CryptoPunks surpass BAYC in market cap as blue chip NFTs continue the fight
- CryptoPunks’ market share rose to 8.63% while BAYC fell below 8%.
- Wrapped CryptoPunks accounted for over 25% of total NFT sales.
The unworkable symbol [NFT] landscape, like other crypto verticals, faced its share of downsides after the USD coin [USDC] depegging saga. The focus has now shifted to the ensuing battle unfolding between blue chip NFTs CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club [BAYC].
According to a March 19 tweet, the market cap of CryptoPunks eclipsed BAYC with a value of over 847,000 Ether [ETH] compared to the latter’s value of around 778,000 ETH at the time of writing. With this, CryptoPunks’ share of the market rose to 8.63% while BAYC’s share fell below 8%.
Over the past 7 days, the floor price of BAYC has fallen by more than 8%, and CryptoPunks has risen by 13%. CryptoPunks surpassed BAYC (776,000 ETH) with a market cap of around 847,000 ETH. The reason may include the launch of Warpped CryptoPunks on Blur; and nftperp trading users are…
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) March 19, 2023
In addition, the floor price for the two projects revealed a contrasting trajectory. CryptoPunks’ floor price exploded to its six-month high of around $74 at press time, data from NFT Price Floor revealed.
Source: NFT Price Floor
On the other hand, BAYC’s floor price plunged to just above $61, representing a 15% month-over-month (MTD) decline.
Floor price is the lowest value for any NFT in a given collection. A drop in a project’s floor price may indicate that an NFT project is losing traction.
Source: NFT Price Floor
Wrapped CryptoPunks
The recent bull run in CryptoPunks’ trading volume and value can be attributed to the launch of Wrapped CryptoPunks on Blur [BLUR] marketplace. According to NFTGo, Wrapped CryptoPunks accounted for over 25% of total NFT sales as of March 13 at press time.
Source: NFTGo
Cryptopunks predates ERC-721, the main standard for NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. Wrapped Cryptopunks is a dApp distributed on the Ethereum protocol, which allows holders to convert their original CryptoPunks to ERC-721 tokens on a 1:1 basis.
These wrapped tokens can then be traded and exchanged on popular NFT marketplaces. It should be noted that Wrapped CryptoPunks is already listed on the OpenSea platform.
The NFT market is going back
The R&D triggered by the depegging of the USDC stablecoin had a significant impact on the NFT landscape. The total sales volume fell by 55% from the beginning of March, while the market value also fell.
The blue chip NFT index, considered a bellwether for the market, registered a significant fall of 2.5% in the last week. However, a slight improvement could be seen, which could be due to the momentum of CryptoPunks lately.
Source: NFTGo
