Will NFTs Ever Return To How They Were In Peak 2021?

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In the summer of 2021, as prices of major cryptocurrencies surged to record highs, non-fungible tokens were also inevitably and regularly amassing head-scratching sums. Since then, many NFTs have gone down to even more than 70% of their original value. Will NFTs ever retest such hype? Here is what industry experts have to say:

Is The NFT Market Dead?

Since the start of the year, all eyes have been on the performance of the flagship crypto “Bitcoin, and to some extent “Ethereum,” which has recently swelled to new record highs for the first time in more than ten months. Bitcoin (BTC) has risen above $30,000, while Ethereum (ETH) has risen above $2,000.

On the other hand, the NFT market, which ended up in its bull market well a year ago, has since plummeted in volumes and is now drifting sideways until a new narrative arrives. Current volumes are $100 to $180 million per week, significantly lower than the $1 billion highs during the past bull market.

The NFT Experts Share Their Thought

In an April 21 blog post, a renowned crypto researcher, Aaron Sage, remarked that the NFT market might never return to where it was in peak 2021, claiming that the NFT culture is already dead. The crypto researcher claimed that people, who used to trade and mint NFTs happily, have since shifted to shitcoin, which are likely all scams.

NFTs will never go back to how they were in peak 2021.
The culture is dead.
Here’s why: pic.twitter.com/d1WKuOamm9
— Aaron (@AaronSage) April 21, 2023

The NFT researcher maintained that the NFT culture has shifted to “greed, shadiness, and scam.” Aaron Sage’s sentiments have attracted heated discussion online. While airing his stake, Victor Bunin, the protocol specialist at Coinbase Cloud, remarked:

“Friend, this thread reads like it’s your first bear market. You miss the euphoria – everyone is friends with everyone when you’re all making enormous sums of easy money. The euphoria will come back, don’t worry, but don’t confuse it with culture.”

In turn, another industry expert, Claire Silver wrote that in “2018 folks said in 2021: Culture evolves as it gets broader. You lose intimacy but gain accessibility. If innovative niche culture is something you miss, the tree of AI has a thousand branches and is early in the same type of cycle.”

Sally Tuna, another crypto investor, backed Silver, noted that “exactly. Things evolve. The current trading trend pushed particularly by Blur will come to an end. Besides, as crypto goes through its cycles others come back in. The special first time moments don’t repeat but they will continue.”

Legendary, the founder of web3 startup Airdrop Szn, strongly refuted Aaron Sage’s sentiments, noting that humans are terrible at predicting the future, especially in a volatile environment like NFTs.

“NFTs will never go back to how they were in peak 2021.
The culture is dead.”
Here is why this take is wrong and flawed. pic.twitter.com/Z7kKm9Ezhm
— Legendary (@Legendary_NFT) April 22, 2023

Moreover, he noted that the NFT market doesn’t need veterans to continue thriving, asserting that out of the people who joined the nascent crypto sector in 2017, 98% are gone. Legendary maintains that although the crypto market has fallen, neither NFTs nor NFT culture is dead.

Blur And OpenSea Tries To Offer Market Relief

Earlier this year, Blur, an NFT marketplace and OpenSea market rival, created some short-term momentum in the NFT market after launching its highly anticipated utility token, “$BLUR.” In the first week, the $BLUR token reached a record high of $1.40. Unfortunately, $BLUR has since halved in value and sits around $0.67.

On the other hand, the OpenSea NFT marketplace has also recently created a short NFT hype after unleashing its OpenSea Pro, an aggregator letting users buy, sell and track NFTs from over 170 market platforms. Since its inception, the platform has gained massive traction, dethroning former market leader Blur.

Rumors recently claim that OpenSea Pro might soon conduct an airdrop similar to its rival NFT marketplace Blur earlier in February this year. The highly speculated crypto airdrop and other factors suggest potential NFT hype for the broader NFT market.

Top 5 NFTs – Daily Trading Volume In The Past 24 Hours

Top 5 NFTs In Daily Trading Sales Volume: CoinGecko.com

1. Mutant Ape Yacht Club NFTs

Mutant Ape Yacht Club, an NFT collection from digital asset firm Yuga Labs, takes the top spot in daily trading sales volume, recording 3,034 ETH in the past 24 hours. The NFT Collection has a market capitalization of $396 million and a floor price of $20,335.

2. Wrapped CryptoPunks NFT Collection

Wrapped CryptoPunks NFT collection ranks second in daily sales volume after attracting 1,827 ETH in the past 24 hours. The NFT collection from digital asset firm Larva Labs has a market capitalization of $105 million and a floor price of $138,143.

3. Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs

Bored Ape Yacht Club, an all-time selling and the flagship NFT collection of digital assets firm Yuga Labs, ranks third after recording 1,627 ETH in the past 24 hours. The NFT collection has a market capitalization of $959 million and a floor price of $95,980.

4. MineablePunks NFTs

MineablePunks, another NFT collection from Larva Labs featuring a limited edition of 4,143 NFTs, rank fourth today, recording a trading sales volume of 1,600 ETH. The MineablePunk NFT collection has a market capitalization of $764,983 and a floor price of $184.

5. Azuki NFT Collection

Azuki is an NFT collection from the digital asset firm Chiru Labs. In the past 24 hours, Azuki has recorded a sales volume of 1,300 ETH, closing our short to five NFT list today. It has a market capitalization of $285 million and a floor price of $28,525.

Love Hate Inu Raises $5.8M From Its Token Presale

Love Hate Inu is another NFT project that has performed well recently. The NFT project, which allows users to participate in meme poles and mint survey results as NFTs, has already raised more than $5.8 million from its token presale.

If you’ve had a lazy day and don’t know what to do, we have the perfect suggestion!🤔
Get your hands on $LHINU tokens and cast your vote!🗳️💪
It’s the perfect way to spend a relaxing Sunday!😎🚀
🔗https://t.co/Pu2Bo8WOUy#JeffBezos #Amazon #Presale #LoveHateInu #AltCoins pic.twitter.com/kS8vLjTANm
— Love Hate Inu (@LoveHateInu) April 23, 2023

Conclusion

The non-fungible token market shows every sign of recovery and potential strength to thrive even higher in the coming weeks. However, for the digital collectible market to get back to where it was in 2021, NFTs need to break the recent down trendline.