NFT Market’s New Twist: Unsellable’s Penny Deals

The NFT landscape, battered by a prolonged bear market, presents a bleak picture for the majority of collections, with DappRadar’s Head of Research, Pedro Herrera, estimating that 90-95% of them won’t regain their peak values. This downturn has left many NFT holders pondering their next steps with what are now essentially “worthless” JPEGs. Enter Unsellable, a startup that’s seizing this opportunity to aid NFT owners while curating a unique collection.

Unsellable’s Tax Write-off Solution

Founded last year, Unsellable offers a novel solution: purchasing these illiquid NFTs for a penny each, enabling the original owners to claim tax write-offs. This innovative approach has already seen the company assist customers in declaring $4.2 million in realized losses. Skyler Hallgren, co-founder of Unsellable, believes this is just a fraction of potential unrealized losses stemming from the 2021 NFT bubble. The service’s average user has reportedly written off $4,200 in losses, with one platform engineer, Thomas Mancini, claiming nearly $58,000 in NFT losses through Unsellable.

A Curated Collection of Failed NFT Projects

Unsellable avoids high-value “blue chip” collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club or CryptoPunks. Instead, it amasses a diverse array of failed projects, including rug pulls, abandoned collections, and less original copycats. To date, Unsellable has acquired around 26,000 NFTs, ranging from the bizarre to the derivative.

Legal and Profitable Scheme

Unsellable operates legally, akin to worthless stock buyback programs, since there’s no expectation from NFT holders to repurchase their assets in the future. Charging a small fee for each NFT transfer, Unsellable has even managed to flip about 300 NFTs, although selling these NFTs isn’t its primary goal.

Future of Unsellable’s Collection

Hallgren aspires to create the world’s largest NFT collection and is open to selling the platform to a crypto tax firm. Meanwhile, the collection itself has garnered interest, not only from those speculating on a potential future value surge but also from those who view it as a museum piece, a testament to the speculative heights of the NFT market.

Unsellable’s approach offers a silver lining for NFT owners facing losses. By transforming these digital assets into potential tax benefits, the startup is not only providing a financial service but also building a unique collection that encapsulates a distinct era in digital art and finance.