Sales surge as NFTs continue to defy the dip
A collection of NFTs by digital artist Thomas Lin Pederson titled Screens arrived on the Art Blocks marketplace this week to a warm reception. The collection of 1000 generative NFT drawings launched on Monday, January 31, and have now all been minted at the cost of 1.25 ETH, or around $3,400. NFT flippers are already active on the marketplace, with the top sale in the last 24 hours being for 4 WETH, or about $11,000.
The 800% boost in NFT trading volume experienced by Art Blocks, doesn’t come from the Screens artworks alone. Other NFT collections seeing sales in the last 24 hours include Matt Kane’s Gazers, which first came out on December 6, 2021, and Fragments of an Infinite Field by Monica Rizzolli, which first dropped on September 13, 2021. It appears admirers of Thomas Lin Pederson’s art also took a shine to other pieces on Art Blocks.
At the time of writing, trading volume on Art Blocks leaped over 800% in the last 24 hours as the new collections attracted almost 1000 traders to Art Blocks with 747 sales in the same time frame. Interestingly three of the five top value sales in the last 24 hours are from Matt Kane’s Gazers collection. Those three sold for an approximate combined amount of $100,000.
The top sale in the last 24 hours belongs to the Meridian collection which initially dropped at the end of September on Art Blocks. Interestingly the seller sold the item for the same amount they purchased it for just two months ago.
What is Art Blocks?
Art Blocks has carved a niche in the NFT collectibles space showcasing and curating generative art. Art Blocks was the first platform focused on genuinely programmable on-demand generative content stored immutably on the Ethereum Blockchain. Buyers pick a style they like, pay for the work, and a randomly generated version of the content is created by an algorithm and sent to their Ethereum account.
The resulting piece might be a static image, 3D model, or interactive experience. Each output is different, and there are endless possibilities for the types of content that can be created on the platform.
Two more collections launched on Feb 1, 2022 and so far, these have not all been minted, but there is every chance these new collections can continue the upward trend for Art Blocks given a surge in interest globally for NFTs and crypto art.
NFTs take center stage (again)
While cryptocurrencies are struggling, NFTs appear to be thriving. Narrowing down the analysis to Ethereum, responsible for 75% of last year’s volume, we see a positive trend. NFT sales and the number of users have increased, and so have the Unique Active Wallets (UAW) connected to NFT dapps (collectibles and marketplaces). Since December 2021, more than 53,300 UAW have connected to Ethereum NFT dapps on average per day. That’s 43% higher than the numbers seen during Q3 of last year.
A surge in sales shows that while crypto prices are slumping, NFT holders that potentially jumped in at the peak are looking to offload their NFTs for higher amounts amidst the fervor of interest. Additionally, activity across the significant marketplaces on Ethereum and on other networks like Solana and Tezos point toward NFTs becoming a more established store of value as investors look to weather the impending bear market.
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The above does not constitute investment advice. The information given here is purely for informational purposes only. Please exercise due diligence and do your research. The writer holds ETH, BTC, AGIX, HEX, LINK, GRT, CRO, OMI, IMMUTABLE X, GALA, AVASTR, GMEE, CUBE, RADAR, FLOW, FTM, BNB, SPS, WRLD, ATOM, and ADA.
