Ethereum NFT markets continue to surf the FOMO wave

Key Takeaways

• Ethereum NFT marketplace has seen over $40 billion traded in 2021
• In the first few days of the new year, traders have already transacted over $2 billion on OpenSea
• Meanwhile Ethereum continues to dominate the NFT marketplace despite losing around 30% share to competition

YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com)- The year 2021 ended on a high note for the nonfungible tokens (NFT) industry. The surge in the popularity of the fast-booming industry resulted in Collin’s Dictionary declaring NFT as the word of the year. However, the lion’s share of the NFT market space continues with Ethereum, as celebrity endorsement and FOMO factor fuel the crypto-mania.

Bloomberg quoted a new data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis to claim traders sent nearly US$41 billion worth of cryptos to Ethereum smart contracts linked to NFT marketplaces last year.

In November, Chainalysis had published another report on Ethereum NFT markets that analyzed 2021 data till October. According to the said report, users had sent at least $26.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency to ERC-721 and ERC-1155 contracts, the two types of Ethereum smart contracts associated with NFT marketplaces and collections. 

The latest report of $40 billion is a massive jump from the $27 billion reported in November. 

The report pertains to only Ethereum marketplaces. The amount will be much higher if we include NFT marketplaces from other blockchains. 

Recommended: NFT Marketplace LooksRare; OpenSea “killer” on its way?

What caused the Ethereum NFT marketplace to explode? 

As the year came to a close, the NFT industry witnessed a sudden boom. Celebrities, politicians, and venture capitalists jumped on the nonfungible token bandwagon.

One project alone, the CryptoPunks by Larva Labs, saw over $3 billion traded in the past year. The project was one of the early entrants into the space, with the fundamental trade-offs happening in the secondary market. Larva Labs distributed the 10,000 punks for free.

They have since become one of the most sought-after and valuable collections in the space. 

Barely days into 2022, OpenSea, the largest NFT platform globally, received over $2 billion worth of Ethereum (ETH), according to the analytical website Arcane Research.

On January 9 alone, OpenSea recorded over $260 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) traded in a single day. Incidentally, the platform last recorded such high amounts of ETH trading on 29th and 30th August 2021. OpenSea saw $323 million and $267 million traded per day, respectively, making this the third highest transaction in a single day.

Other popular Ethereum NFT projects come from Yuga Labs. For example, the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and the Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) have already traded $55 million and $50 million each in just seven days. 

Although the Ethereum NFT marketplace continues to dominate the space, it has already lost 30% market share by the end of 2021. 

2022 has already brought a big challenger, the LooksRare marketplace. According to dappradar, the new entrant to the space has already flipped Opensea in terms of daily volume on Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, LooksRare has seen $493.41 million traded in the past 24 hours, compared to Opensea’s $134.63 million. So what does the future hold? Time will tell.