23 NFT Ideas To Make Money [2024]

Updated: July 24th, 2023

One of the hottest buzzwords around lately has been NFTs. You've probably heard it hundreds of times and almost always together with examples of people who are making lots of money thanks to it. Well, here is some good news: you can make money with NFTs too.

But let's back up a little and start from the beginning.

What are NFTs?

NFT stands for non-fungible tokens. And what does that mean? It means that these assets are one of a kind. One dollar bill is exactly the same as the next one. And one Bitcoin is exactly the same as another one and has it same value.

NFTs are different though. They are codified on a blockchain which means that they cannot be modified or duplicated. Creators mint NFTs, that's when they begin to exist. Afterward, these can be exchanged, sold, and bought. All of which is traceable thanks to the blockchain, where these movements are registered (with dates, price, and many other data).

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Some of the Bored Ape Yacht Club creations, one of the most notorious NFT collections

But why is everyone talking about this?

To present a clear picture of how huge this opportunity is, according to CryptoSlam! -a website that tracks all NFT sales- just in the last 30 days the NFTs sales volume has been $2,8 billion dollars. Pretty crazy, huh?

There have been some wildly successful NFT projects that have raised interest from general media and generated huge amounts of money in sales. Cryptopunks is probably the most notorious project out there, launched in 2017. To give you an idea of its relevance, in just 7 days generates 15.228,77 ETH in transactions (47.716.761,90 USD). With a total of 500.000 ETH (1.5B+ USD) since its inception.

Bored Ape Yacht Club is a collection that has been a lot in the news. Besides the art, each of these 10.000 apes gives the owner access to a private Yacht Club. This project is a great example of how NFTs are growing into more than digital art and have expanded to include memberships, videogames and access to a metaverse.

Additionally, many celebrities and public figures have also embraced this trend and its possibilities. Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Tony Hawk, Lindsay Lohan, and many more have released their own NFT collections or supported others.

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Jay-Z uses an NFT from the Cryptopunks collection as his Twitter avatar

Want to find the best NFT business ideas to start in 2024?

We've put together 23 of the best NFT ideas to help you start an NFT business today. The main takeaway here is that around this huge trend many opportunities have risen, so you don't actually need to create your own NFT collection to start a business. If you're an artist, you should definitely keep reading because the opportunities for you in this space are endless. But when there's a gold rush, people who sell shovels tend to make lots of money. And this definitely looks a lot like a gold rush.

For each business idea below, we’ll show you real-world examples of other NFT businesses to help you see what it really takes.

Here's the full list:

1. Start an NFT community

How much you can make: $40,000 — $1,000,000/month

How long does it take to build: 5 days (?)

This is an awesome business opportunity that has blossomed within the NFT world. For those who don't know, practically every major (or aspiring) NFT collection has a huge online community. So the NFT enthusiasts are very familiar with participating in online communities. Not only that, they expect it to exist. And there's the business opportunity.

You could start an NFT business managing online communities for creators (it's easy to assume they won't have the time or the knowledge) or creating one and monetizing it.

Great news: To start, you only need a laptop and be familiar with Discord.

If you want to learn how others have built successful businesses around online communities, check out these case studies to learn all their secrets:

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The Discord channel of the r/NFT subreddit community

Wanna build an NFT community? Learn how:

2. Start a NFT marketplace ($360K/year)

How much you can make: $30,000/month

How long does it take to build: 60 days (?)

A marketplace is a platform that enables trade in NFTs. Think Etsy for NFTs. Artists create their collections but they need a place to sell them and since most people aren't familiar with the technology behind (blockchain, smart contracts), these marketplaces are a very popular choice to sell artwork because they're secure and very easy to use.

The online marketplace OpenSea it's now worth $13.3B following a recent investment of $300M. Other successful examples are Rarible or the NBA Top Shot Marketplace.

Enabling these trades is key to this industry, try thinking about how you can improve current solutions and you could win big.

This video (2+ hours long) is a great place to start to get familiar with the technology and its possibilities.

Learn how to build a NFT marketplace with this workshop:

3. Create an online course ($1.42M/year)

How much you can make: $350 — $3,735,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $1,700 (?)

How long does it take to build: 90 days (?)

This is an NFT business idea that is perfect if you're not an artist or a developer. What do you need to create a successful online course? To have more knowledge of a specific field than other people. As the world of NFTs is something relatively new, it is still very easy to learn about it and share it with those who know very little about it (most people).

Once you have the knowledge, creating an NFT online course and distributing it is tremendously simple. There are numerous platforms that will help you create the course, distribute it and collect the money from sales.

Learn more about starting an online course ➜

Look how such NFT course can look like:

4. Start an influencer marketing business ($48K/year)

How much you can make: $2,000 — $4,000/month

How long does it take to build: 90 days (?)

One of the main ways that NFT collections get the word out and get sold is through influencers. Lots of celebrities like Snoop Dogg, Neymar Jr or Gary Vaynerchuk have come forward and promoted or bought NFTs already.

But you don't need to have those super high-level connections to start an NFT influencer marketing business. Instead of trying to hire someone with 3M followers, you could contact several people with 50K followers. That's doable and will also spread the word, sometimes even better because these influencers with smaller audiences appeal to more specific user segments vs. those huge celebrities with very broad audiences.

So, if you're looking for an NFT-related idea to make money this is one that needs zero investment and can show results quickly.

Learn more about starting an influencer marketing business ➜

Learn more about NFT influencer marketing:

5. Become an NFT artist

How much you can make: $12,500 — $1,000,000/month

How long does it take to build: 19 days (?)

The raise of NFTs has opened many possibilities for artists of almost all disciplines. And that's why creators from widely different fields have embraced them.

1. New audience. People that were completely outside the world of art dealing have now bought and/or sold pieces of art thanks to NFTs.

2. Transparency. Thanks to smart contracts' technology, all the bidding history is recorded and public.

3. Future profits. Creators now will receive a percentage of future resales of their work (each previous owner does).

From unknown artists that were borrowing money and now have made $4M in one day, to the Japanese pop artist superstar Takashi Murakami or the comic artist Guillem March; many artists have spotted its benefits.

The world is hungry for exciting NFT art right now, if you're a creator this is probably one of the most favorable scenarios you will ever experience.

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Summer Muses, an NFT collection by comic artist Guillem March

How to become successful NFT artist?

6. Start a charity that accepts cryptocurrencies

NFT artists have developed strong ties with charitable causes. An increasing number of NFT projects have taken the initiative to donate a portion of their profits from sales to charities.

With NFTs selling prices reaching millions of dollars, their donations can be huge sometimes. NFTs are becoming a major force in charitable fundraising. By both pledging these generous donations and being vocals about the issues that they care, these creators are having a huge impact on the fundraising space.

As of November 2021, the 10 most charitable NFT projects have donated over $7.8M to support causes such as mental health, wildlife preservation, or education.

While traditional raising strategies can be challenging, developing ties with the NFT community can be extremely beneficial for nonprofit organizations.

If you're a nonprofit organization that wants to accept donations in the form of cryptocurrencies, this recorded webinar is a great resource to start from.

Learn more about crypto charity:

7. Start a blockchain services business

How much you can make: $1,000 — $30,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $4,100 (?)

How long does it take to build: 330 days (?)

A blockchain is a list of records -blocks- linked using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data.

Blockchain services are perfect for companies who want a better and more transparent way to organize their information. The blockchain can be used for practically every type of business transaction, not just NFTs and cryptocurrencies.

You can probably think of industries and applications that would benefit from this technology.

Examples of a successful blockchain services business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a blockchain services business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a blockchain services business ➜

How to start such business yourself?

8. Start a blog about NFTs ($200K/year)

How much you can make: $200 — $160,000/month

How much does it cost to start: $500 (?)

How long does it take to build: 37 days (?)

Time commitment per week: Min. 5 hours/week

Blogging is one of those activities that can be applied to almost every industry that you can imagine. Even though a new social network comes in our way with newer and quicker ways to create content, the truth is that blogs have been around for ages and they're going nowhere.

When a topic is so new and mostly unknown to the greater part of the population, Google is where they go to ask their questions about it. When a middle-aged dad wants to know "what the heck are NFTs" he googles it; but when an expert marketer that runs a Discord community has a specific issue she also goes to Google looking for answers.

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NFT interest over time, according to Google

As you can see, the interest in NFTs is growing non-stop, and considering that they're far from being mainstream, content consumption can only increase. Believe it or not, it's still early to start a blog about NFTs and make money with it. Comment on current news, share thoughts about upcoming collections, create guides,... the possibilities for releasing eye-grabbing content are endless.

The good news is that to start this type of business all you need is a computer.

And if you're still hesitant whether or not you can make money blogging about NFTs, read these case studies below of people who have done it before and learn from their experiences as a cheat code to start your blogging business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a blog:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a blog ➜

Learn how to start a blog:

9. Start a cryptocurrency business ($420K/year)

How much you can make: $3,699 — $900,000/month

How long does it take to build: 180 days (?)

Examples of a successful cryptocurrency business:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a cryptocurrency business:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a cryptocurrency business ➜

Here are some ideas for such cryptocurreny business:

10. Start a crypto cybersecurity system ($2.76M/year)

How much you can make: $91,000 — $2,000,000/month

How long does it take to build: 300 days (?)

Examples of a successful crypto cybersecurity system:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a crypto cybersecurity system:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a crypto cybersecurity system ➜

Learn how to start in this field:

11. Start a cryptocurrency exchange service ($5.7M/year)

How much you can make: $25,000 — $900,000/month

How long does it take to build: 150 days (?)

Examples of a successful cryptocurrency exchange service:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a cryptocurrency exchange service:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a cryptocurrency exchange service ➜

Learn how to start your own crypto exchange:

12. NFTs for music

Even though the music streaming platforms are fairly new, these haven't improved the situation on how poorly designed is the royalties distribution system and how little are artists compensated for their work. Including some fairly popular ones. Fact: Most of Spotify's top 0.8% of artists earn less than $50,000 in streaming revenue.

Musicians and bands using NFTs could easily track sales (remember that the creator takes a % of every sale made in the future), compared to the difficulty of following up the number of plays on each streaming platform and remembering to request their payment. It's known that tens of thousands of dollars in royalties concept are never claimed to record labels each year.

But NFTs for music could also mean creating new kinds of products, not just songs. Remember when concert tickets should be beautiful and had awesome designs? Bands can now design cool tickets for each tour and give them away for free as NFTs to concert attendees. Collectibles, accessories for online avatars,.. the opportunities are endless.

If you're interested in selling music NFTs, this video is a good place to start.

And if you want to learn more about music NFTs, here is all you need to know:

13. Sell fashion accessories to metaverse users

How much you can make: $1,500 — $40,480,000/month

How long does it take to build: 365 days (?)

Although this is a fairly new concept, there is future potential for the fashion industry to be an important part of the metaverse.

The opportunity for the fashion industry: Users can spend money on NFT clothes and accessories for their avatars.

Selling 'virtual outfits' through the metaverse could very well generate an entirely new revenue stream for fashion entrepreneurs, designers, and brands.

Learn more:

14. Start a bitcoin crowdfunding website ($12K/year)

How much you can make: $1,000/month

How long does it take to build: 365 days (?)

Examples of a successful bitcoin crowdfunding website:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a bitcoin crowdfunding website:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a bitcoin crowdfunding website ➜

Check how such website can look like:

15. Start a bitcoin vending machine

Examples of a successful bitcoin vending machine:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a bitcoin vending machine:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a bitcoin vending machine ➜

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Learn how to start such a business:

16. Start a decentralized app

How long does it take to build: 350 days (?)

Examples of a successful decentralized app:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a decentralized app:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a decentralized app ➜

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Learn how to build such app:

17. Start a NFT cryptocurrency

Examples of a successful NFT cryptocurrency:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a NFT cryptocurrency:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a NFT cryptocurrency ➜

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Learn how to start your own NFT cryptocurrency:

18. Become a bitcoin broker

Examples of a successful bitcoin broker:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a bitcoin broker:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a bitcoin broker ➜

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Learn how to become such broker:

19. Start a DeFi company

How long does it take to build: 12 days (?)

Examples of a successful DeFi company:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a DeFi company:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a DeFi company ➜

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Learn how to do this yourself:

20. Start a NFT loan platform

Examples of a successful NFT loan platform:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a NFT loan platform:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a NFT loan platform ➜

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Here is a great example of such platform:

21. Start a NFT news site

Examples of a successful NFT news site:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a NFT news site:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a NFT news site ➜

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If you want to start a NFT news site, check this awesome guide:

22. Become a NFT broker

Examples of a successful NFT broker:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a NFT broker:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a NFT broker ➜

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Learn more:

23. Write a NFT book

Examples of a successful NFT book:

Here are some great videos on how to get started with a NFT book:

For further info, check out these books and products:

Learn more about starting a NFT book ➜

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Learn how to write a book:

meet the author
Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.