DappRadar: $4.7 Billion in Sales for NFTs in Q1

There has been strong growth in the cryptocurrency industry in 2023, but even better for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) thanks to the impressive growth in sales registered in the first quarter of this year. According to a recent report released by DappRadar, the NFT market hit $4.7 billion in sales during the first quarter of the year. At the same time, Opensea lost its dominance as other marketplaces expanded. 

DappRadar Reports $4.7 Billion in Sales for NFTs During Q1

DappRadar reported that there has been a $4.7 billion in sales for non-fungible tokens during the first quarter of 2023. In the report, DappRadar reports that there were also highs and lows for the whole industry linked to fluctuations in on-chain metrics and market trends. The future remains optimistic despite these fluctuations as the crypto space continues to adapt to new challenges. 

As per the industry overview, DappRadar reported that the daily Unique Active Wallets (dUAW) interacting with decentralized applications fell by almost 10% compared to 2022. There have been close to 1.7 million wallets connected to different dApps on a daily basis. At the moment, blockchain gaming remains the strongest sector in the dApp market. Let’s not forget that there have been multiple dApps released in 2021 that gave users the possibility to play a large number of blockchain-based games. 

Another thing to take into consideration is that the DeFi sector has also grown during the first quarter of the year. The Total Value Locked (TVL) in DeFi has reached $83.3 billion, an increase of almost 38% compared to the last quarter of 2022. As per the report, this means that there is a clear interest in Decentralized Finance (DeFi) solutions in the cryptocurrency market, even when Bitcoin (BTC) and other virtual currencies are not at their highest point. 

Ethereum (ETH), Binance Chain (BNB) and Tron (TRX) were the blockchain networks with the largest TVL in the first quarter of 2023. There has been consistent growth among most blockchain networks, including Arbitrum, Avalanche, Polygon, Optimism, Solana, and Fantom. Only Cronos registered a decrease of 12% in the TVL. Ethereum registered a 48% increase, followed by BNB Chain with a 20% increase or Tron with a 17% growth. 

Strong Start for NFTs in 2023

The NFT industry continues to grow, and that’s a fact. Despite the bear market experienced by the non-fungible token industry in the last year (especially during the third and fourth quarters), there seems to be a strong recovery in place. 

The NFT market expanded by 137% when it comes to trading volumes. This can be explained due to a very low result in the last quarter of 2022 and a very good result for the beginning of the year. 

An important thing that is worth taking into consideration is related to the fact that Blur, one of the news marketplaces to be competing in the market, has promoted its own token called Blur. Furthermore, there has been an increase of 8.56% in sales during the first quarter of 2023 compared to the last quarter of 2022. 

The top blockchains by NFT trading volumes in the first quarter of 2023 were Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, IMX and Flow. It is surprising not to see Binance Smart Chain among the top 3 or 5 blockchain networks in terms of trading volume for NFTs. The largest growth was experienced by Polygon and Ethereum. Polygon registered an increase in its trading volume for NFTs of 125% and Ethereum grew by 245%. 

Solana lost 4% of its trading volume, Flow lost 35%, Theta 43%, Ranin 16% and WAX 19%. 

Despite the fact that some blockchain networks experienced a decrease in trading volume for NFTs, the overall growth in the NFT market is an indicator of the resilience of the industry. This growth is driven by increased interest and adoption from mainstream investors and collectors, who view NFTs as a valuable asset class with significant potential for future growth.

The growth of the DeFi sector and blockchain gaming industry also plays a significant role in the expansion of the NFT market. 

The integration of NFTs into DeFi protocols and blockchain games has increased their visibility and use cases, thereby driving up demand and contributing to the growth of the industry. It remains to be seen how these trends will continue to evolve in the coming quarters, but the strong start to 2023 is a positive sign for the NFT market.