In February 2023, DappRadar published a report showing that the Ethereum NFT market cap value had fallen by 59.60% from $9.3 billion in 2022 to around $3.7 billion. The report attributed the collapse to the manipulations of bad actors in the ecosystem, as well as the global crypto market crash following the collapse of FTX. Despite the bear market, some projects launched during 2021 and early 2022 had “significant market cap growth” of up to 260%. Among the newer NFT projects, the Potatoz, Renga, DigiDaigaku, and God Hates NFT collections experienced market cap growth of 134.68%, 211.63%, 209.88%, and 1,653.28%, respectively.
Yuga Labs, the parent company of the Bored Ape Yacht Club project, dominated the Ethereum network’s NFT market, despite the market capitalization of Bored Ape Yacht Club seeing a 64.92% depreciation. Yuga Labs bought two of the largest NFT collections on the market, CryptoPunks and Meebits, for an undisclosed sum. Both collections are already seeing a significant rebound after suffering declines of up to 60% in 2022.
The crypto market is now showing signs of a recovery, which could mean green pastures ahead for the NFT ecosystem. Trading activity around blue-chip collections has started to spike, and NFTs are now taking over the Bitcoin network. With the market cap of Ethereum NFTs having decreased by 59.60%, the industry is now looking for ways to regain its lost value.
