Written by: Azuma, Odaily Planet Daily
The previously frozen NFT track seems to have shown some signs of warming up after a long time.
CoinGecko data shows that the total market value of the NFT sector has risen above 6 billion dollars, currently reported at 6.417 billion dollars, with a 24H increase of 23.2%; the increase in trading volume is even more striking, with a total trading volume of about 40 million dollars in the past 24 hours, an increase of approximately 318.3%.
Among mainstream NFT projects, CryptoPunks, Moonbirds, Pudgy Penguins, etc., are performing exceptionally well.
CryptoPunks saw a major purchase when a certain whale spent millions of dollars buying 45 pieces (that whale also bought several Chromie Squiggles). NFT artist Jediwolf reported that within a short span of 5 hours from last night to this morning, a total of 76 CryptoPunks changed hands, marking the largest purchasing action for this series since 2021. As of the time of writing, the floor price of CryptoPunks is reported at 47.5 ETH, with a 24-hour increase of 15.9%.
Moonbirds saw a surge when OpenSea briefly changed its official X avatar to an image from the Moonbirds series last night, boosting its popularity. As of the time of writing, the floor price of Moonbirds is reported at 1.94 ETH, with a 24-hour increase of 33.3%.
Pudgy Penguins, which can be regarded as a 'light of the industry' during the NFT winter, recently appeared in the American TV series (Poker Face), capturing some external traffic. As of the time of writing, the floor price of Pudgy Penguins is reported at 16.4 ETH, with a 24-hour increase of 13.8%.
Aside from the few standout projects mentioned above, the vast majority of NFT projects have seen good price increases. As of the time of writing, BAYC has increased by 13.2% in the last 24 hours, and Azuki by 26.8%; the Bitcoin ecosystem is no exception, with Taproot Wizards increasing by 30.3% in 24 hours.
In addition, NFT concept coins have also seen significant increases. According to OKX market data, as of the time of writing, BLUR is reported at 0.1176 USDT, with a 24-hour increase of 27.4%, currently ranking third in OKX's increase list.
Regarding the warming of the NFT market, although there have been people 'calling the market' earlier, over the long years, the various 'milk methods' surrounding NFTs have appeared too many times, resulting in the track becoming colder day by day, and retail investors have long been numb to similar 'market calls.'
On July 16, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes predicted on the X platform, 'ETH Season has arrived, and the DeFi and NFT markets will benefit and make a comeback,' but at the time, most of the replies below his post were mocking.
However, with the recent signs that the long-awaited 'Shanzhai Season' is finally approaching, discussions about whether the NFT market can warm up are gradually increasing.
FreeLunchCapital, the founder of BitmapPunks and a well-known NFT collector, stated today that institutions have already contacted him in advance trying to make purchases — 'Since two weeks ago, some institutions have contacted me with some interesting offers. Everyone knows I don't sell NFTs, but that's not the case. If the other party has resources that can attract more attention to NFTs and help the industry advance, I would consider conducting off-market transactions.'
Abstract Contributors 0xCygaar and other veteran players who were active during the previous NFT cycle are calling out, 'NFT Season is finally back.'
The sudden warming of NFTs is logically not too difficult to understand.
On one hand, as ETH rebounds strongly and quickly rises to high levels, the incoming funds will also consider related investment targets while focusing on ETH. Since NFTs thrive in the Ethereum ecosystem, and most leading projects are still concentrated in the Ethereum ecosystem, the NFT sector can to some extent be seen as an alternative choice to ETH. In terms of trading volume, the largest NFT by trading volume remains a leading project on the Ethereum chain with relatively sufficient liquidity, indicating that the funds for this slight recovery mainly come from within the Ethereum ecosystem.
On the other hand, after a long period of low, the entire NFT market has undergone thorough cleansing — weak hands have exited, and the controlling players may have already completed their selection of targets and chip layout. Given the non-standard liquidity characteristics of NFTs, compared to altcoins, NFTs might be an easier option for manipulation.
However, the current issue is that, due to the NFT market being previously too cold, the consensus around the track has almost collapsed. Even if short-term enthusiasm has risen, whether more retail investors and funds can follow up remains uncertain.
In other words, the current situation is this — if you say the Shanzhai Season is coming soon, there might still be many retail investors willing to buy in, but if you say NFTs are about to skyrocket, it might be better to believe that I am Qin Shi Huang...
