The crypto winter has definitely cooled collectors’ appetite for digital artwork. The once booming NFT art market is down by nearly every trackable metric, with the number of sales and sales value deep below last year’s levels.
According to data presented by BitcoinCasinos.com, global NFT art sales value slumped by 86% year-over-year to $20.8 million in February.
Average Sales Value of NFT Art Halved
The art world witnessed a digital culture shift when non-fungible token sales surged in early 2021. NFTs ensured secondary sales royalties, an opportunity for recurring income that has historically avoided art makers. In a matter of months, global NFT art sales exploded, with some pieces getting mind-blowing price tags.
However, much has changed since the peak of NFT art trading two years ago, with sales value and a total number of sales witnessing a double-digit drop.
The monthly NFT sales value in the art segment hit $153.9 million in February last year, according to the NonFungible data. A month later, this figure slumped to $46 million. After a short recovery in April and May, the entire market slowed significantly in the following months, with the sales value falling to just over $26 million in September.
Statistics show December and January witnessed the lowest NFT art sales value of around $18.5 million, or one-eighth of the value seen in February 2022. As of February 15, the total sales value recorded on the Ethereum, Ronin, and Flow blockchains over 30 days was around $21 million, revealing a massive 86% drop year-over-year.
The NonFungible data show the average sales value in the NFT art segment halved year-over-year, falling from $3,538 to $1,678.5 last week. Statistics show the total number of sales dipped by 71% year-over-year to 12,500. Primary sales dropped by 74% to 5,600 in this period, while secondary sales increased by 15% YoY to nearly 6,900.
The Number of Active Wallets in the NFT Art Segment Down by 73%
Besides a considerable drop in total sales value, the NFT art market has also witnessed a downturn in the number of active wallets. Last week, the NFT art segment counted around 8,600 active wallets, 73% less than the same month a year ago.
The number of unique buyers also plunged, falling from more than 25,000 a year ago to 5,139 on February 15. At the same time, the number of unique sellers dropped by 63% YoY to around 4,500.
