- The popularity of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) soared in 2021 after the infamous $69 million Beeple sale
- As the year wore on, the interest in NFTs declined massively, begging the question Is The NFT Craze Over?
- Trading in NFTs has surged by more than 8 times, reaching 60,000 sales per day. Apes and penguins are behind the new mania
- The trade volume of OpenSea has already exceeded $1.2 billion for August with new buyers also reaching a new all-time high
While NFTs are currently taking over the gaming, collectibles, digital art, and real estate markets, their current 8x surge has come from a different segment: Penguins and apes are now the most sought after NFTs.
Penguins and Apes Are Driving NFTs Crazy
Cats have been the predominant animals in the NFT space since its launch with the now famous CryptoKitties. However, we’re beginning to see new entrants. NFT penguins and apes are currently driving major trading volumes.
NFT apes first entered the scene with the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), featured in a Christie’s auction. Sales quickly followed in millions … but that was just the start of. After a Twitter war with the BAYC, Pudgy Penguins’ trading volume shot up, topping $13.5M on August 13th. The sales have since continued to grow.
The emergence of ape and penguin NFTs helped the trade volume of OpenSea top $1.2 billion in August. According to a report, the number of daily unique buyers has also hit a new all-time high; more people are beginning to embrace NFTs.
NFTs Are Far From Over: Growing in Leaps and Bounds
The first wave of the NFT craze came in early 2021 after Beeple’s $69 million sale of his work, “Everydays: the First 5000 Days.” The sale at Christie introduced the world to a glimpse of the industry’s potential.
Soon after, we saw Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO, sell his first tweet as an NFT for $2.9 million, the CryptoPunks #7804 and #3100 auctioned at Larva Labs, both selling for $7.6 million, and a long list of others.
Approaching the second quarter of the year, the weekly volume, user volume, and transactions on all NFT marketplaces experienced a very sharp decline. This decline led to two questions: Has the NFT bubble burst? and is The NFT Craze Over?
The resurgence of NFTs shows that the bubble is far from bursting. Crypto Intelligence Firm Coin Metrics stated that:
“Over the last two weeks, NFT sales have exploded to levels well beyond the NFT boom seen in March. The number of sales on OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, reached a peak of over 60K per day over the last week which is close to 8X the peak reached in March.”
On The Flipside
- While apes and penguins are driving the activity across NFT marketplaces to new highs, not all animals have found such favor
- Popular NFT market, OpenSea has dumped a Pepe the Frog NFT series, known as Sad Frogs District
- The project has been dropped after being verified and investors already spending about $4 million on the project
Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Joins the NFT World
Chinese multinational e-commerce firm, Alibaba Group Holding, is the latest in a long list of companies to join the NFT craze.
The e-commerce firm has announced the launch of an NFT marketplace where trademark holders can sell tokenized licenses to their intellectual property.
Earlier in August, we saw football club, Paris Saint Germain announce that part of Leo Messi’s transfer fee will be paid in crypto. This was followed quickly with the announcement of Lionel Messi NFTs.
Why You Should Care?
The popularity and use of NFTs are increasing by the day. As NFTs gain more outside attention, as they did earlier this year, we could expect an even bigger boom yet to come.
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