Pranksy: NFT Is Still Alive, But NFT Trading Data Continues To Slum

Pranksy; NFT is still alive, but NFT trading data continues to decline (Photo; Doc. Usatoday)

JAKARTA - In the midst of a debate about the future of non-fungible tokens (NFT), a well-known collector named Pranksy remains optimistic. Pranksy, who is an early NFT investor with a large following and collection, asked his followers on platform X about the last time they bought NFT.

The post received nearly 118 thousand views and more than 500 replies, which led Pranksy to conclude that the world of NFT is still alive and breathing. "500 genuine replies, there's still life here," he wrote, hinting that the NFT space is still active.

However, data from CryptoSlam shows a more complex picture of the NFT market. In May, global sales of NFT hit 604 million US Dollars (approximately Rp9.8 trillion), recording its lowest monthly performance since October the previous year. It is also the first month of 2024 to witness sales below $1 billion.

Ethereum, a leading blockchain for NFT sales with a historical volume of more than 43 billion US Dollars (approximately IDR 703 trillion), also experienced a decline in sales, recording 164 million US Dollars (approximately IDR 2.6 trillion), the lowest since September. The number of unique Ethereum buyers has also fallen significantly, with only 56,914 unique buyers in May, the lowest since June 2021.

The decline in NFT sales did not only occur on Ethereum; even the Bitcoin network has decreased. Bitcoin recorded 160 million US Dollars (approximately IDR 2.6 trillion) in monthly sales, the lowest figure since October. The number of buyers and sellers on the Bitcoin network also hit its lowest point this year.

However, amid a decline in sales on a large blockchain, Solana appears to be against trends in terms of activity. The blockchain recorded 93 million US Dollars (approximately IDR 1.5 trillion) in monthly sales, first dropping below the US$100 million mark (approximately IDR 1.6 trillion) since November of the previous year. Solana also set new records for buyers and sellers of unique monthly, with 346,229 and 594,555 addresses, respectively.

Despite Solana's active user base, the average price of NFT on this network has decreased. The average monthly sales value reached 37.8 US dollars (approximately IDR 605 thousand), the lowest figure recorded this year.