NFT trading volume rose 230% in Q1, Nansen finds
- NFT trading volume rose 230% in Q1 2023 with over $4.54 billion in sales compared to $1.97 billion in Q4 2022.
- According to Nansen Data Journalist Martin Lee, the NFT marketplace Blur accounted for most of the volume in the quarter.
- The number of NFT users also increased significantly during the quarter, although recent weeks have seen a decline in volume and user numbers.
An analysis of the NFT market by Nansen, a leading blockchain analytics firm, has suggested a resurgence in the sector in the first three months of the year. Data comparing market performance in terms of trade volume shows that sales increased by over 230% in Q1, 2023 vs. Q4 2022.
According to Martin Lee, a data journalist at Nansen, the significant increase is observable in both ETH and USD calculations. A new player in the NFT marketplace ecosystem accounted for a large share of trading volume, the analysis reveals.
“Tthe increase has been largely driven by the rise of Blur“, Lee noted in an analysis shared with CoinJournal.
NFT trading volume rose 230% to over $4.54 billion in the first quarter
In the fourth quarter of 2022, over 1.5 million ETH, or more than $1.97 billion in NFTs, were transacted. This amounted to an NFT sales volume of 9,036,778 in the period. In comparison, the NFT market recorded a significant increase in transaction volume in Q1 2023, with market volume exceeding 2.83 million ETH, or $4.54 billion.
The total transaction in the quarter was 11,498,022 NFTs and the volume increased by 230% in Q1, 2023 compared to Q4, 2022.
Although Q1, 2023 showed a significant increase in sales volume compared to Q4, 2022, Nansen data shows that there was a lull in April. While $1.7 billion was traded in March, the next 30 days saw a drop in volume of approx. $1.2 billion generated. The trend is also observed in May as shown below.
Data shows a decline in NFT volumes in April and May. Source: Nansen
There is also a slight decrease in the number of users, with data for the last few weeks lower than what was recorded in the last year. In particular, there were 13,999,528 users in the first quarter, compared to 11,233,872 in the fourth quarter of 2022.
A visualization of NFT sales and wallets between January 2022 and April 2023. Source: NansenThe decline comes amid a surge in interest in meme coins, with top performers such as Pepe (PEPE) and Floki Inu (FLOKI) over the past month.OpenSea had NFT sales volume worth $200 million in Q4 2022
In the last quarter of 2022, the NFT market observed remarkable sales figures, especially for OpenSea. The platform accounted for 219,992.50 ETH in volume, equivalent to $272,415,866.4. Total NFT sales across the platform during the quarter were 1,413,780 NFTs.
During this period, other platforms that recorded significant volumes were LooksRare, Mint, CryptoPunks and X2Y2.
Blur is emerging as a major NFT marketplace, with Q1 volume surpassing OpenSeas
During the first quarter of 2023, Blur emerged as a prominent player in the NFT market. While OpenSea’s sales volume was 661,547.79 ETH, or approximately $1.02 billion from 3,727,299 NFTs sold, Blur’s volume was almost three times higher.
According to the Nansen analysis, Blur saw its remarkable growth translate into over 1.8 million ETH, or $2.93 billion in NFT sales. The platform accounted for 1,999,688 of the quarterly NFT sales.
Launched in October 2022, Blur is now one of the leading NFT marketplaces. The Ethereum-based platform looks to offer traders and aggregators a top marketplace that highlights a community-driven ecosystem.
Blur’s growth in terms of sales volume demonstrates the continued expansion of the NFT market, with traders and collectors keen to explore the best of both established and emerging platforms.
