NFT Monthly Report - April 2023

Introduction

If you've been wondering, "Are NFTs dying?" April was a rough one for the NFT market, with the market hitting lows not seen since June 2021. Critics have been quick to pounce, with a few people labeling NFTs as referring to NFTs as artificial scarcity schemes, causing fear to slightly increase in the NFT sector. One possible explanation for this decline could be market saturation, leading to less excitement and demand on NFTs. People are 'FOMOing' with the recent rally of Bitcoin and Ethereum in the past two months, and we have seen wallets moving funds from NFTs into Cryptocurrencies. Since the release of Bitcoin Ordinals, there haven't been many groundbreaking advancements in the NFT sector. We saw big players like Meta have removed NFTs from platforms like Instagram and Meta.

So, what does the future hold for NFTs? If we examine some statistics, over the past 30 days, the trading volume for Ethereum on NFT marketplaces has remained fairly healthy. We continue to see developments from blue-chip NFT collections, and in this monthly report, we'll cover the most relevant news, and statistics of the NFT Market in April. Let's dive in!

In this report:

• Apple Ruling Favors Crypto: Ban Lifted and favors NFTs & Cryptocurrencies
• Romanian Institute Launches NFT Platform in Partnership with MultiversX
• Marvelr's ex-Chairman launches Mythos Studios
• Snoop & VeeFriends's Burn Tickets for NFT Song & Ape Win
• Solana NFT MadLabs Seeks Dominance
• Legends of the Mara: Yuga Labs' New Game Boosts Ecosystem
• Doodles Launches Avatar Builder with Pharrell Williams and Adidas Collaboration
• Yuga Labs Hires Gaming Veteran Mike Seavers as CTO to Boost Web3 Growth
• Meme Coin $PEPE Surges 300% in a Week, Enters Top 100 Cryptocurrencies
• CoolCats Co-founder Exits, Floor Price Dips
• Bitcoin NFTs Gain Popularity, New Opportunities and Interoperability Emerge

Top NFT News of the Month

Apple Ruling Favors Crypto. Ban Lifted and favors NFTs & Cryptocurrencies: A recent ruling found Apple's ban on outside payments unlawful, potentially benefiting non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrencies. Apple aimed to collect a 30% fee, but alternative payment methods, like crypto, have weakened their control. This may lead to more digital currency options on Apple devices, boosting the popularity and use of NFTs and cryptocurrencies and making it simpler for users to engage with digital assets.

Romanian Institute Launches NFT Platform in Partnership with MultiversX: Romania's National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics (ICI Bucharest) is launching an NFT trading platform. The platform aims to bridge the gap between private and public sector institutions and users, allowing them to mint, manage, and trade NFTs. ICI Bucharest has been focusing on research and development but shifted its attention to blockchain, Web3, and NFTs as they slowely gain global popularity. The institution partnered with MultiversX to develop the platform. The platform launch will feature five unique NFT collections created in collaboration with prominent Romanian sportspeople, organizations, and institutions. Government support for this proyect is expected to boost Romania's economic potential and foster innovation and entrepreneurship.

Marvelr's ex-Chairman launches Mythos Studios: An up-and-coming project. It's an IP entertainment studio founded by David Maisel, the founding chairman of Marvel Studios. Ekos, its first Genesis Collection, has been generating buzz on crypto Twitter. Maisel's vision is to unite various IPs into one Marvel universe (like the Avengers). Could Ekos become the Web3 version of Marvel? The project launched with a Dutch auction of 995 unique 1/1 NFTs.

Snoop & VeeFriends's Burn Tickets for NFT Song & Ape Win: VeeFriends and Snoop Dogg have teamed up for an NFT song. If you own a 2022 VeeCon ticket, you can burn it to get the NFT song "Please Take a Step Back.” The burn event started on April 28 and will last until May 5th. This promotion might increase the excitement for VeeCon 2023. Participants can also enter a contest to win Bored Ape #1452.

Solana NFT MadLabs Seeks Dominance: MadLabs is the new hottest thing in Solana. This NFT art project is support Backpack, a product built around Solana, Ethereum, and Binance. Backpack aims to give users an innovative wallet experience allowing you to view your entire portfolio, staked NFTs, and other features. The collection hit a 100 Sol floor price shortly after launching, with some Skulls selling for over $70K. With DeGods NFT leaving Solana, a top spot may be available for a new NFT project, sparking excitement for Solana Blockchain NFTs in the coming months.

Legends of the Mara: Yuga Labs' New Game Boosts Ecosystem: Yuga Labs teased their upcoming game, Legends of the Mara. This event next month could boost the value of the Yuga ecosystem if history repeats itself. Its a 2D strategy game and follow-up to the successful Otherside 2nd Trip event. Kodas, the primary keepers of Otherside, play a significant role in farming, enchanting, and hunting. Players will learn about their origins and encounter new apprentices called Mara. Vessels can evolve into apprentices and skilled Kodamara under the right conditions. The game focuses on defending Otherside.

Doodles Launches Avatar Builder with Pharrell Williams and Adidas Collaboration: Doodles has launched the Doodles 2 Character Builder within The Stoodio app for NFT holders, allowing them to create fully customizable avatars. Collaborating with musician Pharrell Williams and Adidas, Doodles will also release a "Pharrell Pack" airdrop, featuring digital wearables from Adidas, Human Made, Billionaire Boys Club, and Ice Cream. The pack also contains a token redeemable for an exclusive physical apparel item. As Doodles avatars become more integrated into metaverse games and platforms, there is potential for further growth and new use cases for these digital assets.

Yuga Labs Hires new CTO to Boost Web3 Growth: Yuga Labs has appointed Mike Seavers as its new Chief Technology Officer, starting on May 22. Seavers, with over 20 years of experience, previously held top positions at Epic Games and Riot Games, working on projects such as Unreal Engine, Fortnite, League of Legends, and Valorant. He will succeed Kerem Atalay, who will stay on as a strategic advisor. Seavers' expertise is expected to help the company scale in the direction of becoming the leading web3 platform for social engagement through gaming and entertainment.

Meme Coin $PEPE Surges 300% in a Week, Enters Top 100 Cryptocurrencies: $PEPE, a fresh meme coin that popped up in April 17 and already made it to the top 100 biggest cryptocurrencies, reaching a market cap of $582 million. The token's value skyrocketed 110% in just 24 hours and 300% over the last week of April. $PEPE is an ERC-20 token with a max supply of 420.6 trillion tokens. The recent hype around it can be linked to an increase in Google searches and its listing on different exchanges. In the last weeks we saw an investor buying $250 in PEPE and going up to $1.02 million in just a few days.

CoolCats Co-founder Exits, Floor Price Dips: One of CoolCats' co-founders, part of a popular NFT collection from a previous bull run, announced their departure from the company. With a floor price under 1 ETH, it's quite low, especially for those who thought it would be Web3's "Hello Kitty." Token holders are eager to learn about the project's future. The good thing? They will be releasing an upcoming NFT collection named Shadow Wolves, minting on May 19, at 3PM Est.

Trump's NFT Collection Sells Out: New Fundraising Trend? Trump's second NFT collection on Polygon sold out. Is this a new way for politicians to raise election funds? Keep in mind, these assets are volatile, so this isn't financial advice. We may see future candidates using NFTs for fundraising campaigns.

Bitcoin Ordinals Gain Popularity: Before diving into the market statistics, let's discuss one of the most significant developments in the NFT sector: Ordinals, also known as Bitcoin NFTs. At Flagship, we closely monitor all markets, and one striking observation this month is the increasing popularity of Ordinals. With Bitcoin now supporting 'NFTs', new opportunities have emerged for Bitcoin investors to venture into NFTs without switching blockchains. Additionally, we are witnessing more Ethereum-based original collections branching out to create new collections on Bitcoin, such as OnChainMonkeys, DeGods, and Yuga, to name a few.

March saw a record-breaking number of total inscriptions with a few days surpassing 200K daily inscriptions. Does this signal the end of Ethereum NFTs? We speculate that as time progresses, we will observe increased interoperability between blockchains. We have already seen two of the largest NFT collections on Solana (DeGods and y00ts) successfully migrate to Ethereum and Polygon. Rather than viewing the popularity of Ordinals as a threat to other blockchains, it is advantageous for the entire NFT sector as it paves the way for a broader audience – a critical factor in achieving mass adoption for NFTs.

It's worth mentioning that the Ordinals protocol is pretty new, and when compared to Ethereum NFTs, Ordinals have somewhat limited features and capabilities for now. As shown in the graph below (source: Dune), the most popular type of inscription is mostly text. As the saying goes, money often follows money, and currently, Ordinals is gaining momentum. Keep an eye on the release of new NFT collections on Ordinals in the coming months. We will continue to provide updates on this in our upcoming monthly reports.

Market Statistics

Monthly Change in Cryptocurrencies:

• Bitcoin: 3% | $29,410
• Ethereum: 4% - $1,894
• Solana: 9% - $23.09
• Polygon: -11% - $0.98
• Cardano: 0% - $0.39
• Avalanche: 02.7% - $17.23

Top 30 NFT Collections - Monthly Change

Highlights:

This month, CryptoPunks took the lead with the highest trading volume. Azuki had an impressive performance, ending the month with a floor price of 15.2 ETH, an 18% increase in 30 days. Nakamigos, a 20K NFT project that launched on March 24 with a mint price of 0.01 ETH, garnered significant attention, although its pixel art was fairly basic. In its first five days, it saw more lifetime trades than Bored Ape Yacht Club. However, the project closed the month with a 0.2 ETH floor price, reflecting a -31% monthly change. Milady had a notable performance in April, with a 20% increase and a current floor price of 3.75 ETH. Even Beeple created an artwork featuring the project.

In April, the Bored Ape Yacht Club's price fell from 64 ETH to 47 ETH, a drop of approximately -$17K USD in 30 days. It appears that many projects have reached a bottom, and the upcoming summer may bring a different narrative!

Market Sentiment

NFT Marketcap & Growth

NFT sales in April experienced a 5.76% decline compared to March, with the total sales amounting to $732.13 million. Ethereum-based NFTs dominated the market, but their sales fell by 19%. Solana-based NFT sales also decreased, while Polygon saw a 22.75% surge.

NFTs by Blockchain:

Cronos, Arbitrum, and Polygon NFTs had a pretty good sales boost this month, indicating a possible trend. Even though Polygon's blockchain price dropped by -11%, its NFTs went up by 6.8%. Ethereum NFT sales went down by around -20%, while Bitcoin Ordinals set new records for daily inscriptions. The market's been all over the place, and with NFTs gaining ground in the Bitcoin world, we might be in for a wild ride this summer in the NFT market!

Marketplace Distribution

Blur continues to dominate as most of the trading volume takes place on their platform. However, OpenSea is the marketplace with the highest number of sales. The competition for the top marketplace has been quite interesting, and Blur's rewards and announcements seem to keep attracting more traders and bidders to their platform.

Top 10 NFT Sales in April:

Conclusion

The NFT market experienced its second consecutive downtrend in April. Bitcoin Ordinals broke records in the number of inscriptions. Ethereum NFT sales dropped, and many projects appeared to hit a bottom. There's some unease in the NFT market, as shown in this month's statistics. Despite this, companies continue to develop projects, we've seen major recruitments, and there are still plenty of opportunities for traders and investors to capitalize on the relatively healthy trading volumes in the market. Everything points to an intriguing summer. During bear markets, successful traders accumulate, and profits are made. But as always, stay safe and invest responsibly.

We'll be back next month with another detailed summary of March's top news, so make sure to subscribe to our newsletter and join our Discord channel to stay ahead of the curve.

Stay safe!