Penguins and Apes Are Driving Crazy NFT Trading Volumes

UTC by Bhushan Akolkar · 3 min read
Penguins and Apes Are Driving Crazy NFT Trading Volumes
Photo: Depositphotos

Here’s a look into how the NFT landscape is evolving and animal-based NFTs are once again dominating the NFT sales.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have created a major sensation in the crypto space this year. Just like the DeFi summer of 202, NFTs have been majorly dominating the summer of 2021.

The largest NFT marketplace OpenSea has seen record-breaking trading this year. Besides, the Ethereum-based NFT marketplace contributes to 90% of trading volumes. Last week, OpenSea registered more than 60,000 sales per day peaking nearly 8 times from the levels seen in March 2021. Crypto Intelligence Firm Coin Metrics reported:

“Over the last two weeks NFT sales have exploded to levels well beyond the NFT boom seen in March. The number of sales on OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, reached a peak of over 60K per day over the last week which is close to 8X the peak reached in March. OpenSea volume has already topped $1B in August, and the number of daily unique buyers has also hit a new all-time high”.

Last month, there was some strong activity taking place in the NFT market. Last month in July, an anonymous buyer purchased 104 CryptoPunks by spending a whopping $7 million.

CryptoPunks are basically pixelated digital avatars. It comprises a unique collection of 10,000 unique avatars. The CryptoPunk NFTs have created a massive rage in the market and serve as a long-term store of value.

Even popular auction houses like Christie’s have been conducting CryptoPunk NFT sales over the last few months. The CryptoPunk sales volumes have exploded this month of August.

The Rise of the NFT Mania

The rage around NFTs has picked up once again this year. The first time it was very visible was during the 2017 crypto bull run when CryptoKitties NFTs congested the Ethereum blockchain. The craze around animal-based NFTs has picked up once again.

While cats have always dominated this segment, the craze around other animal-based NFTs is building up fast. It is the NFT Penguins and Apes that are currently driving major trading volumes. As CoinMetrics reports:

“Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) sales volume took off after an announcement that they will be featured in a Christie’s auction. Since then BAYC has had million dollar sales, and floor price reached over 15 ETH. In addition to BAYC, other profile picture collections have climbed the OpenSea charts. After a Twitter war with the BAYC, Pudgy Penguins trading volume shot up, topping $13.5M on August 13th”.

Looking at the current trend, CoinMetrics also believes that the NFT mania is just getting started. It means that the NFT market could see a peak in the coming months.

Furthermore, the NFT exceeds beyond retail investors and even to institutional players. Three Arrows Capital, a Singapore-based hedge fund has been recently on an NFT buying spree. The firm has been heavily spending its ETH to buy NFTs especially focused on CryptoPunks and Art Blocks.

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