The NFT market enjoyed a mixed 2024, with the most impressive numbers coming from projects like Pudgy Penguins. The project and other top ones pushed the market to remarkable numbers, beating out the performance of 2023. The market outlasted 2024 but refused to return to previous peaks.
PFP avatars maintained their status, but niche activity replaced active trading, gaining widespread interest. In 2024, the market reached $8.83 billion, with most focus going to the top projects and older collectors. Ethereum was the go-to chain for NFTs in 2024, with most projects launching on the chain before moving elsewhere. The chain also became the most active in a short while.
NFT trading skyrockets on Bitcoin and other chains
NFT adoption did not stop on Ethereum as it shifted to other chains. Bitcoin and Solana recorded impressive numbers, hosting several collections. Solana had the highest number of transactions, recording more than 14k buyers and sellers as of January 2. Ronin also performed impressively well, providing users with the opportunity to trade Axie Infinity and Metaverse.
Polygon also had good numbers, with several smaller chains posting good numbers. The smaller chains posted several NFT profiles, including high-price, low-activity NFTs or high-traffic trades involving very cheap items. In this period, the most active projects with the most NFT traffic were Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Immutable. Coinbase’s Base was not included in the trading numbers mainly because it focuses on cheap NFTs owned for fun.
NFT market rally mirrors the crypto industry
Enthusiasm for the projects in the NFT market and its surge mirrors that of the wider crypto industry. Over the last 12 months, there has been a rise in price and volume in the NFT sector, mimicking the rally in March and April. The activity was also boosted in the last three months of 2024.
Art and collectibles were the most active, tying their surge to the active promotion on several social media platforms. However, the market for gaming and Metaverse NFT remained as it was, maintaining a baseline. The split meant that collection and avatar NFTs managed mindshare, while utility and use cases were relegated to the back.
One of the most appealing use cases for NFTs was the potential airdrops and preferential access. Pudgy Penguins led in this aspect, with its PENGU airdrop pushing the floor price of the project to a new all-time high. During the period, the price of Pudgy Penguins rose above $100,000, beating out Bitcoin, before it returned to a normal 22 ETH.
Milady Maker, one of the projects that entered the top 5 this year, remained one of the most volatile projects. Miladies was also one of the few collections rivaling meme coin trading. Punks project held their position, with Bored Ape Yacht holders also making the best of the NFT. The project is still enjoying the influence of big stars in the NFT space, including Machi Big Brother, who launches projects periodically.