The NFT market did not entirely disappear in 2024 thanks to projects like Pudgy Penguins and top collections from last year reaching price records. The market even posted a better performance compared to 2023.
The NFT market survived 2024, but it did not return to previous peaks. PFP avatars remain a staple in the crypto space, but mainstream interest and active trading were replaced by niche activity. For the whole of 2024, NFT trading reached $8.83B, mostly focused on top collections and older holders.
Ethereum (ETH) dominated the NFT market in 2024, since most collections were originally launched on that chain, and very few migrated. The chain is also the most active in the short term.
Solana and Bitcoin followed with several active collections. Solana retains the largest number of NFT-related transactions, with over 14K buyers and sellers as of January 2.
Ronin was in the fourth spot, hosting the trade for the Axie Infinity collections of playable avatars and metaverse land. Polygon followed, with traffic from older collections and games. Smaller chains have different NFT profiles, ranging between high-price, low-activity NFTs or high-traffic trades for extremely cheap items.
In the short term, Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Immutable posted the most active NFT traffic, as collections still see shifts in general interest. Base, the tokenless chain by Coinbase, is not included in trading statistics, as it focuses on extremely cheap NFTs owned for fun.
The NFT market corresponded with crypto rallies
Enthusiasm for NFTs and more active deals corresponded with the crypto bull market. For the past 12 months, NFTs had two major spikes in both volumes and price action, correlating with the March-April rally. The last three months of 2024 also boosted NFT activity.
NFT trading followed the performance of the crypto market in 2024. | Source: Nonfungible
Art and collectible NFTs were the most active, as they were also tied to active social media promotion. The market for gaming and metaverse NFTs, however, remained niche and kept to its baseline. The split in NFTs showed collections and avatars still commanded mindshare, while utility NFTs and use cases did not matter as much.
The most appealing use cases for NFTs were the potential airdrops and preferential access. Pudgy Penguins was the leader in 2024, with its PENGU airdrop, which led the collection to a new all-time high for the floor price. Briefly, a rare Pudgy Penguin surpassed $100,000, trading above the price of Bitcoin (BTC). After the airdrop, the collection returned to its baseline price floor at around 22 ETH.
Milady Maker, formerly one of the top 5 collections, slid in the charts in the new year, as it remained one of the more volatile communities. Miladies were also one of the few collections overlapping with active meme token trading.
Punks held their top position, while Bored Ape holders still tried to make the best of their NFT. The collection is still supported by influencers like Machi Big Brother, who periodically launches new projects with preferential entry for Ape NFT holders.
NFTs still show signs of wash trading
NFT trading may still include volumes specifically created by market makers, or other forms of wash trading. The lack of mass organic demand and hype also means some chains and collections are more exposed to wash trading.
On Ethereum, up to 15.48% of the daily traffic is linked to wash trading, moving NFTs between connected wallets. The market remains relatively small, with just around 117 NFT items changing hands in the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin-related Ordinals have around 6.25% in daily wash trading volumes, while for other chains like Solana, wash trading remains negligible. The share of wash trading may vary depending on collections and hype. This metric may reveal the risk of buying into a collection that later turns out to be illiquid.
Predictions for 2025 are conflicting, with some believing NFT can never achieve mass appeal again. However, communities and collections are trying to maintain their mindshare, especially the holders of Azuki, Pudgy Penguins, BAYC and MAYC apes.
One prediction for 2025 is that AI agents may revive the NFT market. So far, agents have not built collections or hyped existing ones. NFTs also need to compete with memes, which offer a much cheaper entry point.
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