The trading volumes of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) last month were down by more than 60% from December despite building momentum in the final months of 2024, with the fall coinciding with a crypto market downturn.
In December, the total trading volumes for NFTs hit $1.36 billion but fell 26% in month-on-month January, then another 50% in February, DappRadar analyst Sara Gherghelas said in a March 6 industry report.
“While NFTs had been showing signs of a comeback in recent months, their momentum has slowed since the start of the year,” she said.
Gherghelas attributed the downturn in NFT valuations to its correlation with crypto prices.
NFT trading volume saw consistent gains in the latter half of 2024 before dropping off at the start of the new year. Source: DappRadar
The overall crypto market capitalization hit a new all-time high of $3.71 trillion on Dec. 9 last year, with many cryptocurrencies also registering large price gains, according to CoinMarketCap.
Bitcoin (BTC) briefly surged above $109,000 on Jan. 20, breaking its previous all-time high above $108,000 recorded on Dec. 17, ahead of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
However, most of the crypto market gains were lost in February amid mounting macroeconomic uncertainty regarding Trump’s tariffs on US trading partners.
Decentralized app activity also cooled in February, with the total number of daily unique active wallets estimated to have declined by 8%, down to 24 million.
However, DappRadar noted a break in the trend when it came to NFT activity, which climbed by 6% in February or 3.5 million users interacting with NFT platforms and a growing interest in AI-powered assets.
“The increasing integration of artificial intelligence into NFT projects signals a shift toward more dynamic, interactive digital assets with enhanced utility,” Gherghelas said.
“The evolving landscape suggests that while speculative trading may fluctuate, NFTs with strong utility, engagement, and real-world applications will drive long-term adoption in Web3,” she added.
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Profile picture NFTs proved the most popular, generating $243 million in trading volume across 76,385 sales.
Gaming NFTs scored the second-highest trading volume, recording $41 million and 421,853 assets traded. Sports NFTs dominated sales, accounting for 659,097 transactions and $7.7 million in volume.
Profile picture and gaming NFTs recorded the largest trading volumes for individual NFT categories in February. Source: DappRadar
A January report from DappRadar found that in 2024, NFTs had their worst year since 2020, thanks partly to volatility and rising token prices, recording $13.7 billion in trading volume and under 50 million in sales.
NFTs had their best-ever year in 2022, when they first burst into the mainstream, with trading volumes reaching $57.2 billion and the market’s sales count hitting 121.7 million, according to DappRadar.
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