Cardano NFTs and Corporate Interest Spike – Top NFT News Today – 22 January, 2024
The non-fungible tokens (NFTs) sales volume is like weather – changes daily, several times a day. Unlike weather, however, NFT news forecasts are a bit more difficult, so we can never be sure what to expect.
After several days of drops, the 24-hour sales volume is up today by 4.55% to $36,306,092, according to CryptoSlam.
Buyers and sellers are down 9% and 5%, respectively, at the time of writing. Transactions fell 10% to 324,142.
Top performers among the top 10 collections by sales volume are Froganas (+120%) and Pudgy Penguins (+96%).
Making it to the daily NFT news roundup in the red we have CryptoPunks (-22%) and Gas Hero Common Heroes (%21.7%).
Today in NFT news, read about Cardano entering the top 10 blockchain list by NFT sales volume, Ethereum recording the highest volume since June last year, and NFTs attracting Corporate America.
Cardano NFT Trading Volume Lands in Top 10
Cardano has entered the top blockchains by NFT trading volume.
That said, it – as most blockchains over the past 24 hours – is mostly in red. Sales are down 19% to $117,127, while the buyers are up 13%.
When it comes to sales volume among the top 10, the only green chains (and the day’s winners) are Flow, Solana, and Ethereum, respectively.
Zooming out to observe the 7-day situation, Cardano NFTs land the network the 11th spot, just outside the coveted top 10. Its volume is down 25% to $1,202,929. Buyers are up 37%.
Among the top 10 in this period, Solana is the best performer, with a rise in volume of 43%. It’s followed by Ethereum’s 23% and Arbitrum’s 6%.
All other chains are in the red.
Ethereum Records Highest Volume Since June
On Thursday, January 18, the trading volume of the Ethereum NFT market hit $42.7 million. This was the first time this number exceeded $40 million since the end of June last year.
The news was first published by journalist Colin Wu.
Since the beginning of this year, the second-highest daily volume was $32.52 million, seen on January 12.
Since Thursday, however, the trading volume has gone back down, though to somewhat higher levels than the weeks prior and on par with those recorded in early December last year.
Friday recorded $29.6 million, Saturday $28.2 million, and Sunday $25.6 million.
The weekly volume, too, has shot up to the heights first seen since June 2023.
As recorded on January 15, the weekly volume was up to just below $204 million. A week earlier, it stood at $168.9 million.
Meanwhile, the end of June last year saw $216.6 million in weekly trading volume.
Over the past two years, the highest point reached was a whopping 1.4 billion in April 2022.
As for marketplaces, Blur took the largest piece of the pie, at 76%. OpenSea follows it with 16.4%. Then come CryptoPunks, X2Y2, and LooksRare.
NFTs Are Attracting Corporate America
Following the drop in NFT markets compared to two years ago, profits are far away, but Corporate America is still finding useful ways to utilize NFTs, according to Forbes.
Per the report,
“Now that the market has crashed, a much less ambitious version of NFTs are finding a welcome home in the marketing departments of corporate America.”
Making the rounds in NFT news, companies like MasterCard, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Lufthansa have all found ways to employ these tokens. And sneaker companies “may represent the perfect marriage of NFT technology and brand marketing,” Forbes wrote.
The companies that decided to launch their own collections include Nike, Adidas, and Puma.
Nike’s Dunk Genesis collection “was a huge success,” according to Steven Vasilev, co-founder of NFT studio RTFKT, purchased by Nike in December 2021. “Even though the market is still down, our products are still bringing in new people. […] Where Nike serves athletes, we serve creators.”
Many of these collections are used through a loyalty program, so trading is discouraged. Hence, these won’t contribute to volume on NFT marketplaces.
However, Paul Brody, global blockchain lead at consulting firm Ernst & Young, argued that,
“It can turn out to be really great advertising. Your blockchain wallet is gonna become a bit like your public trophy case.”
He added that “we’re headed for a future that is more and more NFTs as souvenirs and as public trophies and not as transferrable financial assets.”
