The non-fungible token (NFT) market has experienced another week of declining sales, with the total sales volume reaching $145 million over the last seven days. This figure represents a decrease of over 9% from the previous week, continuing a trend of falling sales that has characterized recent weeks. According to data from CryptoSlam, the market is witnessing a consistent downturn, with four out of the top five blockchains by sales volume experiencing declines during this period.

Last week, as reported by crypto.news, sales of digital collectibles dropped by more than 11%, and this week saw an additional 9.68% decline, bringing the total sales to $145.01 million. Despite the overall market downturn, Bitcoin (BTC) maintained its lead in the weekly NFT sales, outperforming major rivals Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL).

Bitcoin Dominates NFT Sales

The Bitcoin network continued to dominate the NFT market, recording the highest sales volume among all blockchains with approximately $44.1 million in sales over the past week. However, this impressive figure still marked an 11% decline from the previous week's sales volume.

Ethereum followed Bitcoin with $38.4 million in sales, experiencing a slight decrease of 1.59%. Notably, Ethereum also recorded about $34.2 million in wash trading. Wash trading involves buyers and sellers who are either the same person or conspiring individuals, creating a false impression of high demand for a particular NFT. If both the actual and wash trading numbers were combined, Ethereum's total sales volume would exceed $72 million, placing it ahead of Bitcoin.

Newcomers and Declines

Blast, a newcomer to the top five blockchains by sales volume, secured the third position with $15.943 million in sales, despite an 8.48% decline. Solana came in fourth with $14.26 million in sales, a significant 44.73% drop from the previous week. This percentage loss was only surpassed by Arbitrum (ARB), Tezos (XTZ), and Fantom (FTM), which saw their sales volumes plummet by 51.71%, 62.09%, and 69.21%, respectively.

Polygon (MATIC) was a bright spot in the otherwise gloomy market, recording $12.14 million in sales, a 20.37% increase from the previous week. This growth contrasts sharply with the declines seen across other major blockchains.

Top NFT Collections

Among individual NFT collections, Uncategorized Ordinals led in sales volume with $16.4 million, despite a 26.73% weekly decrease. Blast’s Fantasy Top took second place with $15.93 million in sales. Mythos’ Dmarket came in third with $5.58 million, followed by Bitcoin’s Nodemonkes with $4.74 million. Immutable-Zk’s Guild of Guardians overtook Core’s BRC20s to secure fifth place with nearly $4.4 million in sales.

Noteworthy Sales and Market Activity

The most expensive NFT sale of the week was Cryptopunk #741, which sold for an impressive $792,046. An Ordinal inscription was the second-highest sale, fetching $681,497. Other notable sales included Earthnode #184 from Cardano at $56,026, a PepperMints NFT from Solana at $40,384, and a Blast Chain NFT that sold for just under $40,000.

Despite the decline in sales volume, the number of NFT buyers spiked by more than 166%, and the number of NFT sellers increased by 139%. However, the total number of NFT transactions decreased by 27.58%, totaling 1,583,262 for the week.

Legal Troubles in the NFT Space

In a related development, Italian fashion designer Dolce & Gabbana and digital assets platform UNXD are facing a class-action lawsuit over alleged delays in delivering NFT products, according to Bloomberg. The lawsuit comes as the company’s digital assets have plummeted 97% in value, highlighting the risks and challenges in the burgeoning NFT market.

Conclusion

The NFT market continues to experience fluctuations, with significant drops in sales volumes despite an increase in buyer and seller activity. Bitcoin remains a dominant force in the NFT space, while other blockchains like Ethereum and Solana face notable declines. Newcomers like Blast show potential, and Polygon stands out with positive growth. However, the market's volatility and legal challenges underscore the complexities and evolving nature of the NFT ecosystem.