NFT sales volume jumped to $10.7 billion in the third quarter of 2021, an eightfold increase over the previous quarter, according to data from market tracker DappRadar, as the crypto-asset frenzy hits new highs.
As a reminder, NFTs use a blockchain to register ownership of digital objects such as images, videos and collectibles. The surge in sales and high prices of NFTs have confounded many, but their explosive and almost exponential growth shows no sign of slowing down yet.
In the second quarter of 2021, NFT sales reached $1.3 billion, while they were $1.2 billion in the first quarter of this year, according to data from DappRadar. In NFT’s largest market, OpenSea, sales volumes reached $3.4 billion in August. Activity remained strong in September as financial markets weakened.
Crypto-currency price gains during the Covid-19 pandemic are often cited as one of the drivers of NFT market growth, as people often use crypto-currencies to buy NFTs.
Certainly, estimates of the size of the NFT market vary depending on what is included. Transactions that take place ‘off-chain’, such as art sales at auction houses, are often not included in the data. In contrast, DappRadar includes these figures in its calculations, unlike other platforms such as CryptoSlam.
However, despite the growth of the market, the number of NFT buyers remains relatively low. For example, only 265,927 active wallets were trading NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain in the third quarter, NonFungible.com reported.
Gaming-related NFTs also increased, with Axie Infinity blockchain-based game leading the play-to-earn sector with $776 million in revenue in the third quarter, DappRadar said.
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