Fast food chain Taco Bell has just sold its first batch of Taco-themed digital collectibles on NFT marketplace Rarible—and they were snapped up in a flash.
The tacos were sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), unique digital items that can represent GIFs, artwork or even short video clips.
“Our Spicy Potato Soft Tacos can now live in your hearts, stomachs and digital wallets,” the company tweeted when the NFTs dropped.
Our Spicy Potato Soft Tacos can now live in your hearts, stomachs and digital wallets. https://t.co/IC8b45lmd9 pic.twitter.com/FJUcuwCuyy
— Taco Bell (@tacobell) March 8, 2021
Taco Bell created five distinct NFTs, selling them in batches of five. The collectibles were put on sale for 0.001 ETH ($1.79), which is quite cheap as NFT sales go. But the company will receive 0.01% of future sales, with all proceeds going to the Taco Bell Foundation, which focused on helping young people find careers.
The digital tacos are called the “Ever-Crunching Tacos,” “Gimme That,” “‘Tato Dimensions,” “Transformative Taco” and “Swivel, Taco.” Some of them are images, some GIFs and some short video clips.
If you want to buy your own digital taco, your options are limited. The only taco-llectibles that are currently available for sale are the “Swivel,Taco” NFTs, which are all owned by one person. Someone has already bid 0.15 WETH ($262) for one of them. The others are not for sale, but you can still make bids on them; if the owner likes the bid they may choose to accept it.
The highest bid is 0.4 WETH ($700) for one of the “Tato Dimensions.” But the owner may not be interested in selling it.
The official Taco Bell account on Rarible also owns two NFTs of its own. They are both themed around Chainlink, a network that helps blockchains interact with real-world data and has its own eponymous token.
The growing NFT craze
In recent months, a number of major brands have launched their own digital collectibles using NFTs. The NBA Top Shot series turns key moments from the basketball league’s matches into non-fungible tokens, with trading volume hitting $32 million in a day last month.
The likes of Bratz, Doctor Who and video game characters the Rabbids have all found their way into NFTs, while musicians and artists including Kings of Leon and Grimes have all launched NFT products. According to one recent study, the NFT market was worth around $250 million in 2020; but with February trading volumes topping all of 2020, it looks set to grow further in 2021.