NFT Sales Plummet 98% in Eight Months of 2022

NFT Sales Plummet 98% in Eight Months of 2022

Similar to most crypto projects in 2022, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have also been hit by the crypto winter as sales have plummeted and blue-chip NFTs have lost value. NFT sales last month were approximately USD 534 million, compared to USD 2.77 billion in NFT sales in December 2021.

Google Searches Have Dropped Significantly

Data reveals that interest in digital collectibles has declined significantly this year. Google Trends (GT) data shows that the search term "NFT" had a score of around 52 during the week of December 26, 2021–January 1, 2022. The term also reached its highest score of 100 during January 16–22, 2022.

However, for the week of December 18–24, 2022, the search term "NFT" has a score of around 16. There’s been a slight rebound in interest recently in NFTs, according to GT data, which started around December 4, 2022. GT data shows China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Nigeria, and Taiwan among the most interested countries in NFTs.

The BAYC-related search term is down to a score of 10, a considerable decline in the overall interest since last year. Similarly, this week China dominates in terms of BAYC interest, followed by Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, and Australia. GT data for other blue-chip NFTs such as Cryptopunks, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and others show a significant decline in GT search.

The NFT Industry Takes a Hit

Data also shows that the volume of NFT sales has declined significantly since last year. Cryptoslam.io data reveal that there were USD 2.77 billion in NFT sales in December 2021. Last month, only USD 534 million in NFT sales were recorded. Metrics saved to archive.org indicate that during the week of December 27–31, 2021, USD 414.84 million in sales were recorded.

Sales during the week of Dec. 27–31, 2021, were also down 32.05%, as the previous seven days saw USD 610.53 million in sales. In terms of NFT sales by blockchain at the time, Ethereum saw USD 334.83 million out of the USD 414.84 million in total sales that week. During the week of December 27–31, 2021, Ronin had roughly USD 45.65 million in sales, and Solana had just over USD 16 million in sales during the seven days.

The top five projects or collections, in terms of seven-day sales during the last week of December 2021, included Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), Cryptopunks, Axie Infinity, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and The Sandbox. A year later, this month, NFT sales pale in comparison. As of December 25, 2022, NFT sales had dipped by 12.22% this week as USD 154.02 million in sales were recorded during the past seven days.

There were 295,338 NFT buyers and just over one million NFT transactions. The top blockchain in terms of NFT sales this week is Ethereum (ETH), and over the last seven days, there’s been USD 129.23 million in NFT sales derived from the ETH chain.

ETH is followed by Solana, Polygon, Immutable X, and Cardano in terms of the largest sales last week by blockchain. Last year, on December 27, 2021, an NFT "Mega" sold for 888 ether, which was worth USD 3.6 million at the time. Cryptopunk #9137 sold for 310 ether, or USD 1.21 million, on the same day at the time of sale.

Dappradar data indicate that Cryptopunk #9137 is now priced between 63.95 ether (USD 77,995) and 377.24 ether (USD 460K). Last year’s archived data from nftpricefloor.com indicates that the floor value of a Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT was around 87.5 ether. ETH was trading for USD 4K per unit at that time, so 87.5 ether was worth USD 350,000 at the time.

Cryptopunk was priced at 65 ether (USD 260K) on December 19, 2021. Sales recorded on December 25, 2022, from nftpricefloor.com reveal a BAYC priced at 69.88 ether (USD 85,159) at current ether exchange rates.

What is your take on the plummeting NFT sales and interest in digital collectibles this year compared to last year? Please post your comments.