The bear market in the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is wreaking havoc among trading platforms for those assets.
The problems of a bearish NFT market seem increasingly cruel against trading platforms for these collectible assets. However, the issue has been particularly strong for OpenSea, which was the most important bastion of that trade.
Since the decisive emergence of Blur, the platform has experienced a deflation process that exceeds market conditions. Given this, the firm began a process of changing its commercial policy, which in the short term made things worse for them.
In any case, the blockchain-based collectibles sector is in a highly negative situation. It is worth noting that the latter is accentuated in the commercial sphere, but not so much in adoption. Despite the conditions, numerous companies continue to enter the sector or strengthen their projects.
NFT Market Continues to Lose Ground
The bear market hitting the NFT sector contrasts with the levels reached in 2021, when it peaked. Since then, the crypto sector went through rocky terrain that led to notable price drops and a series of bankruptcies.
As expected, this affected highly linked markets such as collectibles and decentralized finance (DeFi). Although the first half of 2023 was one of recovery and significant price increases for cryptocurrencies, NFTs were not up to par.
Despite gaining ground, this commercial sector was unable to recover from the winter and now, with the new drop in cryptocurrencies, it continues to decline. Ethereum NFTs have not stopped losing space since February. Since then, with the exception of June, its monthly volume sank noticeably.
In the case of OpenSea, the matter is much more dramatic, as it lost ground in a short time to Blur. Although both NFT markets suffer from bearish conditions, Blur continues to take away vital space from OpenSea.
Considering the current macroeconomic conditions and taking into account that the SEC has already set its sights on NFTs, a recovery should not be expected in the short term. However, this market has great evolutionary potential that will bring it closer to other future technologies such as the Metaverse.
Other Markets with Better Prospects
Although the NFT sector is generally in a winter phase, some networks seem better positioned. One of them is the Solana blockchain, where non-fungible tokens experience significant movements. Basically, the #1 NFT marketplace on Solana surpassed projects running on the Ethereum network.
There are more than obvious reasons for this to happen and the two main ones are the commissions for the creators and the low trading commissions of the network. In other words, platforms like OpenSea and Blur are not profitable for projects and they are beginning to look at other more convenient networks like Solana.
All of this would lead the main Ethereum platforms to rethink the issue of royalties for creators. If they do not do so, they run the risk of being completely and definitively displaced in the near future.
Returning to Ethereum, according to data from The Block, $219.94 million dollars have been traded in the NFT market so far in September. Of these, a total of $120.06 million was traded on Blur and just $58.11 million on OpenSea.
By Audy Castaneda
