According to the latest study conducted by NonFungible.com and BNP Paribas L’Atelier, NFT sales exceeded $17 billion in 2021. The criticisms about the NFT sector becoming a bubble might actually have some ground.
Last year, the NFT hype train attracted millions in funding and inspired several sectors, such as gaming, to adopt blockchain technology research.
In 2021 NFT sales reached $17 billion in total
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique digital assets that are recorded on a blockchain, or permanent digital ledger. We are seeing them on the internet in form of paintings, game characters, and other creative works. Consider them to be virtual collectibles.
NonFungible.com and BNP Paribas L’Atelier released a new study on Thursday that revealed the size of the NFT market in 2021. It’s the fourth time NonFungible.com and BNP Paribas L’Atelier have collaborated on this annual report.
By 2021, over-the-counter NFT sales had grown to $17.7 billion, up from $82.5 million in 2020. It’s bigger than a 200 fold increase. When reselling or purchasing NFTs, total profits skyrocketed from $12 million in 2020 to $5.4 billion in 2021.
Most of the NFT transactions have been made on Ethereum
78% of the NFT transactions on the entire market have been made on the Ethereum blockchain. The number of buyers increased by 2,962% in 2021, while the number of sellers increased by 3,669%.
By the way, the average NFT price increased significantly in 2021, reaching $807.52 against $49.18 in 2020, according to the study.
The length of ownership has decreased. NFTs were kept for an average of 48 days in 2021 before being sold, as opposed to a year earlier when they were maintained for 156 days on average.
The report also highlighted the gaming industry’s strong interest in NFTs. It notes 20,986,532 transactions totaling $5,177,192,804 in sales over the past year. Axie Infinity has been a big hit even though there are 112 blockchain games in total.
The report says that Axie Infinity accounts “for nearly two-thirds of the Blockchain Gaming industry on its own.”
In reality, the report claims that outside of Ethereum’s 78 percent dominance, the Ronin blockchain on which Axie Infinity is based controls 19% of the market.
The NFT market has been accused of being a speculative bubble or a frenzied market that will ultimately calm down. And the Nonfungible.com market tracking data suggests as much.
During the seven-day period ending on March 9, 2022, according to Nonfungible.com, 93,626 NFT purchases were recorded. During that time, sales totaled around $200 million.
NFTs recorded a peak of 1,371,408 sales during the seven-day period ending Aug. 12, 2021, a considerable drop.
