NFT gross sales in February skilled a major enhance, reaching over $2 billion in buying and selling quantity, based on knowledge by DappRadar and Dune. March noticed a tiny dip, however right here’s the twist: Blur drove nearly all of trades with 69% of NFT gross sales, sparking wash buying and selling considerations amongst others.
Quick Takes:
Blur dominates the whole NFT gross sales, contributing $1.35 billion price of Ethereum NFT trades in March alone.
The market’s reward token launch in mid-February contributed to mass flipping by “whale” merchants.
Consequently, questions over wash buying and selling are being raised, following the platform relying closely on token rewards.
OpenSea nonetheless maintains the lead for having distinctive wallets. However, NFT gross sales on {the marketplace} dropped from $586 million in February to $424 million in March.
Factors Behind Blur’s Surge in NFT Sales
Data from DappRadar and Dune point out that buying and selling quantity in March amounted to round $1.95 billion — a minor decline of 4% in comparison with the month prior.
Much of this quantity originated from OpenSea’s high competitor, Blur, accounting for nearly $1.35 billion in Ethereum NFT trades on the secondary NFT market. This represents a marginal improve from $1.32 billion in February.
The spike in buying and selling exercise in Blur started in mid-February, following the BLUR reward token for loyal members. However, this induced “whale merchants” to interact in in depth flipping. For instance, an NFT founder, Rektguy, just lately offered 71 extremely transformed Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFTs alongside different iconic blue-chip collectibles, racking in 5545 ETH ($9M) in gross sales on Blur — to reap the benefits of NFT liquidity and revenue following market shortage.
Another subject contains outsiders discovering buying and selling quantity suspicious exercise like wash buying and selling, which was half of buying and selling in 2022. For instance, Donald Trump’s NFTs confronted wash buying and selling accusations. According to sources, again in December, the workforce behind the American former president minted a thousand NFTs to his vault pockets to maintain the rarest ones to themselves to promote later. Trump NFTs are nonetheless on the rise “following his latest indictment”. Wash buying and selling seemingly performs a big half within the gross sales.
Previous NFT Trading Volume
Top NFT market regarding pockets depend, OpenSea, recorded round $424 million in buying and selling quantity in March — a lower from $587 million in February. Ethereum NFT buying and selling remained secure final month, growing from $1.81 billion in February to $1.82 billion.
March noticed a slight dip in whole buying and selling quantity and fewer NFTs offered than in February. According to experiences, round 5.8 million NFTs had been offered in March, versus 6.5 million NFT gross sales in February and 6.6 million in January.
February’s $2.04 billion determine marked the best month-to-month NFT buying and selling quantity since May 2022, when the market plunged as a result of collapse of Terra’s cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Given that almost all quantity hyperlinks to Blur’s reward program, it’s onerous to know whether or not or not the NFT gross sales are genuinely “natural” or managed by whale merchants.
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