Is the NFT market dead? Market value dropped over 40% in a year, is it a bubble or a turning point?

In the past year, the floor prices and market values of some of the most popular NFTs in 2022 have plummeted, with some even halved, and several well-known blue-chip projects have not been spared. A similar downward trend is also reflected in the depreciation of assets such as metaverse land, which were heavily hyped in the first half of 2022 and have since declined along with the related markets.

Overview of Blue-Chip NFT Projects' Recent Situation

The NFT market has seen a significant decline following the crazy growth in 2022, accompanied by an overall downturn in the cryptocurrency market. Floor prices, trading volumes, collectibles, and community engagement have all dropped significantly.

According to data from CoinGecko, when calculated based on the highest price within a year and the current price, many blue-chip NFT projects have experienced a decline of over 50% within a year. Among them, Doodles, which focused on "community-first" in 2021, saw the largest drop, with a current decline of 86.5%. Invisible Friends created by Swedish illustrator Markus Magnusson in 2022 now has a floor price of only 2 ETH.

The current top three blue-chip NFT projects by market value, CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, and Mutant Ape Yacht Club, have also dropped by over half of their floor prices. Particularly, Azuki has only seen an 11.5% decline, indicating a high level of community engagement and belief.

Significant Decline in Market Trading Volume

According to data from NFTGo.io, the NFT market's trading volume in the past 7 days has dropped to the levels seen in July 2021, with only 54,000 ETH (approximately $100 million), compared to $1.69 billion in April 2022 and $750 million in February this year, reflecting a significant contraction. The overall market value has also dropped from a high of $32 billion in January 2022 to the current $7.5 billion, representing a 76% decline.

It is worth mentioning that long-term holders of NFTs have increased by 90% in a year, indicating that some NFT investors are not concerned about the continued decline in value. However, the decrease in buyer addresses (-30.9%), increase in seller addresses (32.8%), and overall transaction volume decrease (-7%) suggest that most NFT players are still in a situation of long-term market outflow.

Metaverse Land Market Also Struggles

According to recent statistics from CoinGecko, the prices of assets such as real estate and land in the metaverse have dropped by over 80% from their peak in 2022.

Among them, The Sandbox has seen the largest decline in land prices. At its peak last year, the price of one NFT land in The Sandbox reached as high as 4.2 ETH, but it has now dropped by nearly 90% to only 0.43 ETH.