times doesn’t seem to be too keen on the blockchain space’s new NFT industry. In fact, the news outlet started to openly speculate whether or not the entire scene is one dramatic bubble.

NFTs and Tulips: Maybe More Similar Than One Might Think

On the 30th of March, 2021, the New York Times gave out an article titled “Art’s NFT Question: Next Frontier in Trading, or a New Form of Tulip?”

In this article, Scot Reyburn openly questions whether or not the ongoing NFT craze is sustainable in any way, noting the price bubble and how it compared to the so-called “Tulip Mania” that occurred in the 1630s.

Now, Tulip Mania was a legendary event where a bubble in the Netherlands saw tulip prices skyrocket to ridiculous heights. A single tulip bulb found itself be as much as a house, going for 6,700 guilders back in February of 1637. Of course, the market quickly crashed back to normal tulip prices, but for a brief window in time, a man could buy an entire house with a single flower.

History Repeats Itself

The New York Times suggested that history was repeating itself with the NFT space, drawing parallels to the COVID-19 pandemic and the bubonic plague, which both spurred the NFT and tulip crazes, respectively.

The financial authorities of the world’s response to the pandemic, that is printing money, didn’t really help with it. Asset prices inflated heavily across the board, and the NFTs may or may not have gained benefit from this aspect, as well. The NYT speculates that people just had too much time on their hands and too much money to spend it on.

In a quote, the New York Times cited the satire, The Rise and Decline of Flora, that documented the Tulip Mania: “It has been a madness”.

NFT Space Reaching Insane Levels

The NFT space is quite undoubtedly in a bubble, with the downright ludicrous prices it’s experiencing and the general madness surrounding it. A few highlights was SuperRare managing to raise $9 million through a Series A funding round, Polkamon Eggs became the latest craze, with over $1 million spent in gas fees alone. Polkestarter, the platform behind the Pokemon eggs, is reaping in the rewards big time.

⏰ Time's up! The #ClaimYourEgg contest has officially ended. No more eggs can be claimed.

Thank you to the more than 125,000 people who took part in this historic event. Together we're making #NFT history!

In 2 hours we will be sharing a link to check if you've won. Good luck! pic.twitter.com/zrDKEgTElj

— Polychain Monsters (11/11) (@polychainmon) March 29, 2021

Time will tell when this NFT market bubble will burst, and it may not even burst to begin with. With the world’s luck, the NFT space really did just explode into this amount of legitimate value, and no one is going to lose anything. Undoubtedly, others hoped on this during the 2017 Bitcoin bull run, as well.