NFT Market Overshadowed by Slump... Popular Projects Still Maintain Strong Interest

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Jung-yoon] Although coin prices are showing signs of recovery, the slump in the non-fungible token (NFT) market continues.

According to blockchain specialized media The Block on the 5th, last month's NFT trading volume was recorded at $675.13 million (approximately 880.4 billion KRW). This is the lowest level since August 2021 and represents a decrease of about 23.68% compared to the monthly trading volume of $884.68 million (approximately 1.1536 trillion KRW) in June.

Unlike the coin market, the NFT market's downturn is prolonged. Last month, the representative cryptocurrency Bitcoin price fell to the $18,000 range but recovered to the $23,000 range. Additionally, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization showed an upward trend from $850 billion to $1.1 trillion. However, the monthly NFT trading volume has been declining since it recorded $4.24 billion in April. In May, it dropped 22.40% from the previous month to $3.29 billion. In June, it decreased even more sharply, plummeting 73.11% month-over-month to $2.4532 billion.

As trading volume sharply declined, OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, announced last month that it would reduce its workforce by 20%. Devin Finzer, CEO of OpenSea, stated in a press release, "We are facing an unprecedented combination of a crypto winter and widespread macroeconomic uncertainty," adding, "We must prepare for the possibility of a prolonged recession." Before the layoffs, OpenSea reportedly employed 230 staff members.

However, despite the sharp drop in trading volume, top NFT projects and related cryptocurrency prices are showing an upward trend, raising expectations that the market will revive. According to data from NFT data platform CryptoSlam, the trading volume of the famous NFT project CryptoPunks last month increased by 19.23% compared to the previous month, reaching $49.75 million (approximately 64.8 billion KRW). CryptoPunks' monthly trading volume showed an increasing trend after shrinking to $30.78 million in May.

Furthermore, according to cryptocurrency market tracking site CoinGecko, ApeCoin, the ecosystem token of another famous NFT project Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), was trading at $7.5 (approximately 9,770 KRW) as of 9:14 AM on the day, up 5% from the previous day. ApeCoin has shown an increase of more than 73% compared to early last month.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.