The Non-fungible token (NFT) market on Ethereum has experienced a significant surge in trading activity in the past week. According to CryptoSlam, a data aggregation site, the weekly trading volume of NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain reached over $158 million, the highest level since February 2023. This represents an almost 100% increase compared to the previous week. In contrast, NFT marketplaces on other blockchains like Bitcoin and Polygon saw declines in volume of 24% and 10% respectively.
The growing interest in the Pudgy Penguins collection has been a major driver of Ethereum’s NFT boom. Pudgy Penguins, currently the third-highest by market capitalization, is quickly catching up to top collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club, owned by NFT firm Yuga Labs. While Bored Apes holds the top spot for the highest floor price, Yuga’s CyberKongz collection has the highest individual NFT floor price in the entire market.
Apart from increasing sales activity, the creators of Pudgy Penguins are actively developing integrations and metaverse experiences like Pudgy World, an interactive game planned for launch on Apple’s upcoming AR/VR headset. At the same time, Yuga Labs is continuing the development of its Otherside metaverse, with plans for a third testing phase. NFT minting on Ethereum has remained stable over the past year, indicating that this surge in volume is primarily driven by secondary sales rather than new project launches.
In another part of the market, Dapper Labs’ NFL All Day NFT brand gained momentum during the recent Super Bowl event. Promotional NFT packs issued in January led to short-term speculation, including the sale of a Tom Brady non-fungible token for over $40,000. An NFT of Aaron Rodgers from the same set sold for $34,000.
Since September, NFL All Day has generated close to $10 million in sales. The broader NFT market has also shown signs of recovery after the cryptocurrency downturn in 2023. As cryptocurrency prices have rebounded, so have NFT sales. In October 2023, monthly NFT trading volumes on all blockchains reached $405 million, a $99 million increase from the previous month and the highest monthly volume since August 2023.
NFTs on the Bitcoin network reached a significant milestone in December 2023, surpassing $800 million in sales for the first time. Market data shows that monthly Bitcoin NFT sales reached $881.22 million in December, breaking the previous sales record on a single blockchain. This Bitcoin NFT boom was driven by 111,713 buyer addresses transacting with 98,744 seller addresses.