The bear market (or “crypto winter”) has not subsided in recent months and has also affected the non-fungible tokens (NFTs) market. According to data from blockchain analytics platform Dapp Dadar, NFT sales fell by 60% in the third quarter of this year compared to the previous quarter.
As the platform noted, in the third quarter of 2022, NFTs moved R$18.41 billion (US$3.4 billion) in sales. For comparison, volume in the previous quarter was R$67.7 billion (US$12.5 billion).
OpenSea sales fell further
In the largest market for NFTs, OpenSea, sales of digital collectibles fell for the fifth consecutive month in September. For OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer, the crypto winter and the macroeconomic crisis explain this decline:
“I think the unique thing about this environment is that it interrupts the macroeconomic crisis and crypto winter,” Finzer told Reuters. “The previous crypto winters have been a bit insulated on cryptocurrency prices alone. So, for that matter, I think it’s wise to be conservative about how long that can last.”
In any case, Finzer emphasized that the company is in “good financial shape.” Moreover, he stated that he is excited about the long-term potential of NFTs.
The decline in sales of OpenSea’s NFTs occurred even as the company released several new features in recent months. At the beginning of September, for example, OpenSea began accepting cryptocurrency MATIC, from the Polygon network, as a payment method for transactions in the NFT market.
In the same month, the platform released an update on its NFT coinage services. According to the company, a “safe and immersive minting experience” has been implemented. In practice, NFT creators will be able to launch their collections with dedicated launch pages and greater discoverability on OpenSea’s new homepage. In addition, they will be able to mint tokens directly from the OpenSea page.
At the same time, OpenSea launched the SeaDrop service. This is a new open source secure contract that aims to enhance the droplet experience. Just last month, OpenSea announced support for digital assets created from the Arbitrum layer 2 expansion network. Even with all of this, NFT sales volume on the NFT platform is down.
Solana NFT coin breaks the record
Meanwhile, despite declining sales, coinage on the Solana Network reached an all-time high in September.
According to data from The Block, the number of NFTs minted at Solana reached 312,000 on September 7. The number was much higher than 39,000 just three days earlier. Moreover, on September 6, the Solana-based NFT market size reached $11.5 million, the highest level since May.
And in terms of sales volume, Solana also saw some increase this month. The Block said the numbers are still much lower than they were earlier this year.