The NFT market peaked in popularity in 2021. The famous NFTs collection of Bored Ape Yacht Club kept breaking records, and NFTs were perceived as a breakthrough technology that would yield tangible profits for collectors, speculators, and Web3 enthusiasts.
Since the demand spiked in 2021, the NFT space has changed significantly. NFT sales declined, and skeptics started questioning whether there was a space for development. Although NFTs have been through difficult times, the story of non-fungible tokens has not been finished. As new trends appear and “utility NFTs” gain importance, NFT tokens may return to their best times.
This post provides exciting NFT market statistics that will please data enthusiasts. (If you seek market insights and more balanced information, check out our other blog articles!).
NFT Revenue and Users
According to Statista.com, transaction value on the NFT market will equal 8,412.00 million USD by 2027. The most significant spike happened between 2020 and 2021 when NFT revenue increased from 16.18 million USD to 1,575.00, corresponding to a tremendous growth of 9,634.2%. However, the projected growth rate for upcoming years is slower and varies from 60% to 13.1%.
The average revenue per user will grow from $56.89 in 2022 to $130.5 in 2027. Yet in 2019, the average revenue per user equaled $5.21, so it grew by more than 1.000% since then until today, but again, the projected growth will slow down in the coming years.
While the NFT market had ‘only’ 0.67 million active users in 2020, the number of NFT collectors spiked to 36.12 million in 2021 and is set to reach over 64 million users in 2027. As a result, market penetration will grow from 0.6% to 0.8% in 2027.
The Most Popular NFT Projects
Now, let’s dig deeper into the NFT market. What are the most popular NFT projects in terms of NFT sold? According to the nonfingible.com market tracker, the top five projects in terms of sales value are*:
- Bored Ape Yacht Club – all-time sales value: 4,719,063,335.49 USD.
- Axie Infinity – all-time sales value: 4,005,973,991.26 USD.
- CryptoPunks – all-time sales value: 2,565,021,510.87 USD.
- Art Blocks – all-time sales value: 1,673,279,860.50 USD.
- Otherside – all-time sales value: 1,331,012,630.71 USD.
Not surprisingly, some of these projects are listed among the top ventures in terms of sales volume. However, it’s worth noting that high sales volume does not always translate into sales value. It’s because projects with a high sales volume may have a low average market price for an item. Below you will find the most traded NFTs*:
- Axie Infinity: all-time sales: 22,562,641.
- Ethereum Name Service: all-time sales: 3,000,211.
- CryptoKitties: all-time sales: 2,880,994.
- Gods Unchained: all-time sales: 575,811.
- Sorare: all-time sales: 430,370.
*data as of the 28th of Nov 2022
The Most Expensive NFT Art
The most expensive NFT ever sold is valued at the astounding price of $69.3 million. Nearly all the top ten most costly NFTs are valued at least $1 million. Here’s the list of the top 10 NFTs with the highest price according to 101blockchains.com:
- NFT name: Everydays: The First 5000 Days. Price: $69.3M.
The artwork complies with the first 5000 digital artworks of Beeple. - NFT name: CryptoPunk #3100.Price: $7.58M.
A pixelated alien image with a headband. - NFT name: Cryptopunk #7804. Price: $7.57M.
Another pixelated alien art image from the famous CryptoPunk collection. - NFT name: Crossroads. Price: $6.6M.
- NFT name: The First Tweet. Price: $2.9M.
- NFT name: Cryptopunk #6965. Price: $1.54M.
- NFT name: Axie Infinity Genesis Land. Price: $1.5M.
- NFT name: CryptoPunk #4156. Price: $1.25M.
- NFT name: Not Forgotten, But Gone. Price: $1M.
- NFT name: Metarift. Price: $904.41K.
Popular NFT Segments
To better understand the complex NFT market, it’s worth comprehending various segments within the market. The authors of the Quarterly NFT Market Report Q3 · 2022 by nonfungible.com distinguish the five following categories:
- UTILITIES,
- METAVERSES,
- GAMING,
- COLLECTIBLES,
- ART.
Below is the performance of these categories by different metrics in the third quarter of 2022.
The Highest Sales Value
- Collectibles: $537,774,443
- Art: $125,498,874
- Utilities: $116,269,654
- Metaverses: $76,210,005
- Gaming: $37,925,607
The Highest Sales Volume
- Utilities: 1,293,432
- Gaming: 1,204,490
- Collectibles: 402,201
- Art: 103,743
- Metaverses: 24,703.
The Most Active Wallets by Segments
- Utilities: 186,833
- Gaming: 180,169
- Collectibles: 161,541
- Art: 47,361
- Metaverses: 17,018
The author of the abovementioned report claims that as collectibles have left their place as the dominant segment to utilities in active sales and wallets, it may indicate a new trend where utility NFTs will become more popular than collectibles which caused a boom in 2021.
Other NFT Market Statistics
This blog post does not provide a summary. It presents market data such as the most expensive NFTs sold. However, you won’t leave this place empty-handed. Here are even more relevant NFT market facts:
- OpenSea is still the most important marketplace for trading NFTs with an estimated commercial value of less than $90 million annually.
- According to metav.rs, the OpenSea platform has at least 250,000 monthly active users.
- Yet in 2017, average weekly NFT sales volume equaled 100. In 2022, it varied between 15,000 and 50,000, growing substantially.
- Crossroads is the most expensive video NFT, sold for $6.6 million.
- The most expensive virtual land was sold on Axie Infinity, costing $1.5 million.
- The most expensive NFT song cost $1,33 million.
The Ethereum Blockchain alone releases 22 tons of carbon dioxide annually. The estimated energy consumption is more than $6 billion. Ethereum 2.0 technology aims to reduce energy consumption by 99%.
Sources:
https://nonfungible.com/market-tracker?days=9007199254740991
https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/fintech/digital-assets/nft/worldwide#transaction-value
https://101blockchains.com/most-expensive-nfts/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMImp-njfnQ-wIV5UiRBR2DjA4eEAAYASAAEgKP8fD_BwE
https://metav.rs/blog/nft-market-statistics-2021-2022/
