Why the Powerful Forces That Run Faltering NFT Markets Won’t Let Prices Crash Just Yet
The market for these digital assets, which went gangbusters throughout 2021, is now showing signs of a cool-down. But it may not be crashing as dramatically as some reports claim .
Buying and selling of NFTs began to slip in the first quarter of this year, dropping from $3.9 billion in transactions the week of February 13 to $964 million the week of March 13—the lowest weekly level since last summer, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
Other clues: Since Coinbase launched its much-hyped NFT marketplace on May 4, NFT trading on the site has been sluggish . The platform, which is still in beta, has only recorded 1,013 sales worth a total of 148 ETH ($340,000) over the past week across a tiny pool of 1,200 users, Dune Analytics reports. This is after millions of people signed up for the project’s waiting list when it was announced in the fall.
Trading on OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, also appears to be slowing down. According to Dune , the volume of active monthly traders on the platform in March was the lowest it has been since June 2021, with less than 245,000 users. Compare that to January, when the platform saw 546,000 users.
