NFT sales and pricing are driven by luck, scarcity, and optimism, according to multiple studies

cointelegraph.com:

A trio of studies published in November may shine some light on the social and psychological factors that motivate movement in the non-fungible token (NFT) market.

Researchers from Western University in Canada, Tilburg University in the Netherlands, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the U.S., and Rennes School of Business in France, across three independent studies, found that personal experiences and luck, along with asset scarcity and consumer optimism, were catalysts for the majority of market movement in the NFT space.

In a study conducted by Guneet Kaur Nagpal of Western University and Luc Renneboog of Tilburg University, entitled “On Non-fungible Tokens, Blockchain Hypes, and the Creation of Scarcity,” the researchers analyzed the market dynamics of “Crypto Punks,” a popular series of NFT assets.

“CryptoPunks,” write the researchers, “are among the most valued Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), with remarkable sales such as CP #5822 fetching USD 23.7 million in February 2022, and CP #7523 obtaining USD 11.8 million in December 2021.”

The primary findings, according to the paper, include the assessment that buyers who were already invested in Ethereum (the blockchain on which CryptoPunks assets reside) were more likely to engage in the market at higher costs and also saw higher gains. The researchers also noted that Ethereum gains and losses didn’t necessarily affect the price of NFTs, but did influence the decision to sell or resell assets.

Furthermore, the study states:

In a separate study entitled “Personal Experience Effects across Markets: Evidence from NFT and Cryptocurrency Investing,” researcher Chuyi Sun of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill examined transaction-level data from “about