Global NFT trading volume grows over 200% in 2022 surpassing $50 billion

As the public becomes more aware of the existence of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse thanks to a slew of celebrities and brands transitioning there, their trading volume is seeing a steady increase.

Indeed, the total volume traded in NFTs has recently exceeded 18 million ETH or $54 billion in aggregate value, according to the data from the cryptocurrency market analytics platform IntoTheBlock retrieved on April 18.

Specifically, IntoTheBlock’s year-to-date chart shows that the global trading volume of NFTs grew from $16.94 billion on January 1, 2022, to $54.58 billion on April 17, which is an increase of 222.2% since the year’s turn.

Elsewhere, the platform had previously shared another chart on April 13, which showed that the NFT adoption curve was actually “just starting,” with only 4.5% of ETH addresses with a balance being holders of NFTs.

This percentage as well is recording a slow yet stable increase over time, and on April 17, it stood at 4.64%, as per IntoTheBlock data.

NFT believers are aplenty

Meanwhile, the crypto community has no lack of believers in the future boom of NFTs, including Gate.io’s chief marketing officer (CMO) Marie Tatibouet. 

During the Paris Blockchain Summit, she said that she agreed with Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary in his view that non-fungible tokens could outshine Bitcoin (BTC) in terms of market capitalization:

“Absolutely. I think 100% because the NFT market can be so many different things and I really do think for example all of the art pieces will have NFTs or fractionalized NFTs as well associated with them every single piece of art for short not now but 10 years from now I’m almost certain.”

The two of them are joined in their NFT enthusiasm by the CEO of Amazon Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN), Andy Jassy, who has said that the e-commerce giant wasn’t considering adding crypto as a payment mechanism, but he could imagine a future in which it starts selling NFTs.