Key Takeaways:
- Global NFT sales volumes are falling, indicating a decreased interest in the industry
- OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, saw its sales volumes drop by 75%
- Floor prices of blue-chip NFT collections have also fallen in recent months
YEREVAN (CoinChapter.com) — Nonfungible token (NFT) sales volumes on OpenSea, the world’s largest marketplace, are tanking.
According to data by Dune Analytics, the sales volumes of the platform have dropped by 75% since May 2022. The market dump has decreased monthly sales volumes from nearly $2.6 billion to under $700 million in 30 days.
The daily sales volume in Ethereum (ETH) has also fallen significantly. May opened with a massive $476 million daily transaction. After that, however, it began tanking, falling under $27 million on May 30.
June has not been kind to the marketplace either. At the time of writing, daily Ethereum transactions on OpenSea are just over $15 million, echoing the bearish sentiments in the market.
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Blue-chip projects impacted by the falling sales volumes
The overall digital collectibles industry, which rallied to cross the $40 billion mark in 2021, has been hit by the ongoing crypto market crash.
June marks the first month in a year since NFT sales have plummeted to under $1 billion.
The market crash has also impacted major blue-chip collections. Floor prices of Yuga Labs projects are among the hardest hit.
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has seen its floor prices fall from 153 ETH on May 1 to 86 ETH at the time of writing, according to NFTPriceFloor. Within the same period, the floor price of Mutant Ape Yacht Club dropped from 39.4 ETH to 17.4 ETH on June 30.
Otherdeed NFTs, designed for the BAYC Metaverse Otherside, helped Yuga Labs raise $310 million upon launch in May. Unfortunately, the popularity was so high that it took gas fees over the roof and created congestion on the Ethereum network.
However, amid falling NFT sales volumes, the project saw its floor prices slide down from 7.4 ETH to 2.7 ETH, as per NFT Price Floor data. In addition, collectors of art from Doodles, another successful NFT project from WestCostNFT, have seen prices sink from 24.5 ETH in early May to 13 ETH.
According to NFTstatistics.eth, OpenSea transactions in wrapped Ethereum (WETH) have increased. This indicates many collectors are selling their tokens cheaper than their asking price.
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Christie’s sells NFT sets worth $1.6 million
As the nonfungible token market goes through turbulence, all hope is not lost for artists and collectors. Despite the ongoing crypto winter, some NFT projects continue to fetch big bucks.
According to reports, auction house Christie’s recently sold a set of NFTs by Beeple, Mad Dog Jones, and other artists for $1.6 million.
However, while this comes as refreshing news, public interest in NFTs remains low. In addition, popular engines like Google have seen a drop in searches for NFTs, indicating that the industry has temporarily lost its shine.
With fears of a possible recession in the months to come, it is understandable why people are reluctant to part away with their money. However, NFT sales volumes will pick upstream once the bear market ends. The bigger question is, when will the crypto winter end? Experts believe not soon.
