NFTs
Here’s Why NFTs Are Dead and Why OpenSea’s Future Is in Danger
NFTs is dead. Data shows that the volume of Google keywords like ‘NFT’, ‘Bored Ape Yacht Club’ and ‘Mutant Ape Yacht Club’ continued to decline, even as Bitcoin neared its all-time high.
NFT volume fell
Most importantly, the data reveals that NFT sales volume has fallen to levels not seen since the industry was in its infancy. According to CryptoSlam, Ethereum managed sales worth around $5.5 million in the last 24 hours. There were only 4,090 buyers and 3,098 sellers.
Ethereum moved just US$213 million in the last 30 days, a 51% drop compared to the same period in April. While this number is high, it is significantly lower than what the network has typically supported in the past. Furthermore, 186 million dollars of this amount is laundering volume, a situation in which people negotiate with each other.
Ethereum is not the only network that is struggling. Solana moved around US$2.8 million in the last 24 hours and more than US$124 million in the last 30 days, a 45% drop. Bitcoin, which has become a popular name in the industry because of its Ordinals product, has moved just $421 million in the last 30 days, a drop of 45%.
The same is happening with other blockchains like Immutable X, Flow, Avalanche, Gala, The Sandbox and Decentraland. In total, NFT sales have fallen more than 41% in the last 30 days to more than $907 million.
As a result, most NFT companies like OpenSea have seen a sharp decline in daily trading volume. Data from Dune Analytics shows that the network turned over just US$2.7 million on May 2, down from US$8.8 million at its peak in March.
OpenSea number monthly active users it has fallen to just 74,000, down from a peak of 544,000 in 2021, meaning the company has a real chance of going bankrupt.
Notably, NFTs have not benefited substantially in the latest crypto bull run that saw Bitcoin hit a record high of over $73,000 and Ethereum retest $40,000. The total market value of all cryptocurrencies has skyrocketed to nearly $3 trillion.
Why NFTs are dead
The main reason NFTs died is that the industry failed to replicate the traditional art market, which is still growing. It also became a scam as people discovered it was an easy way to make quick money.
Furthermore, the sector has become increasingly saturated. Today, there are thousands of ETF collections on the market, including from names like Donald Trump.
The main reason the art market has prospered for centuries is that the number of great artists has been quite small over the years. Some of the best include names like Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Vermeer.
These are iconic figures whose work will continue to be valued for centuries to come. As a result, your creations will continue to be in demand, which will increase your prices.
With NFTs, however, anyone can be an artist, especially in the age of artificial intelligence. In fact, a closer look at some of the latest NFTs shows that they were created using ChatGPT and other image-generating tools.
Additionally, the NFT market has become rife with wash sales. A wash sale is a situation where a trader sells an NFT and then buys a similar one within a short period. As mentioned above, most NFT transactions today are wash sales.
All in all, the NFT industry died because these tokens, including popular collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), became almost worthless. This explains why the floor prices of most NFTs have continued to fall.