NFT sales have significantly declined due to the current crypto dip and the overall crypto market. Statistics from the NFT aggregation website CryptoSlam show that July’s secondary NFT market sales were $650 million, a 25% decrease from June’s totals. NFT sales have consecutively fallen short of $1 billion for the second month.
Despite this recent decline, CryptoPunk NFT sales spiked by 248% after its partnership with Tiffany & Co. The increase in sales is due to Tiffany & Co’s Sunday tweet announcing the creation of a different line of NFTs dubbed NFTiffs. The offering will consist of digital and physical necklaces designed to replicate the NFTs owned by CryptoPunk holders.
The founder of NFT developer studio Influxo and blockchain author Anndy Lian said that “the present [crypto] market is currently in a bear market […] therefore [NFT] sales simply reflect very heavily on how the market is behaving.”
Yehudah Petscher, the NFT relations specialist for CryptoSlam, stated that he believes the market has not yet reached its bottom.
“I don’t know if we’ll find the bottom this year […] I believe this bear market we’re in could extend for multiple years.”
Petscher, on the other hand, is upbeat about the current market’s distinct buying population. There were 532,000 new buyers in July, dropped 7 percent from the previous month. Even though sales in US dollars are down, the quantity of transactions is encouraging.
“NFTs are in a rough place right now, but I still think in a very healthy place as far as growth [or] as far as transactions [are concerned].”
As the dominant blockchain for NFTs moves to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus in the coming months, Ethereum’s impending “Merge” could benefit the market for non-fungible tokens. The transition seeks to lower the Ethereum network’s energy consumption by up to 99 percent.
“I believe [the Merge] will generate additional excitement among Ethereum enthusiasts,” Lian said, adding that transaction fees are likely to stay high.
In July, Yuga Labs continues to dominate the bestseller list with Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and CryptoPunks in the top five.
