Impactful News and Developments Shaping the NFT and Crypto Space.
Our monthly NFT Report covers key takeaways for October, highlighting NFT sentiment and emerging trends within the ecosystem.
General News and Sentiment
The NFT market has felt the effects of “Uptober,” as sales volumes have increased 21% in the last 30 days, resulting in a market cap of $2.18 billion. Blue-chip projects such as the BAYC collection saw an 81.2% increase in volume the last month, similar to Pudgy Penguins, which had a 51.2% increase in volume. The increase in price and volume can be partly attributed to the general price increase of the crypto market, with Bitcoin and Ethereum up 24.7% and 7.26%, respectively, in the past month. Moreover, when Pudgy Penguins started selling physical plush toys in Walmart, one of the most successful retail stores, interest surged, and so did the floor price of the NFT.
Below are more top news stories shaping the NFT industry:
- Solana goes live on Google Clouds BigQuery data analytics platform. The integration will offer insights into blockchain archival and more precise data analytics. Solana support will go live in Q1 2024, and the first project, Floor, is already testing the new service by sending data on Solana NFT sales and listing to the BigQuery platform. Read more here.
Image Source: The Block
- Neon Machine, a Web3 gaming developer, has secured $20 million in Series A funding to develop its eagerly awaited extraction shooter, Shrapnel. This funding round succeeded a $10.5 million seed round finalized in June 2021. Polychain Capital spearheaded the funding, which saw participation from investors such as Griffin Gaming Partners, Brevan Howard Digital, Franklin Templeton, IOSG Ventures, and Tess Ventures. Read more here.
- Between October 9 and 20, Immutable offered players a chance to experience an early demo of its upcoming mobile game, Guild of Guardians. As outlined in the game's roadmap, the open beta release is anticipated in the fourth quarter of 2023. The Guild of Guardians game specifies that it will be a free-to-play and play-to-earn mobile game. Players can dive into the game and earn NFTs or game tokens without purchasing. Read more here.
- Yuga Labs has completed the company restructuring to focus on Otherside - the project’s upcoming metaverse initiative. Since the announcement that Yuga Labs will focus on the “Metropolis” inside its metaverse project Otherside, the team has been restructuring the company to fit the needs to make the innovation come to fruition. Read more here.
Analytics Deep Dive
Apart from the 21.3% increase in sales volume, sentiment has not necessarily gone up within the NFT space, as many are still waiting to see what happens around April 2024. Nevertheless, with bigger initiatives from blue-chip NFTs, their prices have temporarily surged. What will be important is for the project to continue its momentum and carry on the increases into the end of the year. Furthermore, as aforementioned, the broader crypto market and the anticipation of the ETF approval have affected many of the floor prices and sales volumes. Overall, Ethereum still maintains its lead in NFT sales, with $169,982,328 generated sales in the past month, which is nevertheless still 17% less than in September.
Ethereum NFT Sales Volume (October 1st - October 31st) - Source CryptoSlam
Like BAYC and Pudgy Penguins, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Crypto Punk, and Azuki have also seen increased floor prices of 17%, 1.91%, and 23%, respectively. (Source Nansen)
NFT Market Overview - Source Nansen
Digital Art, Exhibitions, and Events
- MoMA has acquired Rafik Anadol's first generative AI art piece, " Unsupervised- Machine Hallucinations. " The acquisition is part of a broader strategy to purchase more digital art and focus on the blockchain in the long term. The piece utilizes AI to create visual designs inspired by the MoMA’s archives. Read more here.
Image Source: Decrypt Website via MoMA
- Ledger and Sotheby’s are partnering to offer exclusive benefits to digital art collectors. In 2024, digital art buyers will receive a limited-edition Ledger x Sotheby’s hardware wallet to introduce the concept of self-custody, digital art, and secure storage. Read more here.
- 37xDubai, a Morningstar Ventures-backed gallery, officially opened its doors on November 1st. 37x is more than just a gallery; it is a creative space used in various multidisciplinary ways, ranging from private-member gatherings to luxury brand partnerships, educational workshops, and interactive experiences. Read more here.
Related Articles
NFT Report: September Edition
The NFT market continues to face low sentiment as sales volumes have dropped 29% in the last 30 days, and mainstream media is reporting NFTs as “worthless.” Covered by The Guardian, Cointelegraph, Yahoo, The Hindu Times, and more, a recent study conducted by dappGambl, which analyzed data from NFT Scan and CoinMarketCap, found that 95% of NFT collections, equivalent to 23 million individuals, hold NFTs with no market value – as 69,795 out of 73,257 collections have a market cap of 0 Ether.
