15 Best NFT Projects for 2023

Non-fungible tokens have been a hot topic of discussion during the past two years. Some pieces in popular collections, like the Bored Ape Yacht Club, have sold for millions of dollars. Artists have also sold digital works of art for tens of millions of dollars at high-end auctions like Christie’s.

Read: 3 Things You Must Do When Your Savings Reach $50,000

Top 15 NFT Projects To Invest in 2023

With all the hype surrounding these high-value pieces, the masses are diving into the NFT industry in droves, but what are the best projects to back?

1. Silks

Silks is a play-to-earn metaverse, meaning collectors can earn rewards by playing the game, which mirrors the thoroughbred horse-racing industry, complete with thoroughbred racehorses sold as NFTs.

The team behind the project is massive and includes founders like Dan Nissanoff, Troy Levy, Benjamin Plotkin and Michael Lira, all of whom have extensive experience as entrepreneurs, developers and project managers.

The NFTs are “digital clones” of real-life thoroughbreds, and they track real details of the horses’ lives and careers. When a real-world horse wins a race, the person who owns the horse’s NFT in the Silks metaverse earns a reward.

2. Doodles

Evan Keast, Jordan Castro and Scott Martin founded the Doodles NFT collection, which features 10,000 unique NFTs with hundreds of different traits. Each NFT in the collection is a colorful doodle depicting an animated skeleton, animal, alien, human-like figure or spacecraft.

Collectors who own Doodles NFTs enjoy exclusive access to new products and hosted events. Doodles also runs on decentralized governance, which means owners vote on important features, products and events.

3. Moonbirds

Proof Collective, a company co-founded by Kevin Rose and Justin Mezzell, developed Moonbirds. The company created the collection with utility and community in mind. Each Moonbird acts as a key to exclusive events, meetups and upcoming projects.

This collection of more than 10,000 NFTs features cartoon owls with different traits that make them unique. Some pieces in the collection even feature skeleton owls and robotic owls. The tokens are PFP, or profile picture, NFTs, so purchasing one gives you a thumbnail image you can display on your social media profiles.

4. Women Rise

Maliha Abidi, a world-renowned Pakistani-American artist and published author, created the Women Rise project. The project aims to bring further diversity and inclusion to the NFT industry.

In an effort to accomplish this goal, Women Rise features 10,000 unique, computer-generated pieces of digital art, all of which depict women. The women in the works are activists, scientists, coders and other professionals of different nationalities and backgrounds.

Ownership brings perks, too. For example, 100 Women Rise NFT owners receive a free copy of the “RISE: Extraordinary Women of Colour Who Changed the World” book, which features extraordinary stories of 100 women from all around the world. It’s also illustrated by the same artist behind the 450-plus hand-drawn traits randomized to create the Women Rise collection.

5. VeeFriends

Gary Vaynerchuk, an ambitious member of the business community, developed the VeeFriends project. He also has a passion for creativity and brings both passions to the metaverse with NFTs.

VeeFriends collectors don’t just own crypto-collectibles. The NFTs act as keys to the VeeFriends community and three years’ worth of tickets to an exclusive event known as VeeCon.

The collection features a wide range of abstract sketches of animals like birds, cheetahs, bats, fish and even ladybugs, each with a quirky touch and colorful background.

6. Flyfish Club

Flyfish Club is a unique NFT project founded by David Rodolitz. The project is the first in the world that represents a private dining club to which owners purchase a membership through NFTs.

Currently under construction and slated to open this year, the three-floor, 11,000-square-foot restaurant and lounge at the center of the Flyfish Club is in New York City. The menu will feature internationally influenced seafood creations from celebrated chefs.

Flyfish NFTs are a limited edition of up to 2,650 members. A maximum of 385 Flyfish Omakase members will also have access to a private sushi Omakase room serving fresh fish flown in daily from Japan, according to the project’s website.

The collection features digital artwork depicting fish and sushi.

The full collection of Flyfish Club NFTs has already been minted, but tokens are available on the secondary market.

7. Fan Controlled Football

Sohrob Farudi, Patrick Dees and Grant Cohen founded Fan Controlled Football. Ray Austin, a former professional football player, is also a commissioner on the team.

The creators based Fan Controlled Football on real-life arena football games. However, in the FCF community, fans call the shots. Fans vote on the plays, and the teams in the game carry the top-voted plays out.

The NFTs in the project, known as Ballerz, unlock the ability to control real-life football teams. Ballerz come in various forms, from Bored Apes to Kingpins and others.

The new season begins in May.

8. NFT Worlds

The undoxxed, or anonymous, founders of NFT Worlds are known only by the pseudonyms ArkDev and Temptranquil. The project is an NFT game and metaverse where owners hold verifiable rights to digital land.

Owners develop their metaverse using Minecraft-like features and functionality. Metaverses are interconnected to create a multi-metaverse environment.

NFTs in NFT Worlds evolve as owners develop their metaverse. When the worlds start, they look like pixelated views of woods, waterfronts and rolling hills.

9. Axie Infinity

Axie Infinity is the brainchild of Vietnam-based company Sky Mavis. The project is a metaverse game centered around colorful creatures known as Axies that battle, build and hunt for treasure.

Collectors can breed their Axies to create new NFTs, too.

The NFTs are colorful creatures that seem like a mix between birds and cats, each with a unique combination of traits.

10. Bored Ape Yacht Club

Yuga Labs, a leader in the NFT industry, created the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection. The project has attracted 2.8 million daily active players and the attention of a long list of celebrities. Mainstream music labels have even picked up some of the NFTs as metaverse megabands.

The NFTs in the collection act as keys to an exclusive club with a growing list of benefits.

Bored Ape NFTs depict cartoon apes. Each ape in the collection has a unique mix of traits, including facial features, background colors, headgear and more.

11. Invisible Friends

Markus Magnusson developed Invisible Friends, which features 5,000 invisible animated characters. The characters appear to be walking, and each has a unique combination of traits like clothing and background color.

The project has a road map that’s expected to lead to new characters and new abilities, such as being able to wrap NFTs into 3D versions.

12. Moon Boyz

The Moon Boyz collection is another undoxxed collection developed by four partners: Swan Kenzo, Maitre Fritz, Tesserakt and Komet. The collection features 11,111 unique, randomly generated, 3D NFTs depicting space characters.

Those who own Moon Boyz NFTs have access to a growing community and events, both online and in real life.

The developers intend for the project to take a leadership position in different areas of the metaverse.

13. Autograph.io

Autograph.io is best known as Tom Brady’s NFT platform, but other partners include Simone Biles, Tiger Woods, Derek Jeter, Wayne Gretzky, Tony Hawk and Naomi Osaka. Centered around sports, the project sells NFTs of mainstream athletes, giving fans a new way to show their support.

Members of the community build their collector scores by owning digital playing cards.

14. Decentraland

Ari Meilich and Esteban Ordano worked together to develop Decentraland. The project is a metaverse that allows users to purchase parcels of digital land. Users can develop and monetize their land, with the only limit being their imagination.

Decentraland users can also explore land developed by other users and communicate with others in the NFT community.

15. Cryptoon Goonz

An undoxxed developer by the name of “@SeanTat2s” developed Cryptoon Goonz. The collection features 6,969 NFTs depicting cartoon goon characters, almost like evil versions of the cartoon characters many people already know and love.

The intent of the project is to bring the NFT community together and give back to the community that supports the project.

NFT Projects FAQ

It's normal to have questions, especially about new concepts like NFTs. Here are answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about them.

• How do I choose an NFT project?

  • Several factors play a role in the success -- or lack thereof -- of NFT projects. The best projects have high trading volumes and large communities behind them. It's also a good idea to look into the team behind the project to determine whether it has enough experience in the budding crypto industry.

• What NFTs should I invest in?

  • Each NFT project is unique and will see its value grow or drop at a different rate. Above, we've listed some of the best NFT projects to back in 2022. However, investors should do their due diligence when making any investment, including investments in crypto assets.

• Why are NFTs so expensive?

  • NFTs will range in value based on several factors that relate to supply and demand. Whereas some NFTs cost millions of dollars, others are much less expensive. If an NFT seems exorbitantly expensive, it's likely because that NFT is a unique piece of art that's being met with a high level of demand.

Daria Uhlig contributed to the reporting for this article.

Information is accurate as of Jan. 10, 2023. 

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 15 Best NFT Projects for 2023