In a recent downturn, OpenSea, the renowned NFT marketplace, experienced its lowest monthly sales in three years. A sharp decline to just 199,000 NFT transactions was observed in February, marking a significant fall from the 297,000 deals sealed in the previous month.
Plummeting User Engagement
The downturn in sales correlates with a reduction in active users, with OpenSea seeing only 103,000 participants engaging in sales in February, an 18% decrease from January’s 125,000 users. This figure represents a nadir in user count not seen since July 2021.
Contrasting with the drop in the number of NFTs sold, the total sales volume on OpenSea actually saw a 5% increase, reaching $153.03 million for the month, suggesting higher average prices per NFT. Concurrently, OpenSea experienced a 3% rise in revenues from primary transactions and royalties, totaling $3.2 million and $3.5 million, respectively.
Competitive Shifts in the Market
Meanwhile, Blur, a rival NFT platform, demonstrated contrasting trends. Despite a 16% decrease in overall transactions, the platform maintained a transaction volume exceeding $500 million, which was over three times greater than that of OpenSea. Blur also recorded a 13% increase in NFT traders, with 60,000 traders executing 237,000 sales.
The NFT market, despite the mixed signals from these platforms, witnessed several collections witnessing a rise in their minimum sale prices, complementing the market’s double-digit value growth over the last month.