Article reprinted from: Nancy
Author: Nancy, PANews
Recently, with the announcement of significant token issuance plans by leading projects such as Magic Eden and Pudgy Penguins, confidence in the NFT market has been effectively reignited, driving a strong rebound in prices and transaction volumes.
The NFT airdrop craze is coming, with several leading projects announcing their token plans.
A new wave of token issuance is coming, with the airdrop event at the NFT trading market Magic Eden igniting this wave of NFT enthusiasm.
A few days ago, Magic Eden officially launched its TGE (Token Generation Event) and quickly landed on major exchanges, with the broad distribution of airdrops becoming a hot topic in the community. While attracting attention through the airdrop activities, Magic Eden also took the opportunity to frequently announce a series of product developments, including allowing users to trade Solana NFTs using ME tokens, the next version allowing users to trade all assets across all chains, and launching community-focused features. According to Magic Eden co-founder Jack Lu, the launch of the ME token is just the beginning, with more plans to come. These initiatives further enhanced the visibility of Magic Eden and the entire NFT market.
Meanwhile, as another major trading platform, OpenSea has also sparked speculation about airdrops. Mike Dudas, co-founder of The Block, recently disclosed on social media that OpenSea has registered a foundation in the Cayman Islands. Since foundations are typically non-profit organizations, this registration can effectively prevent tokens from being classified as securities, and thus this action is widely seen as preparation for token issuance. Notably, OpenSea announced last month that it will launch a new version in December, and the beta version indicates the potential introduction of a loyalty program and retroactive rewards.
According to the latest data from nftpluse, over the past year, OpenSea ranks second in the NFT trading market with approximately 1.2 million users, holding a market share of 23.5%, second only to Magic Eden. Once OpenSea launches an airdrop, its large user base may reignite enthusiasm in the NFT market.
In addition, the leading NFT project Pudgy Penguins also announced its TGE plan during this period, allocating about a quarter of the total token supply to the community. According to X user @BTCThinker88's analysis, the airdrop of Pudgy Penguins' PENGU token may become one of the largest wealth creation events in 2024, with expected average airdrop earnings per holder reaching $31,000 to $61,000. Given that Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz previously revealed that the PENGU tokens have not yet been snapshot, this NFT has quickly become one of the hotly discussed targets in the market.
According to NFT Price Floor data, as of December 16, the floor price of Pudgy Penguins has soared to 33.7 ETH, with a growth rate of over 236.9% in the past 30 days, and a monthly transaction volume reaching as high as $160 million. Currently, the market capitalization of Pudgy Penguins is approaching $1.2 billion, surpassing that of Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and only second to the highest market cap of CryptoPunks.
Blue-chip projects are the main force behind the strong rebound in NFTs.
Currently, blue-chip NFT projects are showing strong price increases and transaction volumes, becoming the main driving force behind the market recovery.
According to CryptoSlam, the total transaction volume in the NFT market over the past 30 days is approximately $720 million, with transactions on Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Immutable experiencing double-digit growth, demonstrating a strong market recovery momentum.
During the market recovery, the main contribution to transaction volume comes from blue-chip NFT projects. According to NFT Price Floor statistics, over the past 30 days, the top ten NFT projects by market capitalization have completed a total transaction volume of $470 million, accounting for approximately 64.9% of the overall market, with Pudgy Penguins, Lil Pudgys, and Bored Ape Yacht Club leading in transaction volume.
At the same time, the recovery of the market is also reflected in the price performance of blue-chip NFTs. NFT Price Floor data shows that over the past 30 days, the average floor price of the Top 10 NFTs has increased by 91.7% (in terms of cryptocurrency), with Pudgy Penguins, Lil Pudgys, and Azuki showing particularly outstanding gains. This further validates the significant driving effect of airdrop activities on transaction volume and floor prices, showcasing the strong resilience of blue-chip projects.
From the perspective of more segmented market performance, the upward momentum of utility NFTs and PFP/Avatar NFTs is the most evident. NFT Price Floor data shows that the market capitalization growth of these two segments has exceeded 85%. In contrast, the performance of gaming NFTs and vintage NFTs has been relatively flat, failing to keep up with the market recovery pace.
"The market is about to welcome the most prosperous NFT bull market in history. AI will become extremely wealthy; unable to purchase physical luxury goods, AI will turn to buying NFTs," predicted Andrew Kang, a partner at Mechanism Capital, in a recent post.
Yat Siu, co-founder of Animoca Brands, also stated recently that the NFT market will see a strong rebound. Despite some failures in the field, NFTs will continue to rise as status-symbol commodities.
VanEck, in its published (Top 10 Cryptocurrency Predictions for 2025), pointed out that although NFTs face challenges, some excellent projects have transcended speculative value through strong community ties, successfully resisting downward trends. For example, Pudgy Penguins has successfully transformed into a consumer product through collectible toys, Miladys has gained cultural status in the realm of ironic internet culture, and Bored Ape Yacht Club has developed into a global cultural dominant force. VanEck believes that newly wealthy users will invest in NFTs, not just as speculative investments, but as assets with lasting cultural and historical significance, predicting that the annual trading volume of NFTs is expected to reach $30 billion, accounting for approximately 55% of the peak in 2021.
Overall, blue-chip projects are undoubtedly the core force in the recovery of the NFT market. Although the overall market recovery still faces uncertainties, the arrival of the airdrop craze has effectively stimulated market sentiment in the short term.