NFT market roars back to life; sales soar by 38% in January, thanks to Bored Apes

A recent resurgence in the NFT market has spurred a significant increase in activity in January. According to data from DappRadar, organic trading volume skyrocketed by 38% from December, indicating a thriving NFT space.

NFT asset sales reached $946.7 million in January. This represents a significant jump from December 2022 sales of $683.9 million. Not only that, but it marks the biggest market-wide sum since the sunny days of June 2022.

NOTE: DappRadar takes a vigilant approach by excluding data from potentially fraudulent transactions, such as wash trades. 

In wash trading, a user artificially inflates prices by repeatedly selling an NFT between their own controlled wallets, in an attempt to manipulate rewards models or increase visibility for a lesser-known project.

In addition, DappRadar reported 9.5 million NFT sales, bringing to mind the largest count since February 2022. A notable and significant rise of 42% from the December 2022 total of 6.7 million NFTs sold.

Blockchains with growth in NFT sales

• Ethereum saw a surge in sales volume, rising from $558 million in December to over $772 million in January. 
• Solana followed suit, recording growth from $69.5 million in December to almost $86 million in January.
• Flow (the driving force behind the popular sports collectibles platforms Dapper Labs’ NBA Top Shot and NFL All Day) saw an increase in sales from nearly $6.8 million in December 2022 to almost $7.8 million in January.

NFT markets reap rewards

OpenSea held its position at the top with a massive $495 million in trading volume in January to beat the December 2022 increase of $297 million.

Moreover, it was among the first to show signs of a market resurgence earlier in January. Its Ethereum NFT volume skyrocketed past its total in just three weeks.

Despite a dip in activity towards the end of 2022, the NFT market saw $25 billion in organic trading volume in both 2021 and 2022.

The reason for the season

Over and above that, the NFT market surge in January was partly fueled by the release of Yuga Labs’ Sewer Pass.

This coveted NFT pass was accessible only to the elite members of the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Mutant Ape Yacht Club. To boot, it was not available for transactions on marketplaces like Blur and LooksRare due to creator royalty disputes. 

NFT holders now have the chance to play an intriguing new web game with the release of Sewer Pass.

Winning NFT collections

• Bored Ape saw a 45% surge in trading in January, with a market-topping $71 million in sales.
• Since its mid-January debut, Sewer Pass has generated over $58 million in NFT trading activity.
• Azuki also flourished and saw a boost of 89% over the past 30 days.
• Art Blocks rose by 62%.
• Solana-based DeGods skyrocketed by 113%.

*Data courtesy of CryptoSlam.

Although the total trading volume reached a new high of $5.36 billion in January 2022, the market faced a decline in May 2022 due to the crypto market drop.

In conclusion

Naysayers had declared the NFT market a thing of the past as activity and prices dwindled in recent months.

Nonetheless, with broadening activity and a resurgence in the prices of major projects, it remains to be seen if the recent upward trend, largely propelled by the Bored Ape Yacht Club, will carry on and propel the market back to its first billion-dollar month since June.