NFT SALES HAVE BEEN DRAGGED DOWN FOLLOWING CRYPTO CRASH!
NFT have been dragged down by the cryptocurrency crash, with sales reaching a 12-month low in June.
NFTs give someone ownership of a one-of-a-kind digital item, often a work of virtual art, even if that item is easily copied. A blockchain is a digital, decentralized ledger that records ownership.
According to the crypto research firm Chainalysis, sales of NFTs totaled just over $1 billion in June, their worst month since last year, when sales totaled $648 million. In January, sales peaked at $12.6 billion.
The cryptocurrency market, worth approximately $3 trillion in November, is now worth less than $1 trillion. NFTs rely on blockchain technology to track who owns them and enable them to be traded. Most are built on the Ethereum blockchain, powered by a carbon-intensive system known as proof of work.
At its peak, the NFT market was attracting record-breaking sums, including $2.9 million for a token of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet. A digital collage by visual artist Beeple sold for $69 million; the primary token for the “play to earn” video game Axie Infinity was worth $9.75 billion. Coca-cola raised more than $575,000 by selling digital items such as a tailored jacket to be worn in the metaverse.
According to DappRadar’s head of research, Pedro Herrera, demand for so-called blue-chip NFT collections has stood the same. For example, in the last month, the cheapest NFT in the Bored Ape Yacht Club dropped its price by only 1%, to $90,000. “Blue-chip collections are far outperforming the vast majority of NFTs,” he said.