NFT sales suffer, Pudgy Penguins plunge: Here’s the latest

The NFT market continues its downward trend even as crypto prices stabilize, with Bitcoin edging up to $97,000 while Ethereum holds steady around $2,688 (see below).

Source: CoinGecko

The broader crypto market has seen a modest recovery, with the total market cap rising to $3.24 trillion from last week’s $3.13 trillion.

New traders show interest despite lower volumes

According to CryptoSlam data, NFT (non-fungible token) sales volume has fallen to $112.7 million. That’s a 35.15% decline from the previous week. However, the market has seen a notable surge in participation, suggesting growing interest from new traders despite lower overall values.

The market data shows an interesting contrast between volume and participation:

• NFT sales volume dropped to $112.7 million from $119.5 million
• NFT buyers surged 624.41% to 203,994
• NFT sellers increased 519.61% to 158,805
• NFT transactions declined slightly by 1.41% to 1,443,007

Ethereum NFT sales volume drops 41.25%

Source: Blockchains by NFT Sales Volume (CryptoSlam)

• Ethereum ( ETH ) remains the market leader but saw sales fall 41.25% to $56.0 million. The network’s wash trading dropped 78.20% to $12.0 million, though buyer numbers rose 81.43% to 30,598.
• Mythos Chain held second place with $13.9 million in sales, up 4.66%.
• Solana ( SOL ) maintained the third position with $11 million despite a 32.56% decrease.
• Polygon ( POL ) showed strength in fourth place with $8.1 million, growing 10.76%.
• Bitcoin ( BTC ) dropped to fifth with $6.7 million, falling 71.42%.

DMarket leads the NFT sales

DMarket has taken the lead with $8.7 million in sales, up 7.98%. The collection maintained strong activity with 322,241 transactions and 24,413 buyers. Courtyard followed with $7.3 million, rising 25.78% and seeing buyer numbers jump 122.44%.

CryptoPunks held third place with $5.2 million despite a 30.01% drop. Pudgy Penguins fell to fourth position with $5.1 million, declining 55.29%. Azuki rounded out the top five with $5 million, down 79.17%.

The week’s top sales included:

• Uncategorized Ordinals #8912771: $7,749,449 (80.1296 BTC)
• CryptoPunks #2550: $331,955 (125 ETH)
• CryptoPunks #793: $146,683 (53.5 ETH)
• CryptoPunks #9634: $128,988 (47.5 ETH)
• CryptoPunks #9701: $122,883 (45 ETH)

What happened?

NFTs were hot in 2021, but the market became increasingly saturated. Sales plummetted, but showed signs of a comeback in October.

But with thousands of projects flooding the space, many that lack unique value propositions, buyers have seemingly grown more cautious about speculative investments.

The initial hype-driven boom of NFTs, fueled by high-profile endorsements — including a series of photo-shopped images hyped by Donald Trump while he was campaigning — has begun to fade. Many early adopters have grown disillusioned with projects that failed to deliver long-term value, while others face the reality of unsustainable valuations.

As a result, interest in NFT trading has slowed, especially as economic uncertainty—including rising inflation and recession fears—has caused consumers to pull back from speculative assets.

Despite these challenges, the NFT space is evolving. There is growing interest in NFTs with real utility, particularly those tied to the metaverse and gaming ecosystems, suggesting the market is shifting towards more functional assets rather than speculative collectibles. While the market cools, quality over quantity is becoming the defining factor for future NFT success.

For more coverage on NFTs, check out episode six of The crypto.news Show, with special guest Anika Meier .