This NFT Once Sold For $7M, It’s Now Worth $0.00

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The non-fungible token market has suffered a brutal comedown in the past several months, which has left many NFT collections shielding more than 80% of their value. In this article, we shall explore whether there is still hope for another bull run similar to the historic 2021 bull run.

The non-fungible token market rose to popularity in 2021, becoming the talk of the town. The global NFT market continued to grow, spiking from $14.02 billion in 2021 to $21.33 billion in early 2022. At the time, NFT collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, Cool Cats, VeeFriends, and Azuki contributed positively to its growth and success.

Unfortunately, the non-fungible token market has since experienced something of a crash, which has left the majority of NFT floor prices plummeting, leading to declining market participation from collectors and investors. The market downturn has also left some NFT projects nearly worthless.

Right-click and Save As guy is a perfect example of an NFT collection that has suffered a brutal amid the bear market. This NFT collection sold for $7 million in 2021. But, it has since declined to nearly worthless. What really happened to the NFT market?

I paid $7 million for this gif and now the highest offer on it is $0.00 😢 pic.twitter.com/9CjHZlfnoD

— Cozomo de’ Medici (@CozomoMedici) September 24, 2023

The NFT Bear Market Explained

The NFT market began plummeting sometime in June last year, becoming notable when significant collectors and investors started losing the value of their NFT investments. At the time, crypto and NFT celebrities like Justin Bieber, Madonna, Michael Jordan, and Stephen Curry saw their digital assets shielding millions of dollars in their value.

Stephen Curry, an NFT collector who purchased a Bored Ape Yacht Club #7990 at 55 ETH (approximately $178k at the time) on August 8, 2021, is a perfect example of NFT investors who have suffered a brutal loss in their investments. Curry has seen his Bored Ape NFT plummeting more than 70% in its value. It has the best offer of just 25 ETH (around $41k) on OpenSea.

Justin Beiber, who bought his Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT #3001 for a whopping $1.3 million in 2022, is another NFT Collector who has suffered a significant loss on his NFT investment. The Grammy award-winning music artist has seen his NFT collection plummeting more than 95% to just $60,000.

What Went Wrong?

The crypto market volatility is one of the factors that have attributed to the recent NFT market downturn. The non-fungible tokens are somewhat related to crypto assets. In that context, imagine an NFT collection that sold for 500 ETH (roughly $1.5 million) when the Ethereum price was around $3000; this NFT collection is now worth 500 ETH but valued at $900,000 at the current Ethereum price of $1,800.

Cyber-security threat is another factor that has massively contributed to the recent downturn in the NFT market. The NFT market started becoming vulnerable to hacks and scams during the 2021 Bull Run, which left the majority of crypto and NFT floor prices hitting all-time highs. Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks NFT collections boomed to over $1 billion in market capitalizations.

In March 2022, the NFT market suffered one of the historic hacks that left Axie Infinity network, Ronin, losing over $600 million worth of crypto to the infamous North Korean hackers. According to a report compiled by Elliptic in August 2022, over $100M worth of NFTs were reportedly stolen. All these scams and hacks have attracted fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) among investors.

Unfortunately, hackers and scammers show no signs of slowing down their attacks against non-fungible token investors. Earlier this month, a hacker successfully managed to compromise the official X account of Vitalik Buterin, stealing over $690,000 worth of crypto. The hacker enticed victims with a malicious link, promising them free commemorative NFTs and stole all their crypto assets once they connected their wallets.

$147K drained so far pic.twitter.com/A4Xmr4MBmI

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) September 9, 2023

Earlier last week, Mark Cuban, an American Shark Tank host and Billionaire, reported that he fell victim to a malicious attack that took over $900k from his Metamask crypto wallet in a whisker. The crypto and NFT investor went to the Google app store to download a mobile wallet app and accidentally downloaded the app alongside phishing links. Cuban ended up losing nearly $1 million worth of crypto.

Lmao, did Mark Cuban's wallet just get drained?

Wallet inactive for 160 days and all assets just moved pic.twitter.com/vWnMZFyHB5

— Wazz (@WazzCrypto) September 15, 2023

NFT Market Dilution

Dilution is another contagious factor responsible for the recent downfall in the non-fungible token market. In most cases, dilution in NFTs happens when a project releases a new collection that is relatively similar to previous collections. As a result, the NFT market can experience a decrease in price, which eventually dilutes the value of the entire ecosystem.

Earlier in July, Chiru Labs, the digital asset incubation studio and the team behind the popular Azuki NFT collection launched their highly anticipated Azuki Elementals NFT collection. The NFT collection featured a limited edition of 20,000 NFTs hosted on the Ethereum network.

The new Azuki Elementals mint was supposed to be a boom for NFTs but instead was a bust, becoming a catalyst that drove NFT collections down to all-time lows. The NFT minting received a negative reception since more of its NFTs appeared similar to the original Azukis. The incident showcased how a dilution directly impacts the NFT market.

https://twitter.com/_0xtc/status/1675715169845145600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1675715169845145600%7Ctwgr%5E7db37a326bec4a6afcd98ada0262a879afecd42e%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fforkast.news%2Fazuki-nft-markets-historic-lows%2F

Is There Hope For Another Bull Run?

Based on empirical market behaviour, many crypto experts believe that the next crypto bull run will occur around the time of Bitcoin’s halving event, which is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2024. However, some analysts forecast that the bull run may even happen as soon as 2023. The rise in crypto will primarily reflect a positive trend in NFTs.