the She denied The market has had a poor performance in 2024, with trading volumes and sales numbers falling to their weakest levels since 2020.
Annual trading volumes fell by 19%, while sales numbers fell by 18% compared to 2023, according to a new report. a report Through a blockchain analytics platform.
Despite a surge in cryptocurrency market activity, driven by Bitcoin's all-time highs and booming DeFi growth, NFTs appear to be struggling under the weight of their inflated valuations.
Early in the year, NFT trading volumes reached $5.3 billion in the first quarter, a modest 4% increase compared to the same period in 2023.
However, this momentum proved fleeting, as volumes fell to $1.5 billion in the third quarter before rebounding slightly to $2.6 billion in the fourth quarter.
Even with these fluctuations, annual sales numbers have fallen sharply, indicating a broader trend: While individual NFTs have become more expensive in line with rising cryptocurrency prices, overall market participation has diminished.
Yuga Labs Home Collections Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) hit historic lows, with prices flooring dropping to 15 ETH and 2.4 ETH respectively.
Even other works from the other side of Yuga Labs metaverse Its price fell to 0.23 ETH, a far cry from the initial mint price, exposing cracks in Yuga's expensive, membership-based model.
This coincided with DappRadar's observation that "maybe 2024 will help us realize that NFTs don't need to be expensive to prove relevant in the broader Web3 ecosystem," a criticism of the market's reliance on exclusivity and inflated pricing.
Amid this downturn, the NFT market witnessed a paradox in November when CryptoPunk #8348, a rare seven-themed collectible of... NFT collectionwas guaranteed to Loan amounting to $2.75 million Via the NFT lending platform GONDI.
The event was described as a milestone for NFTs as financial assets, and demonstrated an excess of speculation when compared to DappRadar's insights into affordability and utility.
While high-profile transactions like these aim to confirm the value of NFTs, they also highlight a market still driven by exclusivity and inflated pricing, even as broader sharing has waned.
Even within the struggling sector, there are excellent groups like CryptoPunks challenge Trends, the value of the US dollar will almost double in 2024 with notable sales leading to short periods of recovery.
NFT platforms like Blur have dominated market activity, leveraging no-fee trading and aggressive Airdrop campaigns to capture the largest share of trading volumes.
In contrast, market rival OpenSea has suffered Regulatory headwinds Market sentiment declined, leading to a large number of layoffs by the end of the year.
By the fourth quarter, Blur and OpenSea were neck and neck in market share, but Blur's ability to generate high activity from a smaller, more active user base gave it the advantage, according to the report.
While late 2024 volumes pointed to a potential rebound – November sales reached $562 million, the highest level since May – the overall trajectory suggests affordability, accessibility and amenities will be crucial to sustainable growth in 2025.
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