The buying and selling volumes of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) final month have been down by greater than 60% from December regardless of constructing momentum within the ultimate months of 2024, with the autumn coinciding with a crypto market downturn.
In December, the full buying and selling volumes for NFTs hit $1.36 billion however fell 26% in month-on-month January, then one other 50% in February, DappRadar analyst Sara Gherghelas said in a March 6 trade report.
“Whereas NFTs had been exhibiting indicators of a comeback in current months, their momentum has slowed for the reason that begin of the yr,” she mentioned.
Gherghelas attributed the downturn in NFT valuations to its correlation with crypto prices.
NFT buying and selling quantity noticed constant positive factors within the latter half of 2024 earlier than dropping off at the beginning of the brand new yr. Supply: DappRadar
The general crypto market capitalization hit a brand new all-time excessive of $3.71 trillion on Dec. 9 final yr, with many cryptocurrencies additionally registering massive value positive factors, according to CoinMarketCap.
Bitcoin (BTC) briefly surged above $109,000 on Jan. 20, breaking its earlier all-time excessive above $108,000 recorded on Dec. 17, forward of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Nevertheless, a lot of the crypto market gains were lost in February amid mounting macroeconomic uncertainty relating to Trump’s tariffs on US buying and selling companions.
Decentralized app exercise additionally cooled in February, with the full variety of daily unique active wallets estimated to have declined by 8%, right down to 24 million.
Nevertheless, DappRadar famous a break within the pattern when it got here to NFT exercise, which climbed by 6% in February or 3.5 million customers interacting with NFT platforms and a rising curiosity in AI-powered belongings.
“The rising integration of synthetic intelligence into NFT tasks alerts a shift towards extra dynamic, interactive digital belongings with enhanced utility,” Gherghelas mentioned.
“The evolving panorama means that whereas speculative buying and selling might fluctuate, NFTs with robust utility, engagement, and real-world functions will drive long-term adoption in Web3,” she added.
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Profile image NFTs proved the most well-liked, producing $243 million in buying and selling quantity throughout 76,385 gross sales.
Gaming NFTs scored the second-highest buying and selling quantity, recording $41 million and 421,853 belongings traded. Sports activities NFTs dominated gross sales, accounting for 659,097 transactions and $7.7 million in quantity.
Profile image and gaming NFTs recorded the biggest buying and selling volumes for particular person NFT classes in February. Supply: DappRadar
A January report from DappRadar discovered that in 2024, NFTs had their worst year since 2020, thanks partly to volatility and rising token costs, recording $13.7 billion in buying and selling quantity and below 50 million in gross sales.
NFTs had their best-ever yr in 2022, once they first burst into the mainstream, with buying and selling volumes reaching $57.2 billion and the market’s gross sales rely hitting 121.7 million, in response to DappRadar.
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