Despite fluctuating market conditions, NFT collectors are on track to spend more on NFTs in the first half of this year than they will in the entire year of 2021.
Collectors of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have already sent over $37 billion in value to non-fungible token marketplaces this year (as of May 1), nearly doubling the total amount sent in all of 2021.
Throughout 2021, investors sent $40 billion in cryptocurrency to smart contracts associated with NFT collections and marketplaces, according to a report from Chainalysis.
Since the beginning of last year, the volume of NFT transactions has increased significantly, but the industry’s overall growth has been inconsistent.
According to the report, NFT transaction volume occurs infrequently and has been declining since mid-February. As of mid-April, the NFT market had made a brief recovery, most likely as a result of the recent hype surrounding Moonbirds and the Bored Ape Yacht Club’s metaverse project, Otherside.
Despite short-term fluctuations in NFT transaction volume, the global market for NFTs remains robust, with 950,000 unique addresses purchasing or selling NFTs in Q1 2022.
As of May 1, Q2 2022, 491,000 unique addresses had transacted with NFTs, indicating that the market is on track to maintain its current growth trajectory in terms of participants.
Chainalysis discovered that NFTs attract users from all over the world, with Central and Southern Asia leading the charge, followed by North America and Western Europe.
The report contradicts the conclusion of a recent Wall Street Journal article, which claimed that NFT sales had plateaued. Although the article stated that “the NFT market is collapsing,” the top five NFT collections alone accounted for over $1 billion in primary and secondary sales in the same week.
Chainalysis’ report also comes a day after Coinbase failed to generate significant interest in its in-house NFT marketplace. On May 4 — the first day of trading — only 150 transactions occurred, with only $75,000 in volume moving through the platform.
