NFT Market Soars Again As Ethereum Is On The Rise

• Avinandan Banerjee
• September 27, 2022

After a couple of months of being under the weather, the Non Fungible Tokens or NFT market has made a fiery comeback with soaring price floors and trade volumes that are skyrocketing through the roof!

The extremely popular global market for crypto collectibles or digital assets which are sold as Non Fungible Tokens or NFTs had seen an intense surge during the spring season when the market was booming with the number of sales that were taking place at that time. However, following that surge the market had cooled down for a few months. Even though a lot of unique and innovative things were constantly happening in the market, for instance, Coca-Cola releasing their digital collectibles on auction and similar events, there was not much going on in terms of market boom or high trade volume etc.

But quite recently, some events led to a sharp rise in top dollar sales and also resulting in staggering volumes of trading indicating that the NFT Market is on the rise, once again as it gathers a steady momentum upwards.

In early 2021, the NFT marketplace had seen mammoth surges, with mind boggling trading values estimated at around $1.5 billion and all this happened within the first quarter of the year. This information is confirmed by DappRadar as well. The rate of increase of the global market for digital collectibles and artwork was growing at an estimated 2,627% increase year over year. 

We witnessed a series of events that led to such a massive growth of the NFT market, for instance the first of the NFTs were introduced to the mainstream audience by NBA Top Shot which was developed by the famous Dapper Labs. On the other hand, CryptoPunks were seen cracking seven figures per piece, brands like Charmin and Taco Bell getting acquainted with the digital assets marketplace and willing to explore the possibilities. There are celebrities who made staggering amounts of money just by dropping NFTs on marketplaces, which were selling like hotcakes, no matter if they were simply a still image, a tweet, a video clip or any digital asset rendered in the form of a token on blockchain. 

But it is at this point that this ultra popular marketplace was gradually heading for a slump as there was a dip in the trade volume and sales value. Moreover the critics started calling out NFTs as being just another fad and then there were complaints regarding the Ethereum mining and its effects on the environment as a whole. The once famous Top Shot NFTs by Dapper Lab started losing value almost dramatically. Even getting celebrities or using them to promote or support an NFt was not considered a smart thing to do. The market started dipping that fast. 

Even though the market was dipping, there was still a lot of activity going on in the marketplace. This is because, irrespective of the downward trend that was ongoing, the market still managed to reach a valuation of $1.5 billion only in the first half of the year. This clearly indicated that even though there was a dip in the interest levels among fans, there were potential activities ongoing. 

However, it appears that the buzz is back once again in the market, and the statistics from the last week itself, gives a clear indication of that. Gary Veynerchuk who is a famous investor and also an influencer paid around $3.7 million in order to buy CryptoPunk. Just a few hours after that, another CryptoPunk was sold for $5.4 million. On the other hand, Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher raised a whopping $8.3 million for their animated web series by the name of Stoner Cats. The average price of a CryptoPunk spiked up to $135,000 which denotes a 53% rise in price just within a span of one week. A wallet holder on the marketplace was seen spending an estimated $6 million to purchase a brunch of them.

David Finzer, who is the CEO of OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace in the world, exclaimed today with a sense of bewilderment, stating that the company has processed an estimated $95 million worth of transaction volume in just a span of two days. If one can put this to a comparative test, OpenSea had clocked a trade value of around $21 million for the whole part of the previous year, 2020. In contrast, their staggering growth is difficult to even fathom. The NFT collection from the famous Board Ape Yacht Club had witnessed a rise in their peak average price point, which now sits at an average of $29,000 or 11 ETH.

Axie Infinity, which is a simple play-to-earn game on Ethereum, had put up some unbelievable numbers in the past week. In the last 30 days only, Axie has been proven to move around $875 million worth of non-fungible tokens, out of which only in the last 7 days, they moved around $197 million.

Observing these events and many similar other events, it is pretty evident that NFTs are making a fierce resurgence once again, probably owing to the price shifts in the world of crypto. However, it remains to be seen whether this bullish term continues for a long time or whether it will again face a period of downward trend after developing a massive surge. But experts suggest that NFTs do have a bright future and it is only getting better.