We're watching a new trend.

Open edition NFTs are gaining value.

But how? An open edition NFT is a digital artwork with no cap (kind of like getting a print of the Mona Lisa rather than the original painting).

The very laws of economics would suggest: uncapped supply → lower prices.

While that's true, the creator of the 'Checks' NFT collection, Jack Butcher, is doing something pretty damn smart.

The project, which is a play on Twitter’s verified user checkmark, held an open edition mint in early January, and sold just over 16,000 of the identical editions for about $8 each.

(Netting Butcher something in the range of $128k).

Since then, the artist announced that holders of the original NFTs can burn (i.e. permanently destroy) multiple of the open NFTs in order to receive a single, less-common NFT.

Smart!

And collectors are loving it. Those same NFTs that originally sold for $8, now start at ~2.3 ETH (about $3,800 USD).

The Checks project has now generated over $29 million worth of secondary trading to date.

And, since a small percentage is programmed into each sale to go back to the original creator through a smart contract, what was once a cheap, open edition NFT, has now become a highly profitable series!

While the bubble around this NFT collection might burst at some point, this collection shows that with a bit of innovation and creativity, there is still plenty of success to be had with NFTs.