By James Davis
Since early January, the NFT market has appeared to have gained steam again, considering the growing trading volume and increased sales posted in recent weeks. Additionally, in the past 24 hours, there have been stronger signs of a market rebound as notable Ethereum NFTs sold for over $1 million each.
These single NFTs are from the Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks projects. Both sales involved renowned NFT creators and collectors. Also, they have become the biggest single NFT sales over the last 30 days, as per data from CryptoSlam.
Who Sold Their NFTS?
Kevin Rose, the co-founder of Proof, an NFT startup behind the Moonbirds project, sold his CrytoPunk#5066 for 856 ETH worth $1.35 million at that time. However, the buyer remains anonymous, although a few minutes after the purchase, the pricey NFT was transferred to a wallet named bitshamed.eth.
Rose was recently targeted through a phishing attack that left him 40 NFTs short. Those NFTs, which included Autoglyphs pieces and Art Blocks, had a collective value of $1.1 million. Following that attack, Rose said he would sell some of his assets in an attempt to rebalance the portfolio.
Meanwhile, Jimmy McNelis, a popular Web3 creator and NFT collector, sold his Bored Ape Yacht Club#7090 for 801 ETH worth $1.32 million at the time of sale. The NFT ranks 62nd in terms of rarity in the bored ape collection, which features about 10,000 pieces. McNelis also owns several NFTs from the Kingship collection.
NFT Trading Volume Analysis Since 2021
Last year, the NFT market generated over $23 billion in organic trading volume. However, the figure is lower compared to 2021, when it posted a trading volume worth roughly $25 billion. The decline is associated with the fall in crypto prices stemming from an industry contagion caused by the collapse of several crypto firms.
However, in December 2022, the trading volume rose slightly and surged massively last month. According to data from DappRadar, sales volume increased by 39% in January, while total NFTs sold were 9.6 million, representing an increase of about 43%.