Data from CryptoSlam showed that global NFT market sales increased by over 5% in the past 7 days despite being down in Q2 2024. The rise in NFT sales indicates a great Q3 start for NFT markets, with NFT buyers increasing by 20%, NFT sellers by 13%, and NFT transactions by 48% in the past week.
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According to the data, NFT sales totaled over $107 million in the past seven days. Buyers stood at 828,840, sellers at 368,251, and transactions at over 2 million. The blockchains that topped the week in NFT sales included Ethereum (>$37 million), Solana (>$22 million), Polygon (>$18 million), Bitcoin (>$15 million), and Mythos Chain (>$3 million sales).
CryptoPunks, Boogle, YOU THE REAL MVP, and Kurenai were among the top-selling NFTs of the week. Mythos’ collection DMarket and Ethereum’s Pudgy Penguins topped in sales in the past week. Solana’s DogeZuki, MadLads, and Polygon’s Base Ape Polygon are other top-performing collections of the week.
NFT is losing the popularity contest to memecoins
In late May, Caitlyn Jenner, a media personality, released her $ JENNER memecoin during a wave of celebrity memecoin launches. Australian rapper Iggy Azalea joined the trend and released her $MOTHER memecoin. The memecoin trend continued to flourish, attracting Davido, among other celebrities.
Several crypto enthusiasts said the flood of memecoins caused the NFT market’s downfall. Kmoney on X mentioned that memecoins continue to be a dominant narrative in the market. He also pointed out that with more people interacting with the memecoins, crypto enthusiasts can stop pretending to care about non-fungible tokens.
meme coins are still the dominant narrative & will likely continue to be because most of the people currently participating in the space have been pretending for years to give a shit about NFTs or defi only to get burned out or lose money. most only ever wanted the number to go… https://t.co/HhpICFORIF
— kmoney (@kmoney_69) June 12, 2024
On the other hand, industry mainstays like Ethereum’s founder, Vitalik Buterin, still have issues with the rising trend of celebrity ‘experimentation’ with crypto. However, Vitalik mentioned that he could accept memecoins created as a means to an end.
Vitalik tweeted that he appreciated Ashton and Mila’s memecoin Stoner Cats as one of the ‘more honorable celebrity memecoin projects of 2024’. He commented that other projects lacked purpose, affecting the memecoin’s durability beyond the hype.
A quick summary of features that a celebrity crypto project needs to have for me to be more willing to respect it:
1. Have some kind of public-good goal that it's serving, other than enriching the celebrity and early adopters. Realistically, either an art project or the…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) June 5, 2024
Vitalik Buterin suggested that memecoin usability could improve how coins survive in the crypto markets. He advised celebrities to create coins with the public good at heart, include ‘fun mechanics’ beyond trading, and ensure the projects last for at least 10 years.
The U.S. Treasury warns against NFT fraud risks
On May 29, the U.S. Department of Treasury released its first report on how illicit actors can use non-fungible tokens and their associated risks. The report mentioned that illicit actors could use non-fungible tokens in terrorist financing, money laundering, and other illegal activities.
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The U.S. Treasury associated some risks with non-fungible tokens, including the assets’ susceptibility to theft and use in scams and fraud. The Treasury mentioned that price hype and fluctuation facilitate theft and fraud using non-fungible tokens and NFT platforms.
Brian E. Nelson, the Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence noted in the report, “This risk assessment demonstrates Treasury’s commitment to analyze illicit finance risks of newer technologies and communicating them to industry and law enforcement.”
The US Treasury assured it could address these risks by raising awareness, enforcing current laws, and finding new regulations to govern non-fungible tokens. The treasury also encouraged the private sector to use the findings to prevent bad actors from misusing non-fungible tokens.
Cryptopolitan reporting by Collins J. Okoth