NFT sales crater 27% to $62.5M as traders exit the market, Bitcoin NFTs slump 65%
The NFT market has logged one of its sharpest weekly pullbacks of the year, with on-chain data showing a broad collapse in participation across almost every major network and collection.
According to CryptoSlam figures, total NFT sales volume slid 27.65% week‑on‑week to roughly $62.58 million, down from $88.29 million. The drop comes despite relatively stable conditions in the broader crypto market: Bitcoin is still trading around the $90,000 mark after last week’s rebound, while the overall crypto market capitalization has inched up to $3.09 trillion from $3.08 trillion.
What has changed dramatically is not prices, but activity. The number of active NFT buyers plunged 82.75% to just 60,985 over the week, while the count of sellers sank 77.69% to 56,228. Overall NFT transactions fell 23.64% to 690,550, underscoring a sharp contraction in speculative interest and trading turnover rather than a simple price correction.
Ethereum holds the crown as Bitcoin NFT volumes collapse
Network-level data highlights a stark divergence between Ethereum and Bitcoin. Ethereum preserved its position as the top NFT chain with $26.76 million in weekly sales, effectively flat, posting only a marginal 0.10% decline from $27.57 million. Despite the slight dip, Ethereum’s dominance in the NFT sector remains intact.
However, the picture is less flattering beneath the surface. Ethereum logged an estimated $3.97 million in wash trading, lifting the chain’s total NFT-related volume to $30.73 million when those suspect transactions are included. Even more striking, Ethereum buyers fell 86.03% to just 3,338, showing that the network’s headline volume is being sustained by a shrinking base of market participants.
Bitcoin, by contrast, suffered a brutal reset. Weekly NFT sales on Bitcoin dropped to $10.43 million, a 65.16% collapse from last week’s $29.95 million. Wash trading on Bitcoin NFTs was comparatively modest at around $97,394, suggesting the decline is being driven by a genuine fall in real demand rather than the flushing out of artificial activity. Buyer numbers mirrored this steep slide, tumbling 86.01% to 1,713.
The sharp reversal in Bitcoin-based NFTs – including the once-hyped BRC‑20 standard – marks a clear cooling in one of the most aggressively speculated segments of the NFT market over the past year.
BNB, Immutable, Solana and others: mixed performance across chains
Outside the two largest ecosystems, other NFT networks posted more muted moves, although they were not immune to the collapse in user activity.
BNB Chain held third place in weekly sales at $7.00 million, almost unchanged with a negligible 0.62% decline from the previous week. Wash trading on BNB Chain was estimated at only $8,217, but even here the number of buyers cratered, dropping 94.36% to 2,820. The stability in volume alongside a collapse in buyers suggests larger or repeat traders may be dominating what remains of activity.
Immutable (IMX) secured fourth place with $3.91 million in NFT sales, up 18.29% from $3.26 million last week. Despite the volume growth, buyers on Immutable fell 85.68% to 886, again reinforcing the pattern of rising concentration: fewer wallets are responsible for more of the trading.
Solana (SOL) climbed to fifth with $3.73 million in sales, a robust 37.01% rise from $2.89 million. Yet Solana also faced its own participation crunch, with buyers declining 86.81% to 5,098. Wash trading on Solana NFTs was significantly higher than on some competitors at $379,310, pointing to a more active speculative and farming environment.
Panini – operating its own blockchain for digital collectibles – took sixth position with $2.51 million in volume, up a dramatic 173.06% week‑on‑week. Unlike many of its peers, Panini saw a slight improvement in user numbers, with 934 buyers, a 2.08% increase, suggesting more organic, retail‑driven interest in tradable collectibles rather than pure speculation.
Base recorded $2.09 million in NFT sales, sliding 23.14% from $3.11 million the prior week. However, the chain’s wash trading figure of $4.83 million actually exceeded its “clean” sales volume, underlining concerns that part of Base’s NFT activity may be driven by incentives and artificial volume. Even so, the number of buyers on Base fell a comparatively modest 58.33% to 36,212, a smaller decline than seen on most other networks.
CryptoPunks reclaims the spotlight as BRC-20 enthusiasm fades
On the collection level, the week’s leaderboard showed a decisive shift back toward established Ethereum blue chips.
CryptoPunks surged to the top of the rankings with $3.59 million in weekly sales, a 33.58% increase from $2.69 million. That volume came from just 31 transactions involving 21 buyers and 17 sellers, again highlighting the high-value, low-frequency nature of trading in legacy NFT grails. As newer hyped narratives cool off, capital is rotating back into collections perceived as historically significant or more “blue chip.”
YES BOND, an NFT collection on BNB Chain, held onto second place with $2.75 million in sales. Growth was modest at 1.34% from $2.72 million, but activity remained intense: the collection registered 2,277 transactions, with 1,836 buyers and only a single seller, a highly unusual distribution that may reflect unique mechanics or concentrated ownership patterns.
Panini America, running on the Panini blockchain and focused on licensed digital collectibles, exploded into third place at $2.51 million, a 176.41% surge. It saw 19,194 transactions involving 934 buyers and 1,765 sellers, suggesting a broad base of smaller trades rather than a few large NFT flips.
Pudgy Penguins slipped to fourth with $2.15 million in sales, a decline of 8.80% from last week’s $2.39 million. The Ethereum collection recorded 134 transactions from 74 buyers and 81 sellers, underscoring its status as an actively traded, community‑driven collection that nevertheless hasn’t been immune to the broader slowdown.
Rounding out the top five, TokenVestingPlans on Ethereum delivered one of the most eye‑catching percentage moves: sales volume hit $1.81 million, a staggering 3,779.55% jump from the previous week. Yet the collection processed only 44 transactions, with a single buyer facing off against 14 sellers. Such imbalances can sometimes signal one‑off institutional moves, internal restructurings, or specialized financial NFTs rather than typical retail market behavior.
Guild of Guardians Heroes, operating on Immutable‑zk, took sixth place with $1.77 million in sales, down 22.72% week‑on‑week. The gaming-focused collection still managed 1,279 transactions, reflecting continued engagement from players and traders even in a risk‑off environment.
Big-ticket sales remain, but at lower peaks
Despite the slump in overall market activity, several high‑value NFT sales still closed over the week, demonstrating that deep‑pocketed collectors and speculators have not disappeared – they are simply transacting less frequently and at somewhat reduced price levels.
The top individual sale was a $X@AI BRC‑20 NFT on Bitcoin, which changed hands for $1.37 million (15.0069 BTC) six days ago. That figure is sharply below last week’s record‑setting $17.13 million sale for a similar asset, illustrating how quickly peak valuations can retrace in a thinly traded niche.
Second place went to CryptoPunks #7892, which sold for approximately $529,592.56 (169 ETH), also six days ago. The transaction reinforces CryptoPunks’ enduring role as a store of value within the NFT sector, even during periods of declining liquidity.
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) #3112 took the third spot with a sale price of $214,970.88 (69 ETH), completed just one day ago. While far from the collection’s cycle highs, six‑figure BAYC trades still signal ongoing demand for top-tier profile picture (PFP) assets.
The rest of the top five high‑value trades were completed by additional CryptoPunks, further underscoring the flight to legacy collections that have survived multiple NFT cycles.
Why NFT activity is collapsing while crypto prices hold
The disconnect between relatively stable crypto prices and the sharp contraction in NFT participation highlights a key shift in market psychology.
First, with Bitcoin reclaiming and holding the $90,000 level and the total crypto market cap ticking slightly higher, many traders appear to be rotating capital out of illiquid NFT positions and back into more liquid large‑cap tokens. In rising or stable markets, NFTs often lag as participants prefer assets that can be easily traded or hedged.
Second, the data suggests the speculative “farms” that fueled previous NFT waves are winding down. Steep drops in buyer counts across virtually every chain – often above 80% – point to fewer wallets chasing airdrops, rewards, or wash‑trading incentives. As incentive programs mature or end, the least committed speculators typically exit first.
Third, macro uncertainty and regulatory overhang in various jurisdictions continue to weigh on risk appetite. NFTs, which combine the volatility of crypto with the illiquidity of collectibles, can be among the first segments cut from portfolios when sentiment turns conservative.
Blue chips vs. narrative-driven experiments
Another clear theme in the data is the contrasting fortunes of “blue chip” Ethereum collections versus newer experimental formats like BRC‑20 NFTs on Bitcoin.
CryptoPunks and high‑value BAYC sales show that some collectors still view these assets as long‑term cultural artifacts or status symbols, not merely as tickets to short‑term speculation. They have a multi‑year track record, deep secondary markets, and recognizable branding that can survive multiple downturns.
By contrast, Bitcoin’s NFT and BRC‑20 ecosystem, although innovative, has been far more narrative‑driven. The 65% crash in Bitcoin NFT sales, combined with a low level of wash trading, points to a straightforward story: speculative interest has simply waned. Without sustained user demand, on‑chain experiments can see volumes evaporate as quickly as they appear.
This bifurcation suggests that as the industry matures, capital is becoming more selective. Collections with strong IP, active teams, real‑world partnerships, or clear utility tend to weather pullbacks better than those reliant purely on novelty.
The growing role of gaming and collectibles chains
While PFPs and art collections continue to dominate headlines, the surge in Panini and steady activity in gaming‑aligned ecosystems like Immutable‑zk hint at a broader structural shift.
Panini’s 173% weekly jump and its large number of small transactions point to a more mass‑market collectible model, where users trade digital cards or memorabilia akin to traditional sports and entertainment collectibles. This is a very different pattern from the whale‑driven trades visible in CryptoPunks or BAYC.
Guild of Guardians Heroes and other game‑centric assets on Immutable also demonstrate that in‑game NFTs can maintain a baseline of activity, independent of pure speculation. As more games integrate on‑chain ownership, this segment may become one of the stickier sources of NFT demand, tied to player engagement rather than token price cycles.
If current trends continue, the NFT landscape could fragment into several distinct verticals: high‑end art and PFPs on Ethereum, experimental token formats on Bitcoin and new L2s, gaming assets on specialized chains, and licensed collectibles on platforms like Panini.
What this means for traders and builders
For active traders, the current environment demands far more selectivity. Liquidity has thinned dramatically; entering or exiting positions, especially in mid‑tier collections, can move prices significantly. Short‑term flipping strategies that worked in high‑volume conditions are riskier when buyer counts collapse by more than 80%.
Instead, some market participants are likely to focus on:
– High‑conviction blue chips with enduring brand value
– Collections with real utility, revenue share, or clear in‑app use cases
– Ecosystems with lower wash‑trading risk and more organic users
– Opportunities to accumulate quality assets during liquidity crunches, assuming a long‑term thesis
For builders and project teams, the message is stark: the era when superficial hype alone could sustain an NFT project is fading. Sustained demand will increasingly depend on:
– Delivering ongoing utility or entertainment value
– Building cross‑platform integrations and real‑world partnerships
– Reducing friction for non‑crypto-native users
– Communicating transparent roadmaps and avoiding over‑financialization
Is this a cyclical pullback or structural reset?
Whether this week’s numbers mark a temporary washout or a more enduring shift is still unclear, but several signals lean toward a cyclical reset rather than a full‑blown structural collapse.
On one hand, the blunt scale of the participation drop is typical of late‑cycle shakeouts, where marginal speculators exit en masse. The fact that headline crypto prices and total market cap remain relatively healthy suggests risk appetite has not disappeared entirely – it has merely rotated.
On the other hand, the sustained resilience of Ethereum blue chips, the growth of gaming and collectibles platforms, and the emergence of more utility‑driven NFT models indicate that the sector is slowly maturing. Short bursts of speculative mania may become less frequent, replaced by slower, more fundamental‑driven adoption.
For now, the numbers tell a clear story: NFT markets are deep in a risk‑off phase. Volumes are down, buyers have vanished at scale, and speculative fads like BRC‑20 are unwinding. Yet amid the noise, a smaller, more focused core of users, collectors, and builders continues to trade, experiment, and develop the next iteration of on‑chain digital ownership.