What's Putting Life Back Into Bored Ape NFTs? -

What’s Putting Life Back Into Bored Ape NFTs?

Updated: 02 February 2023

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Is the crypto bear market elapsing? With the recent signs in the crypto industry, the NFT space is rebounding, as cryptocurrency prices are also rising. According to data from DappRadar, this can be proven true since the NFT space yielded significant market activity this month, as organic trading volume grew 44% from December, at the time of writing.

The first month of 2023 bodes well for the rest of the year, as NFT sales see solid gains. https://t.co/cb9duSupKi

— Decrypt (@decryptmedia) February 1, 2023

The analytics firm, which tracks data across various blockchain networks and marketplaces, indicated that sales of NFT assets totaled $946.7 million in January. In contrast with the $683.9 million figure registered in December, the significant rise marked the largest market-wide total since June last year.

The total number of NFTs transacted in January grew, but so were the organic trading volumes. Last month, DappRadar recorded the largest tally in nearly a year since February 2022. It registered more than 9.5 million NFT sales, a 42% increase from December’s total of about 6.7 million NFTs sold.

DappRadar excludes sales that have been manipulated in any way or data from suspected wash trades. In wash trading, users sell an NFT at an inflated price of their controlled wallets to boost a lesser-known project or game marketplace rewards model.

An NFT is a unique digital identifier recorded in a blockchain and cannot be copied or subdivided, and can be used for artwork, video game equipment, and apparel. It is often used to certify ownership and authenticity.

However, as per DappRadder’s data, almost every blockchain protocol saw NFT sales growth in January. The Ethereum sales volume jumped from about $558 million in December to about $772 million in January. Solana jumped in the queue from $69.5 million in December to around $86 million in January.

As per DappRadar’s data, OpenSea, remains the biggest NFT marketplace, with a gross trading volume of over $495 million in January, up from $297 million in December. Nonetheless, in early January, the platform provided previous indications of a market-wide resurgence, surpassing its Ethereum NFT volume total.

What Boosted NFT Sales Growth?

Despite the declining activity in half of last year, the extensive market coincided with an organic trading volume worth $25 billion in 2021 and 2022. However, the launch of Yuga Lab’s Sewer Pass, an NFT access pass offered to the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club existing owners, boosted the marketplace’s jump. Additionally, the marketplaces such as Blur and LooksRare were blocked by Yuga Labs from transacting the pass, which enables holders to play a new web game over creator royalty disputes. A Yuga Lab representative took to Twitter, noting:

Yuga scored a win for the entire ecosystem, especially the creators that don’t have as big of a voice.

https://twitter.com/nix_eth/status/1615823726909751296?s=20&t=zQRGlh3JQaHTe6G4koM2Bg

It is worth noting that the Bored Ape Yacht Club and its associated collections facilitated the charge of NFT sales growth in January. This can be supported by data from the CryptoSlam platform, which points to a 45% rise in Bored Ape Yacht volume, with a market-leading $71 million in sales over the past 30 days. On the other hand, the Sewer Pass capitulated above $58 million worth of trading since its launch in mid-January.

Top project increases

Apart from Bored Apes sales growth, other top projects that CryptoSlam tracks also saw notable growth. Some projects include Art Blocks, which increased its sales by 62% in January, Azuki climbing up 89% over the past few days, and DeGods, a Solana project charting a 113% growth.

The NFT market set a new and active summit with $5.36 billion worth of total trading volume. However, sales, momentum, and NFT prices declined massively in May due to the crypto winter that slapped the ecosystem. The crypto market lost significant value in the last year, with most losses piling up in May, due to the collapse of Terra’s Luna and UST. The crypto winter was exacerbated by the collapse of giant crypto exchange FTX and the resulting contagion impacting crypto prices.

However, the space has experienced a significant rise in NFT trading volume and asset sales over the past 30 days, following a month-over-month increase in December. Notably, the rise coincides with rising crypto prices in the past weeks.

Whether these recent signals will ultimately merge into a sustained NFT market rebound is still determined. It is with no doubt that over the last year, the space has lost a lot of momentum. However, the data shows broader activity and prices for top projects rebounding. With the recent momentum driven partly by the Bored Apes, we’ll see whether the NFT sales push the market to its first month above $1 billion since June 2022.