How 2023 began for NFTs: Main Highlights for the Past 2 Weeks

The year 2023 has started on a mixed note for the NFT market. There have been a couple of ups and downs, so I suggest looking at them and discussing in detail what direction the space is currently moving.

ETH & SOL – Absolute Dominators

According to NFT Price Floor, NFT sales dropped significantly in the second week of the year, falling by 59.35% from the previous week. During the last seven days, NFT sales totaled $208 million, with the Ethereum blockchain alone accounting for $157 million.

Last week’s best-selling NFT collection was the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), which generated $16.69 million in sales, accounting for 8% of total NFT sales.

Despite a drop in overall sales, Ethereum and Solana emerged as the top performers among the top 20 blockchains issuing NFTs. Between January 8 and January 15, 2023, Ethereum accounted for 75.3% of total sales, while Solana accounted for 18% of total sales, or $37.66 million.

NFT Leaders for the Week

Top 5 NFT collections for the week were:

1. Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC)
2. Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC)
3. Azuki
4. Art Blocks
5. Bored Ape Kennel Club

Other notable NFT collectibles for the week include OtherDead, Sorare, The Captainz, Beanz, and Mutant Hound Collar.

The most expensive NFT sold during the week was Cryptopunk #4,608, which sold for an incredible $329,000. The second most expensive NFT sold was Cryptopunk #6,994, which was purchased for $283,000.

Bored Ape Collections’ Pump Prior to upcoming Yuga’s Mint 

The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC) collections have all risen to the very top of OpenSea.

Accordingly, this follows the news that Bored Ape NFT holders will soon be eligible for a free mint. Over the past day, trading volume increased by 237% for the BAYC collection and by 13% for the MAYC collection, as reported by OpenSea. There was a 46% increase in trading volume for the BAKC collection as well.

Yuga Labs, the company behind these collections, recently announced that it would be minting a “Sewer Pass” NFT, which current owners of BAYC or MAYC NFTs could receive for free. Dookey Dash, a game accessible with the Sewer Pass, is playable indefinitely up until February 15, after which it will be removed from the pass’s catalog.

Second life to CryptoZoo?

Logan Paul’s announcement of a $1.5 million recovery plan for the people who invested in his troubled NFT project CryptoZoo was another exciting event in the NFT space.

According to Paul, he is now concentrating on fixing CryptoZoo and completing the roadmap rather than suing fellow YouTuber Coffeezilla for defamation over claims he made in a critical series of videos on Paul’s NFT project.

There are three stages to the recovery strategy. In order to “have no financial upside” in the game, Paul and his manager and fellow CryptoZOO co-founder Jeff Levin will first burn their ZOO token holdings.

Secondly, Paul asserted that he would personally contribute 1,000 ETH to a rewards scheme that would allow “disappointed” investors to burn their NFTs in exchange for a refund of the original 0.1 ETH mint price.

The third stage, according to Paul, entails “obviously finishing and delivering the game as outlined in the whitepaper,” which was originally marketed as a play-to-earn game that involved breeding animal NFTs in order to receive rewards in the form of ZOO tokens.

Verdict

Throughout the course of the past two weeks, the NFT market has been subject to a wide range of changes. After it was disclosed that Bored Ape NFT holders would soon be eligible to receive a free mint, there was an increase in activity for certain collections, including BAYC, MAYC, and BAKC, despite the fact that overall sales were lower.

To be honest, it is intriguing to observe the potential for expansion within specific NFT ecosystems and the potential for secondary market trading to attract new participants. Both of these possibilities have all the chances to bring in new people to the industry.

On the other hand, we witnessed the failure of the well-known NFT project CryptoZoo as well as the attempts made by Logan Paul to make things up to investors. It serves as a helpful reminder of the potential dangers that are associated with investing in NFTs as well as the significance of conducting in-depth research before making any investments.

As someone who believes in the potential of NFTs, I believe that the market for NFTs has a large amount of untapped potential for growth and innovation.

Given that the ideas of ownership and scarcity are still being investigated in the context of the digital world, it will be fascinating to observe how the market evolves in the years to come. The market warrants a cautious approach from investors as well as creators, who should also stay abreast of developments in the industry.