Galaxy tokenizes violin to secure loan, NFT sales volume tumbles: Nifty Newsletter

June 5, 2024 Coin Telegraph

8 Blockchain Giants Log $3.77 Billion in NFT Sales in Q1 2024

April 7, 2024 Bitcoin.com

NFT Market Flourishes With an 11.62% Rise This Week; Largest Ordinal Inscription Fetches Record 8 BTC

March 9, 2024 Bitcoin.com

NFT Market Booms With 35% Sales Increase as Cryptocurrencies Rally

March 2, 2024 Bitcoin.com

Weekly NFT Sales Rise 17% With Bitcoin Climbing Back to Second in Volume

February 24, 2024 Bitcoin.com

NFT Market Sales Dip 12% This Week While Highlight Collections Record Notable Rises

February 18, 2024 Bitcoin.com

NFT sales volume upward trend to continue, industry execs say

November 14, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

CoinW executive Sonia Shaw told Cointelegraph that the recent uptick in NFT sales shows a "broader and more profound interest” extending beyond art.

In the weeks leading to November, nonfungible token (NFT) data showed a consistent upward leap in weekly sales. While the volume is still far from its peak in 2021, executives in the industry believe the upward trend will likely continue.

On Nov. 6, data published by blockchain analytics firm Nansen showed that NFT sales volume leaped from $56 million in the week ending on Oct. 9 to $129 million in the week ending on Nov. 6.

*NFT sales volume data in the last year. Source: Nansen*

According to Jonathan Perkins, the co-founder of NFT marketplace SuperRare, this trend is likely to continue for the coming months. The executive believes that the worst has passed and is expecting upward swings shortly. He said:

“I think the worst of the NFT-hangover-induced bear market is behind us, and things are turning around. Marketplace volume will always be volatile, but I expect a massive upward macro trend in the next six months.”

Perkins also believes that the downturn in NFTs was “purely sentiment.” The SuperRare co-founder told Cointelegraph in a statement that in the past 18 months, nothing “inherently went wrong” with NFTs.

“NFTs are a fundamental advancement in the internet because they introduce traceable origin and ownership to digital objects. This unlocks a new online creator economy that can be 100x bigger than Web2,” he added. The executive also believes that in the long term, NFTs will be a big part of the online economy and the space will see volumes that “eclipse those of the last cycle.”

*Top NFT collections by 30-day sales volume. Source: CryptoSlam*

Commenting on the topic, Sonia Shaw, partner and vice president of partnership at digital asset exchange CoinW, said that the recent growth in NFT sales reflects a "broader and more profound interest" that extends beyond art and collectibles. Shaw told Cointelegraph that NFTs represent a significant shift in digital and physical asset management. She explained:

“Their application in verifying the authenticity of unique and valuable items across industries is pivotal. [...] NFTs are an essential part of the evolving digital economy, especially with their integration into Web 3.0 and the metaverse.”

Shaw also highlighted that potential use cases for NFTs could revolutionize industries such as identity management, real estate, healthcare, finance and supply chain logistics. While the executive believes in the role of NFTs in advancing digital ownership, Shaw also told Cointelegraph that it’s essential for players to also be mindful of the challenges. This includes regulatory considerations, environmental impact and security issues.

Meanwhile, Oscar Franklin Tan, the chief financial officer of NFT platform Enjin, echoed the sentiments. Making a case for NFTs, Tan highlighted that NFTs have already been established as a unique digital asset class entirely separate from crypto.

The executive also told Cointelegraph that many investors entering the digital asset space back in 2021 were interested primarily in NFTs. Furthermore, Tan also pointed out that NFT communities like the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Azuki have “remained intact” despite the bear market.

As more investors come into crypto, they may also eventually dive into NFTs. “Renewed interest in Bitcoin and Ethereum will necessarily spread to blue chip NFTs and newer collections, including gaming NFTs,” Tan added.

Magazine: China’s surprise NFT move, Hong Kong’s $15M Bitcoin fund: Asia Express

Nifty News: Yuga Labs jumps on Ordinals hype, Dookey Dash key sells for 1,000 ETH and more…

February 28, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin NFTs

Google Trends data shows interest in NFTs has waned, even as trading volumes are surging, while Korean multinational giant Lotte has partnered with Polygon.

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) creators Yuga Labs has announced a new NFT collection on Bitcoin dubbed “TwelveFold.”

The move was announced via Twitter on Feb. 28, with Yuga Labs unveiling 300 tokenized computer generated artworks as part of the TwelveFold collection that will go up for auction later this week.

Introducing TwelveFold. A limited edition collection of 300 generative pieces, inscribed on satoshis on the Bitcoin blockchain.https://t.co/aFWEIhzqcI pic.twitter.com/PjWABKKBr4
— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) February 27, 2023

In an accompanying blog post, Yuga Labs explained the concept behind the collection is based on mathematics, time and the Bitcoin blockchain.

“TwelveFold is a base 12 art system localized around a 12x12 grid, a visual allegory for the cartography of data on the Bitcoin blockchain,” the post reads, adding that:

“Satoshis are the smallest individually identifiable units of a Bitcoin. An inscribed satoshi can be located by tracking when that satoshi was minted in time via the Ordinal Theory protocol.”

“Inspired by this, our collection explores the relationship between time, mathematics, and variability,” it explained.

Yuga Labs cited the recent buzz around Bitcoin NFTs, or Ordinals, as the reason why it chose to drop a collection on the network.

“Stepping into the Ordinals Discord a month ago felt like getting a glimpse of the 2017-era Ethereum NFT ecosystem. It’s the type of energy and excitement we love at Yuga,” the firm stated.

Yuga Labs is launching an Ordinal Inscription collection on Bitcoin.

The instructions on how to acquire them involves running a self-custodial Bitcoin wallet, requires an empty Bitcoin address, and all bids will be in bitcoin.

They also provide a guide to Bitcoin UTXOs. pic.twitter.com/NQJeZQaagp
— Eric Wall | Taproot Wizard #2 (@ercwl) February 27, 2023

Search down, trading up

According to Google Trend data, search interest for NFTs has fallen to levels not seen since early 2021 — before the NFT boom — suggesting interest could be waning for nonfungible tokens.

NFT trading volume data from February however, suggests otherwise.

Google Trends uses a metric of 0-100 to display interest in various keywords that people look up in its search engine. Between Feb. 19 and Feb. 25, the keyword “NFTs” scored a mere seven out of 100.

Such levels haven’t been seen since early-to-mid January 2021, while it has been a steep decline since the all-time high of 100 between Jan. 23 and Jan. 29, 2022.

NFT trading volume in February paints a different picture however.

According to data from CryptoSlam, there has been $997.14 million worth of global NFT sales for the month, following on from the $1 billion posted in January.

These levels bring the NFT market back to that of June 2022 and its $982 million worth of sales, before dipping to a low of $460 million in October 2022.

More recently, sales volume has been on a significant incline, with the launch of the trader-friendly marketplace Blur being a key contributor behind this.

Twitch streamer sells Dookey Dash key for 1,000 ETH

The man who won the Golden Key NFT for posting the highest score on the BAYC-affiliated Dookey Dash game has sold the token for 1,000 Ether (ETH), or roughly $1.63 million.

Twitch streamer Kyle Jackson, also known by his pseudonym Mongraal online, initially received the key on Feb. 16 after notching a hefty 928,522 points during the Dookey Dash competition hosted by Yuga Labs.

Wasting no time, Mongraal announced on Feb. 27, that he had agreed to sell the key to Adam Weitsman, BAYC NFT hodler and CEO of scrap metal shredding company Upstate Shredding.

I have agreed to sell the key for 1000 ETH to @AdamWeitsman. Super nice guy and thrilled the sale went through with him.

A special thank you to @yugalabs for hosting an incredible competition. I look forward to competing in future events. Royalties will be paid in full.
1/2
— Mongraal (@Mongraal) February 27, 2023

The Golden Key is bound to unlock something special from Yuga Labs, however, the specific details have not yet been revealed.

Polygon pens another major partnership

Polygon Foundation, the non-profit organization behind Ethereum-layer 2 scaling network Polygon, has partnered with South Korean multinational conglomerate Lotte Group to host the firm’s NFT projects.

According to a Feb. 27 announcement from Lotte’s marketing and NFT hub, Daehong Communications, the partnership will see Lotte’s avatar-based NFT project BellyGom ported over to Polygon from the Klatyn network.

The project will be rebranded as BellyGom season 2, and the NFTs offer hodlers benefits relating to Lotte’s product and service lines such as shopping discount coupons and hotel vouchers. New additionally benefits have been teased moving forward, but details were sparse in the announcement.

Lotte has nearly 100 different business units across areas such as fast food, candy manufacturing, electronics and hotels. As of September 2022, the firm is estimated to have around $15 billion worth of assets on its balance sheet.

Looking more broadly, the firm has outlined intentions to develop its Web3 initiatives in partnership with Polygon, as Lotte looks to expand its NFTs to a global audience and develop “a new NFT business model rather than simply issuing NFTs.”

The move adds to Polygon’s growing list of partnerships with major brands such as Startbucks, Adidas, Adobe and Prada.

Other Nifty News

According to a survey from metaverse platform, Metajuice, almost three out of four of the NFT collectors on its platform purchase NFTs for status, uniqueness and aesthetics.On the other hand, 13% percent of the survey participants said that they are buying NFTs to resell them in the future.

A group of well-known Japanese tech companies agreed on Feb. 27 to forward the creation of the “Japan Metaverse Economic Zone. Along with creating the Japan Metaverse Economic Zone, the agreement focuses on building an open metaverse infrastructure called “Ryugukoku,” which will spark the next wave of metaverse development.