NFTs’ Trading Volume Falls 97% Since Beginning of 2022

The volume of trade of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) went down around 97% since the beginning of 2022, according to figures released by Dune Analytics, a crypto analytics data company.

Dune’s figures show a decline in the trading volume from $17 billion in January this year to $466 million in September, reflecting the loss of about $2 trillion in the market capitalization of the crypto market between November 2021 and July 2022. 

The charts include data collected from well-known trading platforms such as OpenSea, LooksRare, LarvaLabs, NFTX, Foundation, and Rarible. 

According to DappRadar, the number of traders of NFT projects dropped by only 5%, however, the sales of NFT projects on OpenSea saw a decrease of 75%. 

Interestingly, the number of wallets that have at least one NFT has jumped to 6.14 million, compared to 3.36 million at the end of January. Cointelegraph referred to a big change that the NFT marketplaces witness from the beginning of the year, where OpenSea became responsible for most of the dollar trading volume after it was under the responsibility of LooksRare. 

Moreover, NFTs’ prices saw a sharp decrease along with a decline in the price of Ethereum (ETH), the most common crypto used to buy and sell digital art and collectibles. An NFT could be sold worth $285, compared to $2,000 in January. 

In July, Block Research, a platform for providing detailed insights into the digital asset ecosystem, pointed out that the volume of NFTs trading hit $12.22 billion in the second quarter of 2022, compared to $33.88 million in the first quarter of 2022, with a decline of 63.93%. 

However, this downturn does not stop companies like Starbucks, Tiffany’s, and Gucci from recently experimenting and launching NFTs in their business strategies. 

NFT is a form of digital asset that showcases real-world artifacts such as music, arts, precious gems such as diamonds, in-game stuff, and many more. They are often encrypted with similar software as any other cryptos and are purchased and sold online with cryptocurrency.

No NFT is the same, and it’s not similar to any other in respect to value or property. Every NFT is allotted a digital hash differentiating it from other NFTs. This distinct trait enables an NFT to be used as proof of provenance.