Delphi Digital, a cryptocurrency research firm, posted a chart showing the surging volume of Solana NFTs with the following text:
“Solana’s share of total NFT trading volume increased from 7% to 24% in the last 6 weeks”
Solana is positioning itself as a viable alternative to ETH for NFTs
The chart shows that NFT volume on the Solana chain has been on an upward trend since mid-August, reaching a peak of 40% in early September.
This was followed by a dip, but we’ve seen a resurgence in the past two weeks or so, with Solana now accounting for almost a quarter of weekly NFT volume.
The number of weekly Solana mints also spiked during this time, suggesting a positive correlation between newly circulated non-fungible mints and on-chain trading volume. In other words, his freshly minted Solana NFT is finding a buyer.
Interestingly, “other blockchains” accounted for significantly less than ETH and SOL. However, since early September, alongside Solana, other blockchains have increased their market share, accounting for around 18% of the market.
The data shows that Ethereum’s popularity in NFTs is declining, despite moving to Proof-of-Stake and addressing issues of carbon/energy intensive use.
NFT Index Continues Downtrend
Despite the triumphs of Solana and other blockchains, the relatively short timeframe for change has cast doubt on whether this is a permanent trend.
In any case, the NFT market has been in dire straits over the past year. Data from nonfungible.com shows a decline in sales and unique buyers since October 2021.
Sales were moderately strong during this period to February 2022. However, NFT sales have been flat since May. May 1, when sales surged to his $811 million, is an outlier. As of September 29, he has $14.8 million in sales.
NFT unique buyers are showing a downward trend, peaking at 79.4k on November 5, 2021. This is down to 10.9k as of Thursday, down 86%.
Proofed Marketing Lead, Callum Karlström, don’t really care. He commented that the recession is related to broader macro and cryptocurrency factors. However, he is confident that “NFTs will return to fashion” once the macro situation improves.