Nfts
Here’s why NFTs are dead and why OpenSea’s future is in jeopardy
NFT are dead. Data shows that the volume of Google keywords such as “NFT,” “Bored Ape Yacht Club,” and “Mutant Ape Yacht Club” has continued to decline even as Bitcoin hovers near its all-time high.
NFT volume has dropped
More importantly, the data reveals that NFT sales volume has collapsed to levels not seen since the industry was in its infancy. According to CryptoSlam, Ethereum made sales worth approximately $5.5 million in the last 24 hours. There were only 4,090 buyers and 3,098 sellers.
Ethereum has only processed $213 million over the past 30 days, a 51% drop from the same period in April. While this figure is high, it is significantly lower than what the network managed in the past. Additionally, $186 million of this figure represents washing volume, a situation in which people trade with each other.
Ethereum is not the only network in trouble. Solana processed approximately $2.8 million in the last 24 hours and over $124 million in the last 30 days, a decrease of 45%. Bitcoin, which became a popular name in the industry thanks to its Ordinals product, has transacted just $421 million in the last 30 days, a 45% crash.
The same thing happens with other blockchains like Immutable X, Flow, Avalanche, Gala, The Sandbox and Decentraland. In total, NFT sales fell more than 41% over the past 30 days to more than $907 million.
As a result, most NFT companies like OpenSea experienced a sharp decline in daily trading volume. Data from Dune Analytics shows the network processed just $2.7 million on May 2, down from $8.8 million at its peak in March.
The number of OpenSea monthly active users fell to just 74,000, down from a high of 544,000 in 2021, meaning the company has a real chance of going bankrupt.
Notably, NFTs did not benefit substantially during the latest crypto bull run that saw Bitcoin hit an all-time high of over $73,000 and Ethereum retest $40,000. The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has soared to almost $3 trillion.
Why NFTs are dead
The main reason NFTs died is that the industry was unable to replicate the traditional art market, which continues to grow. It also became a scam because people found it to be an easy way to make quick money.
Additionally, the sector has become increasingly saturated. Today, there are thousands of ETF collections on the market, including those of Donald Trump.
The main reason the art market has thrived for centuries is that the number of great artists has remained quite small over the years. Some of the best include Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Vermeer.
These are iconic figures whose work will continue to be treasured for centuries. As a result, their creations will continue to be in demand, which will drive up their prices.
However, with NFTs, anyone can be an artist, especially in the age of artificial intelligence. Indeed, a closer look at some of the newer 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 purchases a similar one within a short period of time. As mentioned above, most current NFT transactions are wash sales.
Overall, the NFT industry is dead because these tokens, including popular collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), have become almost worthless. This explains why the floor prices of most NFTs have continued to fall.