Russia-Ukraine war hits NFT prices, sales decline
India Today
A significant drop in the sales and prices of NFT collections has been observed since the end of January this year and here are the reasons that may have triggered it.
NFT market is losing steam as global geopolitical tensions rise amid the ongoing invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Since February 24, the day Russia initiated its military attack on Ukraine, the average selling price of NFTs has dropped by about 30 per cent. Though the drop has been a long time coming if industry trackers focused on NFTs are to be believed.
Both the sales volume as well as the average prices of NFTs have seen a constant drop since their all-time high values in January this year. While non-fungible tokens had been the buzz words for the bygone year, 2022 is seeing a constant decline in their numbers, indicating a loss in interest around them.
As noted by Bloomberg in a report, data from industry tracker NonFungible shows that the average selling price of an NFT has declined to under $2,000. In comparison, NFTs across the market had touched an all-time high average selling price of $6,900 early in January.
A similar drop has been seen in the daily total sales average through the two-month period. Towards the end of January, the figure was recorded to be $160.2 million. This has now dropped to a mere $26.2 million, about one-sixth of what it used to be at its peak.
Bloomberg points out that the fall in the figures can be noted in the reduced sales of some of the most popular NFT collections. Other than Crypto Punks, the popular NFT collection which depicts pixelated figures, most NFT collections on OpenSea show a downward sales trend on OpenSea - the world's largest NFT marketplace.
NBA Top Shot’s, for instance, is down by 26 per cent in the past week, while Axie Infinity is down 15 per cent, as per data by DappRadar. A look at the Bored Ape Yacht Club on OpenSea shows that even the popular NFT collection is losing interest, at least for now.
Other than the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, there is one more reason for the drop in NFT sales. Countries across the globe are coming up with new regulations around cryptocurrencies and other crypto-assets like NFTs, especially as the financial year comes to a close this month. Potential buyers, thus, maybe waiting for a little more clarity on how these regulations will shape up, before putting any more money into the system.
