NFT bubble burst: Monthly sales, transactions crash

The non-fungible token industry remained under pressure in August as sales continued falling. 

Total NFT sales dropped by 41% in August to $376 million as the number of buyers and sellers fell by double digits.

Data by CryptoSlam shows that the number of buyers dropped by 29% to 127,913 while the number of sellers fell by 17% to 93,600. 

Additionally, total NFT transactions declined by 50% to 7.4 million, signaling that demand for these assets has waned. 

At the peak in January 2022, total monthly sales were over $6.5 billion while the number of unique buyers and sellers stood at over 1.5 million and over 1 million.

Ethereum (ETH) maintained its lead as the most popular chain for NFT traders, handling over $129 million in August, down by 38% from the previous month.

It was followed by Solana (SOL), which handled $78.9 million. Bitcoin’s NFT sales dropped by 50% to $57 million while Polygon (MATIC) fell by 52% to $36 million. 

Mythos Chain saw an improvement in August. It handled $20 million in sales. That’s up by 14% from the previous month. Mythos was led by DMarket, whose sales rose by 17% during the month. 

Some of the most popular NFTs have seen their valuation and sales drop in the past few years. For example, Bored Ape Yacht Club has moved from having monthly sales worth over $50 million in 2022 to just $11 million in August. 

This sharp decline in NFT monthly volume has hurt both investors and marketplaces like OpenSea and Rarible. Data by Dune Analytics shows that OpenSea’s monthly volume in July was just $32 million, down from $641 million in January last year. 

Other NFT marketplaces like Blur, Magic Eden, and SuperRare have also had weak volume and users in the past few months.

NFT sales have dropped because of the falling prices. CryptoPunks, the biggest NFT collection, has a floor price of $88,839, a 52% drop from the same period in 2023. Bored Ape Yacht Club’s floor price has dropped by 70% in the past 12 months to $29,593 while Azuki has fallen by 20%.

The top gainers in the same period were Pudgy Penguins and Milady whose floor prices jumped by 166% and 121%, respectively.