The bearish cryptocurrency market has had a major impact on the popularity of NFTs. In the last days of May, interest in NFTs reached a low of 26 in terms of Google data. This equates to a 76% drop in less than six months.
NFT is a non-homogeneous digital asset with unique and irreplaceable properties. Standardization, universality, liquidity, and especially programmable features make NFT assets unique. The Ethereum ERC-721 standard is the first standard for non-fungible digital assets. Common NFT applications include collectibles, game items, digital artwork, certificates, domain names, etc.
After laying the initial foundation for the Cryptokitties project in 2017, Beeple reignited the market’s interest in NFTs with record sales in the first quarter of 2021, followed by the explosion of NFT projects such as CryptoPunks and Board Ape Yacht. Many NFT projects have risen in price in a short period of time, and the market is enthusiastic.
In the second half of 2021, many well-known companies have successively released NFT products, keeping up with the trend of the Internet era and attracting a lot of traffic.
The entire NFT market reached the peak of popularity in January 2022. It can be seen that the concept of NFT in the fields of encrypted artwork, games, and digital certificates broke out and continued to ferment. Many platforms and applications in the NFT market are out of the circle.
NFT integrated platform
- Opensea. OpenSea is currently the largest NFT (non-fungible token) buying and selling marketplace on the Ethereum network, capable of trading digital artwork, encrypted collectibles, game items and other ERC-721 and ERC- 1155 standard tokens.
- Mintbase. Mintbase is actually an old Ethereum project, and many well-known NFT digital collectibles are actually minted through Mintbase. Users can mint NFT by deploying the Store smart contract on Mintbase.
Gaming platform
- Axie Infinity. Axie Infinity is a chain game based on Ethereum that collects and raises fantasy creatures. It is an in-depth development game that integrates elements such as cultivation, breeding, collection, land purchase, farm, battle, battle, and upgrade.
- MyCryptoheroes. ‘My Crypto Heroes’ (MCH) is an HTML5 game using blockchain technology for smartphones and PCs.
Decentralized Virtual Platform
- Decentraland. Decentraland is a decentralized virtual reality platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain, where users can create, experience and monetize what they build and what they own in the Decentraland world.
- Sandbox. Sandbox is a virtual world sandbox for decentralized games. The Sandbox’s LAND token is the only digital real estate in The Sandbox’s metaverse of 166,464 LANDS. Players can own, create and publish gaming experiences on their own LAND, which is the primary way to monetize on the platform.
Collection
- CryptoKitties.
- CryptoPunk.
- Hashmasks.
Artwork
- Rarible.
- SuperRare.
- Nifty.
However, as the crypto market continues to decline, so far, Bitcoin has fallen for 9 consecutive weeks, the longest record in history. Additionally, on-chain platform Santiment said the continuation of extremely low fee levels indicates “very little activity and hints of stagnation and fear.” The chart shows that the market is going through a bear market. The crypto market crash has led to a decline in investor interest in NFT digital collectibles.
In January 2022, the monthly trading volume of major NFT markets reached an all-time high of $16.54 billion. In the final days of May, the total monthly volume was around $4 billion, representing a 75% drop in January’s volume. Some of the NFTs that contributed to the January milestone include Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and Axie Infinity.
In the last days of May, BAYC NFT sales were around $200 million, down 41% in four months. In January 2022, sales of Axie Infinity and Mutant Ape Yacht Club were approximately $126.49 million and $252.33 million, respectively.
A bearish market slashed these values sharply in the second quarter of 2022. Axie Infinity’s total sales were $6.6 million, compared with MayC’s May total of $163.96 million. Overall, Axie Infinity is down 94%, while BAYC sales are down 36%.
