NFT Market Sees Steep Drop as Sales Plunge, Pudgy Penguins Tumble
The NFT market has witnessed a sharp downturn, with weekly sales volume plummeting by 42.42% to just $93.18 million, a dramatic fall from the previous week’s $161.7 million. Despite this slump in monetary value, user activity in the NFT space showed surprising resilience. Data indicates that the number of NFT buyers surged by 33.09% to 509,668, while sellers increased by 21.04% to 413,225. However, overall transaction volume slipped by 7.63% to 1,543,392.
The abrupt decline in sales coincides with a broader recalibration across the NFT ecosystem, even as the broader crypto market shows signs of strength. Bitcoin rebounded to the $111,000 mark, and Ethereum reclaimed the $3,900 level. The total crypto market capitalization rose to $3.75 trillion, up from $3.62 trillion the week before—suggesting investor appetite in crypto remains strong, even as NFTs struggle.
Among the top-performing NFT platforms, DMarket, operating on the Mythos blockchain, claimed the top spot with $9.05 million in sales—an increase of 12.11% from the previous week’s $8.07 million. The collection saw 286,645 transactions involving 19,577 buyers and 15,873 sellers, signaling a healthy level of engagement.
DX Terminal, based on the Base blockchain, dropped to second place with $7.56 million in sales, marking a 20.58% decline from $9.99 million. Despite the fall in revenue, it logged a high number of transactions at 406,415, with over 100,000 buyers and sellers each.
In a dramatic shift, Pudgy Penguins plummeted to third place. The once high-flying Ethereum-based collection saw its sales nosedive by a staggering 76.27%, dropping to $3.8 million from $15.61 million. The number of transactions also dropped sharply to just 128, with only 73 buyers and 77 sellers participating—raising concerns about waning interest or possible market saturation.
Newcomer Guild of Guardians Heroes, hosted on Immutable-Zk, entered the leaderboard at fourth place with $3.45 million in sales, an impressive 41.06% week-over-week increase. The collection recorded 2,837 transactions, indicating growing popularity among collectors.
Two Bitcoin-based BRC-20 NFT collections also saw significant gains. The $ATMC collection ranked fifth with $3.21 million in sales, up 38.3%, while another BRC-20 collection followed closely with $2.9 million, surging 57.5%.
On the blockchain level, Ethereum remained the dominant player with $35.04 million in total sales. However, this marked a steep drop of 65.64% from the previous week’s $102.67 million. Including $4.06 million in wash trading, Ethereum’s total volume stood at $39.10 million. Despite the sharp decline in sales, the number of buyers on Ethereum increased by 41.05% to 47,352, suggesting a potential rebound if confidence returns.
Bitcoin climbed to second place among blockchains, pulling in $13.17 million in NFT sales—a notable 11.14% increase from the previous week. The network attracted 13,462 buyers, a 60.49% jump, signaling renewed interest in Bitcoin-based NFTs.
Base slipped to third place with $10.19 million in sales, a 19.8% decline. Interestingly, buyer activity rose by 13.56% to 257,187, despite $4.90 million being identified as wash trading.
Mythos Chain gained ground, securing fourth place with $9.27 million in sales, up 13.52% from the prior week. The chain attracted 33,791 buyers—an increase of 42.9%—boosted by DMarket’s strong performance.
Immutable (IMX) saw robust growth, finishing fifth with $5.73 million in sales—up 41.05%. The network added 6,012 buyers, reflecting a 40.96% increase.
BNB Chain took sixth place, recording $5.33 million, a 19.62% drop from last week. However, the number of buyers rose sharply by 52.26% to 32,769.
Solana followed in seventh with $4.92 million in sales, a relatively modest decline of 6.23%. The blockchain saw 30,713 buyers—a 40.36% uptick—indicating sustained interest even amid overall market weakness.
A standout event in the past week was the record-breaking sale of a “Good Deed” NFT, which fetched a staggering $44.89 million (equivalent to 70.2 million ADA). This transaction, completed just a day ago, ranks among the most valuable NFT deals in recent history.
Other notable high-value sales included Known Origin #264609, which sold for $246,984.31 (or 63.8 ETH) six days ago. Additionally, three CryptoPunks were among the top five individual NFT sales, reaffirming their status as blue-chip assets in the digital collectibles space.
This week’s dramatic shifts expose the volatile nature of the NFT market. While top collections can fall from grace almost overnight, emerging platforms and networks continue to gain attention by offering innovative use cases or tapping into new communities.
The data also underscores a growing disconnect between market value and user engagement. While dollar volumes have slumped, the rise in buyer and seller numbers hints at a more distributed and possibly maturing user base, no longer concentrated around a few hyped collections.
What’s Driving the NFT Market Down?
Several factors contribute to the market’s current instability. Investor fatigue, declining speculative interest, and regulatory uncertainty continue to weigh on NFT valuations. Additionally, the oversaturation of similar projects and lack of novel utility in many collections have led to a shift in sentiment.
Moreover, the increase in wash trading—especially on Ethereum and Base—adds a layer of skepticism around the legitimacy of some reported volumes. This practice, where assets are bought and sold to oneself to inflate transaction volume, distorts the true health of the market.
Bright Spots Amid the Downturn
Despite the bearish trend, the NFT space is not devoid of optimism. The continued emergence of gaming-related NFTs, as seen with Guild of Guardians, and infrastructure improvements on chains like Immutable and Mythos, suggest that the space is evolving beyond profile pictures and speculative digital art.
Furthermore, increasing buyer activity across several blockchains points to broader adoption and diversification. New users are entering the space, perhaps driven by lower entry prices, improved user interfaces, or genuine interest in Web3 experiences.
Looking Ahead
As the NFT market recalibrates, future growth will likely depend on real-world utility, integration with gaming and metaverse platforms, and the development of more sophisticated tools for creators and collectors alike. The next wave of success won’t come from hype—it will be built on substance, community, and innovation.
In the coming months, watch for how major chains respond with updates to smart contract standards, royalty enforcement mechanisms, and fraud detection systems—all essential to restoring trust and stability in the NFT ecosystem.
While the current slump is significant, history suggests that downturns often pave the way for the next phase of growth. For those still building and engaging, the NFT space may yet offer new opportunities in its next evolution.