NFT traders concentrate on Solana, Ethereum, and Bitcoin

NFTs trading remains substantially lower, and has also consolidated to top networks. Most new NFT activity is still concentrated on Solana, Ethereum, and Bitcoin. The NFT traders also belong to loyal communities on those networks, awaiting for a breakout for their collections.

NFT collections mark much lower selling activity, but some of the top items are still making their rounds on social media and among influencers. Activity has returned mostly to Solana, Ethereum and Bitcoin, which retain the highest share of unique traders. 

Top collections are still the ones most visible on social media. Punks, BAYC Apes, and Pudgy Penguins are the items retaining the highest floor price. Resales are down to a few dozen, but most of the owners hold onto their NFTs as social media avatars. In the monthly time frame, Pudgy Penguins managed to surpass BAYC Apes.

Miladies and Mutant Apes have slightly higher daily resales due to the much lower price floor. Trading for blue chip collections is surprisingly resilient despite the slowdown in new mints. 

One of the features of NFT communities is their constant activity and capabilities of promotion. NFTs ownership spilled over into meme token actions, both in terms of risk-taking and in using some of the art styles for tokens. 

Solana, Ethereum and Bitcoin are leading by highest amount of unique NFT traders over the last month period pic.twitter.com/33R8RgyQEt

— Coin98 Analytics (@Coin98Analytics) August 15, 2024

While more than 99% of collections lost their value, some of the communities remained and even grew stronger. The 2024 narrative of creating ‘cults’ around tokens also gains a boost from loud NFT communities. 

Even in 2024, new communities are created with various degrees of formality. Some projects rely on heavy curation and a closed community, while others try to emulate the Miladies model by seeking power in numbers. 

Blue chip NFTs are still considered luxury items and holding seems to be paying out. While overall NFT trading is down, the top NFTs are simply not for sale and are held closely for eventual future hype cycles. 

NFT traders expect rollover from meme tokens

NFTs and meme tokens may switch places as the hottest trend in the coming months. Meme tokens rely on short-term turnover, while NFTs have a longer trading lifecycle. 

Base is one of the chains seen as the potential new venue for NFTs activity. In 2024, Base NFT trading shrank in terms of dollar value, but not in terms of numbers of NFT traded. The ‘onchain’ initiative supplied Base with low-cost NFTs, helping to build new communities around collections. 

The ease and seamless wallet creation can bring out a new crop of collectors. Solana also benefited from being a chain for memes, also expanding its NFT trading volume and fees in H1, 2024.

The shift in marketplaces is still happening slowly, with OpenSea and Blur still the leading NFT markets on Ethereum. Solana still relies on MagicEden for most of the trades. 

Bitcoin Ordinals are picking up again

After crashing to yearly lows, Bitcoin Ordinals are making a comeback. More inscriptions have been noted in blocks from the past two months. 

Uncategorized Ordinals are showing low baseline activity, with more buyers than sellers. A total of 282,395 wallets own various Ordinals inscriptions, not all containing an image. In the past month, Ordinals resales reached $2.8M, up by 96% compared to the previous 30-day period. 

Overall, the Bitcoin Ordinals NFT market has expanded to more than $596M in total valuation, with a positive trend in the past few months. Punks collections are rising again, with limited 101-item mints, managing to double their floor price in the first days since launching. Bitcoin Puppets remains the most influential collection in terms of floor price as well as social media representation.

Bitcoin Ordinals are also moving in unison with Runes, which are the de facto meme tokens of the Bitcoin blockchain. Runes are still trading on low volumes and waiting for interest to return. Currently, the Bitcoin NFTs space is left to insiders and holders, while influencers have mostly abandoned the space. On average, Bitcoin Ordinals are held between 38 and 49 days, based on data for around 4,000 monthly buyers.

Cryptopolitan reporting by Hristina Vasileva