NFT Monthly Report - February 2023

Introduction

February was a great month for the NFT market, with many bullish developments taking place. One of the most significant news items was the introduction of NFTs on Bitcoin, thanks to the development of the Ordinals protocol. This news was particularly exciting because it opened up a new world of possibilities for NFTs. Additionally, there was a massive airdrop from the Blur Marketplace, as well as some other noteworthy developments that took place.

While the Bitcoin and Ethereum prices ended the month close to where they started, the NFT market had a great run and was one of the best-performing sectors. We are excited to provide you with a summary of all the major events, news, and statistics in our monthly report, to keep you informed and up-to-date with the latest happenings in the NFT market. Let's dive in and explore what happened in the world of NFTs during February!

This Month in NFTs:

• Bitcoin NFTs & The Ordinals Protocol
• New Yuga Labs Bitcoin NFT Collection
• Dookey Dash Winner Gets $1.6M
• Blur's Massive Airdrop to NFT Traders
• The Biggest NFT Sell-off
• A Behind-the-Scenes Look of the Otherside Metaverse
• DeGods and PudgyPenguins Meet-Up in Paris
• Market Statistics & Charts

Top NFT News of the Month

Bitcoin NFTs & The Ordinals Protocol: The Ordinals protocol has made it possible for NFTs to exist within the Bitcoin network. So, how does it work? NFTs are inscribed into individual Satoshis, which is the smallest denomination of a Bitcoin. Once an inscription is added to a Satoshi, it becomes unique and can be traded or stored like any other Bitcoin. The difference between Bitcoin and Ethereum NFTs is that Bitcoin NFTs are stored directly on-chain, meaning they cannot be modified or altered. This is important because most crypto users hold Bitcoin, which means millions of people could eventually have access to NFTs without having to switch to a different blockchain, like Solana or Ethereum. During the first month, these Bitcoin NFTs have been incredibly popular, with over 215,000 inscriptions so far.

Learn more about Bitcoin NFTs by reading our comprehensive article here: A Game-Changer for Bitcoin and NFTs: A Look Into The Ordinals Protocol

New Yuga Labs Bitcoin NFT Collection: Yuga Labs has just announced a new collection of Bitcoin NFTs called Twelvefold. This collection consists of 300 art pieces that have no additional utility other than being beautiful pieces of art. The pieces are a combination of hand-drawn and 3D graphics arranged in a 12x12 grid. To purchase one of these unique pieces, you must participate in an auction and use Bitcoin as payment method. More news is yet to be released by Yuga Labs in the first week of March.

Dookey Dash Winner Gets $1.6M: Dookey Dash, the NFT based game by Yuga Labs was a huge success, with thousands of people playing and hoping to win monetary rewards. The game's popularity resulted in a trading volume of 3000 Ethereum. To participate in the game, users had to buy a game pass known as a 'sewer pass', which started at $1.500 per player. The top score in the game was achieved by a Fortnite gamer & streamer known as Mongraal who was awarded a golden key NFT, which he later sold for $1.6 million USD. This success could be an indication of the future of blockchain gaming, with more and more people participating and potentially earning significant rewards.

Blur's Massive Airdrop: The most popular marketplace for buying and selling NFTs was OpenSea, until Blur came into the picture. Blur became the most popular marketplace thanks to its smart move of attracting traders to the platform by offering a reward system in the form of Airdrop claims. The Airdrop was given in the form of $BLUR, the native token of the marketplace. On February 14, Blur rewarded their users with a massive airdrop, directed to people who had been trading and placing bids (referred to as farming) while using their platform. This strategy worked well for Blur, with their platform going viral and many traders receiving large monetary rewards.

The team announced a new upcoming airdrop in their upcoming season, and now people are being incentivized to use the platform to place bids on NFTs, with the hope of getting high rewards on the next airdrop. However, this led to an increase in wash trading, as people placed bids to influence the market and gain rewards, rather than purchasing NFTs with genuine intentions. Soon after the blur airdrop happened, OpenSea released a major announcement and made creator royalties optional on their platform to compete with Blur’s strategy and stay ahead of them. Time will tell how the competition between these two marketplaces develops in the upcoming months.

The Biggest NFT Sell-Off: In the last week of February, a huge sell-off took place in the NFT market that caught the attention of many traders. Jeffrey Huang, who is also known as 'Machi', is a well-known 'whale' in the crypto space. He sold more than 1000 NFTs, including 90 Bored Apes, 91 Mutant Apes, 112 Azuki NFTs, and 308 Otherdeed virtual lands. The total amount of this massive sell-off was over $18 million. This event caused fear and panic among traders, and some even sold their own NFTs, leading to a decline in the NFT market overall. This caused many of the top NFT collections to lose value for a few days after traders followed the massive sale. Machi's strategy may have been to generate Blur's rewards by having a high trading volume. Blur distributed tokens worth hundreds of millions of dollars to its initial users, where Machi received over 1M BLUR tokens with a value exceeding $1.3M.

A Behind-the-Scenes Look of the Otherside Metaverse: Yuga Labs has been developing their virtual world-based game The Otherside. In February the design team provided a look at the behind-the-scenes of develpment of the art and graphics for the game, which created hype among the NFT community as we approach the release. The team has announced an upcoming "trip" into the virtual world where testers can explore an unofficial version of the game. In February, the project's value rose and remained at the top of NFT trading charts for several days.

DeGods and PudgyPenguins Meet-Up: DeGods and PudgyPenguins hosted a live gathering in Paris for NFT holders to party and meet up in person. This event is a reminder that NFTs can provide valuable real-life experiences and not just exist online.

Market Statistics:

Monthly Change:

• Bitcoin: -0.33% - $23,645
• Ethereum: 0.62% - $1,652
• Solana: -10.46% - $22.36

NFT Rankings - Top 25 Collections Chart:

In February, the NFT market saw a relatively stable trend with no major surprises in the charts. This was in contrast to the previous month of January, which had been a bullish period with a lot of hype and high trading volume. The market in February was expected to be more stable compared to the previous month, and it was.

Despite this, the market still saw some notable collections that performed well. Yuga Labs dominated the NFT market, with their Mutant Apes collection being the top seller, trading nearly 110,000 Ethereum. Two other popular collections were Check and Opepen Edition, created by Jack Butcher. These collections were unique because they allowed NFTs to be combined and upgraded to create rare ones.

PudgyPenguins, which had been performing well in the last couple of months, continued to see good sales in February. The community even held a private in-real-life event in Paris, which could have contributed to boosted sales.

Market Sentiment:

The overall mood in the NFT market is still 'cool', indicating a period of accumulation. However, there are signs of growing excitement as more people are showing an interest in the sector. One factor that is driving this trend is the introduction of the Ordinals protocol in Bitcoin, which is helping to attract a larger number of users to the NFT space. With the release of Ordinals, many are hopeful that it will lead to increased adoption of NFTs by bitcoin investors and collectors.

NFT Marketcap:

The NFT market has been steadily growing since the start of the year, which could be the beginning of a potential bull run. This growth is reflected in the charts over the last three months, which shows a clear uptrend in the sector. During the last 30 days, 1.2 million Ethereum was traded in the NFT market, marking a significant increase that hasn't been seen since the end of the last bull run in May 2022.

Marketplace Distribution:

The Blur marketplace has taken the top spot in the NFT marketplace rankings for the first time in its history, surpassing OpenSea. This sudden rise to the top is largely due to the Airdrop that was recently given to users of the marketplace and the launch of their native token, $BLUR. Blur's total trading volume is nearly double that of OpenSea, which was previously the top marketplace in the industry. However, it's important to note that the number of unique buyers and sellers on OpenSea is more than three times that of Blur's, which could suggest that most of the trades within Blur's marketplace are coming from a small group of traders. This has led to concerns about wash trading, which artificially inflates trading volume.

Thank you for reading this month's recap! We hope you found it informative and enjoyable.

If you want to keep receiving these monthly reports, don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter. This way, you can receive the latest news and updates directly in your email inbox. Plus, it's free to subscribe, so there's no harm in trying it!

Join the Flagship community and navigate the economy thanks to our expert captains; they’ll be your compass.