According to data from The Block’s “2022 Digital Asset Outlook,” the total Non-Fungible Token (NFT) trading volume ended the year 2021 with a total of $8.8 billion, with arts and collectables accounting for 59% of the volume while gaming NFTs accounted for 41% of the trading volume.
The Block is one of the leading digital asset research, analysis and news company and its 2022 outlook revealed that the NFT space got a lot of attention from enthusiasts and investors in 2021. The report explains that the NFT space reached its peak in the third week of August, where the total trading volume of the week stood at $1 billion.
However, since that peak volume in the third week of August, the activity in the space has grossly reduced, particularly in the arts and collectables category. However, the report states that the NFT gaming category on the other hand, seemed more robust with $150 million in weekly traded volume.
What you should know
The report highlighted some of the most significant events in the NFT space in 2021. It reads, “From Beeple’s NFT selling for $69 million to celebrities donning CryptoPunks and Bored Apes to PayPal buying a CryptoPunk to large art auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s embracing NFTs, multitudes of events in 2021 brought NFTs into the zeitgeist.”
The report also revealed that Axie Infinity, the Pokémon like game, led in the gaming sector in 2021, in terms of weekly transaction volume. It further stated, “An interesting observation here is that Axie Infinity’s activity started picking up in May, after the launch of its sidechain Ronin.” With over 9.3 million lifetime transactions, generating $3.2 billion in secondary sales, Axie Infinity has almost twice the total secondary sales as CryptoPunks, with $1.62 billion.
The report also revealed that the total monthly NFT marketplace volume increased 133 times from $17.9 million in January 2021 to $2.0 billion in November. It further reads, “From nonexistent in January to facilitating $2.3 billion worth of NFT trades, the rise of OpenSea as a marketplace has been staggering.” Ethereum remains the most dominant blockchain as far as secondary sales are considered. At $9.3 billion, it has almost three times the secondary market sales compared to Ronin, which is the second best, with $3.2 billion. However, the report stated that it is essential to note that these are all-time comparisons, and Ethereum has had a head start ahead of sidechains or other layer ones.
The report also revealed that the NFT sector witnessed approximately $28 billion in fundraises, which does not include Initial Dex Offerings (IDOs) from games. Forte lead the pack, raising a total of $725 million in a funding round with the likes of Sea Capital, Kora Management, Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global and Solana Ventures participating in the funding round.
